2006.03.09

[ack, my computer crashed... notes beginning around gossip...]

evolution of identity over time
concept of memory and consistency

multiple people inhabiting one identity

social custom / comfort against railing against person directly
more natural (and share communication) between party through gossip

how do you design
to represent people effectively
position of role

disambiguate through face
not so much through voice
punishment costs to faking it

face vs voice
snapshot of moment in time vs timebased medium

what are the markings of individual identity

disguising faces - the things that are most permanent (bone structure) arent the most distinguishing, however, we remember things like hair, colouring, accessories, etc

names are mere labels, easy to change or fake, but easy to access
physical markers are more difficult to fake, though to read

human memory - traces and forgetten and imperfect and adaptable
vs computer memory

individuality

generic or

meaningfulness to other people
does it matter to know people's dna, license #, or face?

differentiation of humans to humans
descriptiveness of names ("smith")
tribal grouping names, occupational names, reflective of culture

email addresses, the domain
member of a community
responsibility on behalf of an institution

free email services lower the bar, harder to trust

how much can you read into email addresses?
or any naming system
hotmail versus gmail
names as individuality
strange or offbeat names more common because easier to find domain names?

stanley lieberman - names as fashion
prof watternberg - baby name handbook

popularity of names
different systems, icelandic naming

name == communicatable identifier
face == strong recognition, categorizable

reputation is very easy to manipulate online
what's at stake for the rater?

do a long-standing low-risk thing, and then drop the (scam)bomb

newcomers treated with suspicion

ebay vs craigslist
repercussions
craigslist - more localised, you physically meet

reputation systems - reward vs. greater good vs.
people arent that motivated for doing stuff for greater good
need the right motivations? benefits? pleasurable?
gossip is fun, rating systems are difficult

expectations
service is good - approval comes with continued service, loyalty
reputation of distributed memory across a community

positive feedback
worth the risk?
what if you just pat-backs to positive-positive
strength of tie to community to give an honest rating

anonymity --> pseudonymity --> identity

osama bin laden
easier to pick an individual as the malefactor
solution: get rid of this one person, then the problem will go away
person is a representative of a group, a movement

verifiability

anonymity on online systems
track through IP address
send messages through collective: ANYA routing
nobody knows the gateway or the source
anonymous -- going thru a blender before being transmitted
identity is the 'tor' network
your identity can only be tracked back to a network

is it possible to make something purely anonymous?

discuss.