What is the relationship between ‘real’ and digital world? Anyone who reads my blog knows that much of my research revolves around this very question, but I wanted to return to the topic explicitly. It seems that in many recent conversations I have been arguing that they are tightly coupled. Castranova seems to agree with me:

There is certainly a relationship between the synthetic world and the real one… people are crossing all the time,… carrying their behavioral assumptions and attitudes with them. (Edward Castranova, Synthetic Worlds)

While I feel it is theoretically sound, and have spent most of my time discussing implications of this connection, my more pragmatic peers have been looking for an example. I can’t blame them. When I argue, for example, that the m4m section on craigslist is a proxy for the gay community, they want to know where I get off making such a claim. If that isn’t enough to get them riled up, I frequently continue on to insist that the distinctions between online and offline selves are not as tidy as we might like.

We are going to trying something new over the next couple of posts, and try to build out these concepts with some interesting examples based on recent occurrences locally in DC and across the broader interwebs. What is on the agenda? Privacy, relationships, and Missed Connections, of course.

(Image credit: SecondLife via abcNews, and on a side note… I probably need to invest some more time there.)