From M/Cyclopedia of New Media
Gem Bosworth
Hi there. My name is Gem Bosworth and I'm in my third year of Bachelor Business and Creative Industries. I live at West End and love to have a drink, relax and laugh. I feel like I'm writing for a personal ad so will stop this nonsense ASAP.
I plan to do my annotated bibliography on virtual relationships and online dating. Not ofcourse because I participate but I find it an amazing phenomenon when people across the world fall in love via optical fibres and the occaisional few marry each other. Weird if you ask me! So thats the reason for the subject matter.
Feel free to email me
QUT Homepage
Annotated Bibliography
Due Friday 13 August 2004, 12 noon
Virtual Identities and Online Dating Phenomenon
Author Unknown.(2004). A Perfect Match.[Electronic version] The Economist,371(8375), 3.
- This article is interesting from the E-Commerce and technology point of view of online dating and its uses. It assists in the argument with other examples of the travel and pornography industry to supports its case. The Economist is a heavily weighted source that supports its articles with credible statistics and valuable insights on more technical and business issues. Although, the article does present an argument for the increase in consumer behaviours and need for future customer satifaction in order for demand to remain.
Author Unknown.(2004,August 3). Men are from Mars, Women are on PerfectMatch.com. PR Newswire Retrieved August 5, 2004 from Factiva
- This article has a definate postive sway to a female audiance and their involvement in the online dating industry. It specifically identifies with the leading online dating company, PerfectMatch, and adjusts it vision to women in the industry. The article is interesting with the clear and concise support to the feminist movement with the emphasis from PerfectMatch, as to how they treat their females online in terms of supporting female self-identity, inner confidence and personal growth. The article also suggests that there is an alliance with offline Lifetime TV as a way of supporting their online dating process.
Barr,Trevor (2000). Electronic nomads;Internet as paradigm. In newmedia.com.au;The Changing face of Australia's media and communications. St Leonards;Allen & Unwin.
- This article introduces new definitions and examples of virtual communities such as MUDs or Multi Domain Users that create their own identity and have virtual intimate relations with other users. Barr suggests that virtual communities are 'sharing imagined realities' that would be interesting to add to the project on imagined communities and their survival as another research issue. This article is well written and researched with numerous quotes from reputable new media correspondants on the specifics of virtual relationships and identity within these online realms. It is an valuable article to resource due to the variety of opinions and interesting analogies.
Bell,D.,& Kennedy, B.M. (2000). The CyberCultures Reader London;Routledge. ISBN 0415183782
- This is a big fat Reader that contains valuable information regarding the discussion of virtual communities and relationships in a alternative fashion. In comparison to the other resources listed, Bell and Kennedy suggest that children disregard chatting and alluring themselves to virtual strangers online is a normal occurance where in older generations the mere thought makes them cringe. The technological paradigm shift that has affected our younger generations has injected them with inner confidence and personal identity like never before. It has shifted this generations perception of reality to a new level of virtuality. Although not closely linked with online dating, this article emphasises the importance of online relationships that preempt the future of the virtual community cyberspace.
BusinessWeek Online.(2004). BusinessWeek Online;Technology website. Retrieved August 10,2004,from BusinessWeek Online
- The BusinessWeek Online website and database has a vast selection of material,such as articles,pictures,statistics and special edition reports, to choose from. The website offers site searches for fast access to information and the ability to select the continental edition of BusinessWeek. The availability for this kind of information at one site is beneficial to the research project to access fast and reliable information regarding the uses of the internet and the social implications that accompany the increasing industry. This website offered numerous results when "online dating" was searched within the site. "In the Emode for Love" by A.Salkever listed above is an example of a BusinessWeek Online search.
Cairncross,F.(1997). The Death of Distance;How the communications revolution is changing our lives. Boston;Harvard Business School. ISBN 0875848060
- The ultimate reason for including this book although with an aging publication date in terms of relevance, is the author. Frances Cairncross is a credible writer for a reputable newspaper group, The Economist.With this in mind, it is regarded as a important objective source to venture material from for the research project. The information in this book is relevant and a general overview of virtual communities and their horizontal community outlook. It poses important information regarding the issues of space and time within a online community network that are useful for the project regarding online communication and relationships in "real" time but virtual space.
Cullen, Lisa Takeuch.(2004).Cupid Academy.[Electronic version]Time Magazine , 163(7),67.
- This article is located within a reputable and credible source yet is often controversial in its contents. It reports that the online dating industry is a billion dollar industry that is "fueled" by the Internets growth and has the representative statistics to support these comments. In comparison, this article has a different angle on the topic to online dating with concentration on the newly developed Matchmaking Institute for Online Dating rather than actually conducted online. The article remains interesting yet lacks depth for the chosen issue and is not as effective in relation to other articles.
Cunningham,S.,& Flew,T.(1997). Media Futures (excerps),in,Cunningham & Turner, 2nd ed. (1997)
- This excerp contains general background information on the way of the future for online communities. It discusses the organisational culture,audience and users and the future of the online world in comparison to the offline apparent "reality." The binary opposition between the offline to online world creates valuable information for the project as a interesting comparison. This discussion would prove useful to the project from the audience and users aspect in the article. It also offers statistical data in the form of graphs to illustrate the growth,impact and commercialisation of the Internet. The source also has authors with a reputation within the QUT Creative Industries Precinct as a set text option for this subject.
Cybersociology. (1997). Cybersociology Retrieved August 11, 2004, from Cybersociology Interview
- This interview transcript was found by pure chance of a 'Google' search. It is a radio transcript from a South African radio station interviewing a UK based active participant in online dating chat rooms and cybersex. He discusses the anonymity of the virtual sphere,the particular demographics of a online user and his interpretation and participation in cybersex. This particularly new activity has become directly associated with chat rooms and online dating in particular,whereas,indirectly cybersex to general online users is a taboo subject. These ideas are relevant and interesting to the research topic of virtual identities and their participation in the online world versus reality and becomes a detailed first hand account of virtual identities and online relationships.Another important aspect regarding the act of Cybersex being a online dating virtual activity provides valuable information of the role of the computer replaces the traditional physical presence as noted in previous sources.
