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The Nakamura article, which dealt with identity on the internet, was fairly straight-forward, and for the most part just affirmed many things I have come to accept as part of the internet. She discussed how the internet can function as a buffer between real life and the online communities where users of particular groups are asked to represent themselves through gender and self description, but little other than that. Additionally , she points out, users can and often do intentionally misrepresent themselves in a form of what she calls “cross dressing.” She also discusses race and how this classification is less defined in online communities where gender and physical description is often asked for without the mention of race or ethnicity. I found this article to be pretty interesting because it identified some of the things I have come across when playing games or surfing around online. I didn’t really think there was as much research and thought being devoted to online representations of self, and I think this article did a good job of taking a closer look at this.

The Turkle article “Who Am We” dealt with similar issues as the Nakamura article, but delved a little deeper into the psychology of computer users and what they find important and how they interact with the technology. She looks at the gaming habits of various children and talks about how they play a particular game, and what comes out of their experience with this game. I found it interesting how she looked at the psychology behind computer use and how that can possibly effect the online environment, and how gaming and computers in general can affect the way we think and act.

As for my Yahoo avatar, I spent way too much time working on it, and it kept coming out looking pretty stupid. Eventually, I gave up after my 3^rd or 4^th try because it looked nothing like me, and putting a weird looking online representation of myself against a cartoon background of the Grand Canyon doesn’t really seem too useful to me. If I really needed to use an avatar for any practical purpose I would rather just post an actual picture of myself instead of some goofy looking cartoon thing that doesn’t really look like me.