ABSTRACT
In this chapter I explore aspects of ‘cyberworlds’ and their implications for the study of identity. The study of cyber life and culture has gained impetus since its inception in the 1960s and 1970s. In this chapter I suggest the potential for ongoing research derives from two features: (i) an eclectic European philosophical background that is open to other traditions of thought, (ii) an emphasis on the interdisciplinary. This interdisciplinary focus has enabled anthropologists, architects, information specialists, novelists, software engineers, theorists, web designers, and many others, to explore cyber worlds in ways that illustrate their complexity (See Bendikt, 1991; Bell and Kennedy, 2000; Bell, 2001). In this chapter the emphasis is on cyberspace and identity rather than theories of information and information usage in a direct sense (see Webster, 1995). Information theories and their social and cultural realisation are of course extremely important for the study of identity because they address issues of economic, cultural, spatial, social and temporal experience. All such are sites for the emergence of identity. A concluding section to the chapter provides a brief commentary on recommended readings, including some on information theories.
