1. Steve Rubio writes that "problems arise out of the solipsistic nature of home pages....There is a kind of
community happening here, but the relationship of home pages to that community is uncertain." What does this quote mean? Do you agree? Why or why not?

I absolutely agree. What he is saying is that a home page can belong to an infinite amount of communities because there are so many things that a site shares in common with another site. The fact that it is a site pulls it into a community with other sites. Communities can be defined broadly or narrowly, and it just depends on who is defining it. Community is no longer a physical location, but a circle of ideas that really anybody can relate to. We must remember that cyberspace is relatively new, therefore it may be some time before we fully understand it. Community is one of those things where we will ahve to wait and see basically how it defines itself.

2. Several authors from this section discuss the relationship between body and identity and the way that CMC can potentially separate our identities from our bodies. Explain this relationship and its importance for CMC. Do you agree that CMC can separate our identities from our bodies? Why or why not?

By seperating the sense of sight from communication, we are free to give ourselves a physical identity that hardly anyone can determine as true or false. Liek I said in my journals, its easy to do and, after its done once, it almost becomes a habit. But like I discussed in a paper, if the community can be based on words and cyberspace, can't lies also be defined by words and cyberspace? I agree that CMC can seperate our bodies because it has been happening since day 1! And it will continue until there is some way to find someone's real identity on line. Until then, we are all on what you could call an honor system (like that has kept people of distancing themselves from their real lives).

3. Several authors from this section discuss the way that CMC, particularly web pages, are a form of self_fashioning, a technology of the self, or a way to construct the self. What do these concepts mean? Do you agree that the internet and CMC provides ways to construct the self? What kind of self can be constructed?

Earlier in the semester, we discussed how people define themselves by what they buy. On the Internet, people define themselves by how they rpesent themselves to others and on their web pages. By adding things to websites (songs, pics, etc.) that somehow convey our personalities, whether online or real, we can construct an identity. This is very visible when two peolple meet online and participate in a fluid relationship, until the meet in real life. When they realize they have nothing to say, it is impossible to accept the identity they have been shown online.

4. David Chandler argues that "The medium of web pages offers possibilities both for the presentation and shaping of self which are shared neither by text on paper or face_to_face interaction." What are some of the differences between presentation of self face_to_face, in a diary/journal/writings, and on a homepage and why are they important?

In text within writings, only written words and the reader's imagination are availible. In face-to-face interaction, the communication is more visual than anything else. However, homepages allow for a combonation of both, therefore the author has more choices in developing a self-identity.