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    <title>cmdln.net_2008-05-14</title>
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    <outline text="Intro" Offset="00:17"/>
    <outline text="Word of the Week: dead code" Offset="02:19">
      <outline text="http://catb.org/jargon/html/D/dead-code.html"/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Monologue: Online Identity" Offset="03:21">
      <outline text="Dennis McDonald asked how we tell whether online identities match who people really are">
        <outline text="http://www.ddmcd.com/"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="First talked about online identity as part of first social spaces monologue">
        <outline text="August 22nd, 2007 feature show"/>
        <outline text="In that episode, talked about positive presence"/>
        <outline text="Some spaces provide avatars, other features that help present a chosen identity"/>
        <outline text="Warned that actions must be consistent with image"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="Difficult when trying to present a consistent online identity">
        <outline text="When you want someone to recognize you"/>
        <outline text="Take for granted the non-verbal communication"/>
        <outline text="Writers and actors perhaps do better"/>
        <outline text="Dialogue says a lot but expression, action says more"/>
        <outline text="Tone of voice is easily misunderstood"/>
        <outline text="Have you ever sent an email someone thought was had the opposite emotional content?">
          <outline text="Serious when you meant it as a joke?"/>
          <outline text="Mad when you were not?"/>
        </outline>
      </outline>
      <outline text="Impressions can change in person over time">
        <outline text="Unintentional challenges to recognition"/>
        <outline text="A friend can make a baffling life choice"/>
        <outline text="A first impression could prove wrong"/>
        <outline text="These things happen when you have expression, tone and action"/>
        <outline text="How much worse must these be online?"/>
        <outline text="In person, you may be able to discover a rationale, establish context"/>
        <outline text="With less information, must seem more random online"/>
        <outline text="Again, this can happen by accident"/>
        <outline text="Isn't necessarily true in either case someone is trying to misrepresent"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="People believe what they want">
        <outline text="True online and off"/>
        <outline text="Especially true in fantasy prone individuals"/>
        <outline text="Own filters get in the way"/>
        <outline text="Fill in the missing parts on online communication with wish fulfillment"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="Somewhat difficult to present false identity">
        <outline text="Hard enough to present your own self accurately"/>
        <outline text="The same things you take for granted, hard to change consciously"/>
        <outline text="As much as non-verbal cues are hard, some do slip through"/>
        <outline text="This can conflict with the false identity someone is trying to present"/>
        <outline text="This can be hard to spot, it is an infrequent and subtle tell"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="Human brains are adapt at pattern recognition">
        <outline text="Usually comes across as gut instinct"/>
        <outline text="What the conscious mind does see, the unconscious may"/>
        <outline text="This is especially true of long exposure"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="I suspect social adaptation might help">
        <outline text="Think tribal or national identity"/>
        <outline text="Many non-verbal cues, important in past, contentious societies"/>
        <outline text="Need to quickly identify group and other"/>
        <outline text="Requires a standard, though, like norms to judge against"/>
        <outline text="Online spaces can have their own norms, too, though"/>
        <outline text="Not always, least useful in the absence of a normative online space, like a subject specific forum"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="Reputation may help in certain settings">
        <outline text="Only if the person has established one, consciously or otherwise"/>
        <outline text="More common in certain spaces, like blogs"/>
        <outline text="Can use consensus impression to gauge genuineness"/>
        <outline text="Wisdom of crowds, small aberrations smooth out"/>
        <outline text="En masse may get more accurate measure"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="Meeting in person is an easy, hard answer">
        <outline text="Hard because online is agnostic of geography"/>
        <outline text="When the person in question is local, can be easier"/>
        <outline text="Especially if there is a group context where you can meet"/>
        <outline text="Many online fora are starting to including offline meetups"/>
        <outline text="Not perfect, still problems with getting a genuine impression in person"/>
        <outline text="Made easier with regular meetups, where more data can be collected"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="What are the real risks, benefits?">
        <outline text="In a purely online relationship, risk is more emotional"/>
        <outline text="Sense of betrayal at realization of difference between online, real identity"/>
        <outline text="Frustration when trying to persuade or communicate">
          <outline text="I've run into that one, alot"/>
          <outline text="Getting where someone comes from helps refine your approach"/>
          <outline text="Misunderstanding real identity can make framing thoughts more difficult"/>
        </outline>
        <outline text="Can be financial risks, think of scams">
          <outline text="To be fair, the approach to a scam may not be obvious"/>
          <outline text="A good con artist knows how to suppress target's caution"/>
          <outline text="Think of the old saw about boiling a frog"/>
          <outline text="A skilled fraudster doesn't go right for the wallet"/>
          <outline text="Approach is going to be subtle, incremental"/>
          <outline text="This is like hacking maliciously"/>
          <outline text="A skilled hacker will find a way in"/>
          <outline text="Odds are in your favor, most attackers not skilled"/>
          <outline text="Betting more on quantity, not quality"/>
          <outline text="May be true of scammers, too"/>
        </outline>
        <outline text="Best hedge is to withhold personal info, money until you can vet">
          <outline text="In person"/>
          <outline text="A trusted third party when transaction comes up"/>
          <outline text="Trust providers are not perfect, just increase cost of fraud"/>
        </outline>
        <outline text="What are the potential benefits?">
          <outline text="Business relationship"/>
          <outline text="Social relationship"/>
          <outline text="Business is more likely to be of same value as offline version"/>
          <outline text="Build your own reputation, through a reciprocal understanding, perhaps recommendation"/>
        </outline>
      </outline>
      <outline text="Have to decide for yourself whether the risks are worth the benefit"/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Outro" Offset="22:20">
      <outline text="Contact me">
        <outline text="Email to feedback@thecommandline.net"/>
        <outline text="Web site at http://thecommandline.net/"/>
        <outline text="IM to command.line@skype"/>
        <outline text="Listener comment line is 240-949-2638"/>
        <outline text="del.icio.us tag is &quot;for:cmdln&quot;"/>
        <outline text="http://twitter.com/cmdln"/>
      </outline>
      <outline text="I'd like to thank libsyn.com for AAC hosting and Wouter de Bie for MP3 hosting"/>
      <outline text="These notes and the show audio and music are covered by a Creative Commons license">
        <outline text="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/"/>
        <outline text="Attribution, non-commercial, share alike"/>
      </outline>
    </outline>
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