research-article

Online Inspiration and Exploration for Identity Reinvention

Authors:

Oliver L. Haimson,

Anne E. Bowser,

Edward F. Melcer,

Elizabeth F. ChurchillAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '15: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 3809 - 3818

https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702270

Published: 18 April 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Self-representation online can be difficult for those who are in life transitions that involve exploring new identity facets and changes in personal style. Many desire to tailor their online representations for different audiences. Social media site profiles and sharing settings offer varying levels of anonymity, privacy, and thus safety, but these settings are often opaque and poorly understood. To understand the complex relationship between identity, personal style and online self-representation, we examine how people explore and experiment with new styles in public and in private online settings during gender transition. We present the results of interviews with transgender people who have recently reinvented their personal style, or are planning to do so in the near future. We find that people explore new styles in online settings to craft possible or ideal future selves. When involving others, people engage intimate and unknown others, but often avoid weak ties. Our results indicate that to account for changing identities, social media sites must be designed to support finding inspiration and advice from strangers and style experimentation with close friends.

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Haimson ODeGuia ASaber RBrewster K(2024)Extended Reality Trans Technologies: Bridging Digital and Physical Worlds to Support Transgender PeopleProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869728:CSCW2(1-27)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
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Index Terms

Online Inspiration and Exploration for Identity Reinvention
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
  2. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction paradigms
      1. Web-based interaction

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '15: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2015

4290 pages

ISBN:9781450331456

DOI:10.1145/2702123

General Chairs:
Bo Begole
Huawei, USA
,
Jinwoo Kim
Yonsei University, Korea
,
Program Chairs:
Kori Inkpen
Microsoft Research, USA
,
Woontack Woo
KAIST, Korea

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Published: 18 April 2015

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CHI '15: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 18 - 23, 2015

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CHI '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 486 of 2,120 submissions, 23%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2025.100117
Haimson ODeGuia ASaber RBrewster K(2024)Extended Reality Trans Technologies: Bridging Digital and Physical Worlds to Support Transgender PeopleProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869728:CSCW2(1-27)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686972
Noh HYoon SJo HVan Kleek MKang Y(2024)Starting a New Life after Crossing the Tumen River: How North Korean Defectors Use Digital Technology in TransitionProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642892(1-26)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642892
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