Visual anonymity in online communication: Consequences for creativity

Abstract

Online communication (OC) is widely used for building social relations as well as for exchanging information in both private and professional settings. Having been conceptualized since the 1980s as “Computer-mediated communication” (CMC) within a number of disciplines, from psychology to communication, different predictions on how the users’ self may be affected were made [14]. However, the potential of OC toward creativity enhancement is rarely discussed, even though the effects on the individual’s behavior are obvious. The paper conceptualizes how in the “asocial” setting of using recent ICTs opportunities for an abnormal behavior may occur. Some of these discourses even observe a new potential for creative self-constructions. Based upon a series of experiments, this paper investigates how the social self develops creatively in OC, i.e., how such has a specific meaning for creativity development. Identifying further opportunities for creative co-constructions in forms of OC, the author follows a connectivist interpretation. This paper has been written as a revised and extended version of the paper presented at KICSS’2013 [15].