Imagem e identidade no ciberespaço: a significação social dos perfis do Orkut

Abstract

This Master s Dissertation examines the social significance of Orkut profiles in terms of the construction of virtual identity. For theoretical purposes, we understand identity as the trait that characterizes the subject socially and significantly as a cultural being composed of plural subjectivities. The research problem lies in the relation between the profile of the friendship network user in question and his identity in cyberspace. Do autobiographies and photographs really participate or contribute to the formation of individual identity? Or does simulation predominate in this context? This work is inserted in the field of cyberculture studies and thus discusses an emergent theme in the field of communication. The theoretical and epistemological bases of this research include the postmodern perspectives (David Harvey and Stuart Hall), reflections on cyberculture (Eugênio Trivinho, Francisco Rüdiger, Jean Baudrillard, Pierre Lévy and Steven Johnson) and different conceptions of cultural identity (Manuel Castells, Sherry Turkle and Zygmunt Bauman), among other relevant proposals of interpretation. To analyze the corpus, we use as reference Discursive Semiotics (Diana Luz Pessoa de Barros and Eric Landowski) and reflections on photography. The body of analysis is composed of profiles of people registered on Orkut, who, independently of confirmed veracity, declare themselves to be Brazilians, men and women over 18 years of age, and include photos. The methodology included a close examination of all these profiles and an analytical crossexamination of the main photographs. With these characteristics, this research intends to apprehend the social significance of Orkut profiles and contribute toward the development of studies in this thematic field