Matchmaker.com (2004). Matchmaker.com Retrieved August 10,2004, from Matchmaker Online Dating Services
- Within the Australian online dating industry, Matchmaker.com is reportedly the most reputable and leading online dating service. The website "speaks" a sway to the older demographic audience in comparison with other leading websites. The website offers membership sparking a online database leading to relationship management within the company and has a virtual adult gift shop. Other leading online dating services in Australia are Lavalife,RSVP,and Aussie Matchmakerand all claim to be Australia's leading matchmaking online service. The importance of researching these websites is the immersion within the industry to completely understand the system and gain insight into the virtual communication within the online dating sector.
PcWebopedia.(2004). PC Webopedia Retrieved August 10,2004, from PC Webopedia
- This website is useful when researching this virtual topic because of the Internet jargon that is written in some articles. The PC Webopedia is based on the same premise of a online computer dictionary for the not so computer literate public. It describes the searches in easy to understand terminology and with added services such as pronounciation of the word, related articles from Internet.com, and fast facts. There are numerous other websites that offer similar services, a few of these are, PocketPC and Lextionary,which comes at a cost.
Rigby,Emma. (2004,July 28). Online dating:Love and Money.Revolution Retrieved August 5,2004 from Factiva
- It was necessary to research this source for credibility and found that Revolution is an online United Kingdom based newspaper resource. The article itself provides an interesting twist to the proposed topic and supports the topic with statistics on virtual dating demographics plus future predictions of the online dating pseudo-world with easy to understand examples of possible outcomes. This article is valuable to the project with the key elements of the future of this virtual industry, its success and the reasons for it and attached is a invaluable virtual dating factsheet compiled with lists of the major players within the industry and the relevant facts associated with them.
Robins, K.,& Webster, F. (1999). Times of Technoculture London;Routledge. ISBN 0415161150
- This book identifies the increasingly controversial issue of the future of the Internet,net-nannies,and the intimacy issues surrounding the online phenomenon of online dating and relationships. It proves a point with the decrease in temporal,spatial and cultural boundaries that traditional intimacy thrives in. Robins and Webster state that the computer has become a substitute for the physical presence within the online relationship sphere. This important information is valuable to the research topic to see the future and adjustment that not only participating people,government and technology will have to maneouvre to regulate such statements. Instead of a familiar space being in reality and tangible, virtual space is promoting growth and culture encouraging a common ground in the online community. It suggests that the online dating culture is providing a "haven" for the not-so confident bachelors,spinsters and married to participate in.
Salkever, A. (2003,October 3). In the Emode for Love.Business Week Online.Retrieved August 5, 2004 from EBSCOhost
- This article represents the online dating services as a lucrative business iniative from the prespective of the future alliances of the convergence with traditional psychological testing and online matchmaking content.It identifies the professional online dating service, Emodewhich is valuable to the project as a leading example. It has become the "new wave" of science-based testing that makes this article interesting and important to the final research. It states that this "new wave" of interactive online relationship building is illusive to the current online matchmaking market. The credibility of the article is justified by the position in publication and the publication itself. Also, it relies heavily on statistics and the credibility of academic professors to quote positively for this "new wave" of scientifically based online dating mechanism.
Singer,Henry.(2001,January 21). Virtual Relationships;Logging on to Love.The Observer
- This article is from a source that is a tabloid and may not be as credible as the rest. The Observer is a United Kingdom based tabloid that has been written in an feature article or editorial genre. Aside from this, it is an entertaining and interesting article that quotes actual online daters and their reasons behind and beyond the phenomenon. It discusses the taboo world of "cybersex" "onehandtyping" and other such online dating jargon like "handles." This article is valuable to the report for information about virtual identities and personalities in a virtual sphere. It is the most interesting article in terms of discussing the "utopian" virtual space vs reality and how relationship building become "not real" whilst in these spaces.
Whittle,David.B.(1996). Cyberspace;The Human DimensionNew York;WH Freeman and Company. ISBN 0716783118
- Whittle introduces the general meanings and consequences of online relationships in a book that complements the research topic. The book highlights the increase in popularity and social impacts of online relationships using five points of communication,convenience, commerce, education and entertainment. These important points are useful for the research topic as possible subheadings or directional assistance to the project. Whittle also introduces the notion of "cybersex" which accompanies the role of online relationships in a minor way. Although with further research I beg to differ. The only critism of the book remains with the age of publication which hinders the amount and variety of technology published and the examples provided.
Organisational Acronyms
ABS
Australian Bureau of Statistics. ABS
- The ABS provides up-to-date detailed statistical information within Australian territories on a range of information collected from the Census of Australian families. It would be useful in the research to investigate specific data and information in relation to computer owners,Internet connectivity within Australia and its uses in the home.
ACCC
Australian Competition and Consumers Commission. ACCC
- The ACCC is a government organisation that supports the consumer and protects his/her rights when purchasing goods or services. It would be relevant to the research to investigate the purchasing rights for online buyers who purchase goods from online dating shopping site, like the example on Matchmaker.com. Also, to protect the consumers from online payment fraud and the obligations to a online business.
IRC
Internet Relay Chat. IRC
- The IRC site allows users to download the IRC program to be able to have 'realtime' chat with other members. Numerous chat rooms are availabe for every online identity. There are specific rooms for cybersex or online dating that would be beneficial to investigate to achieve primary research for the research topic.
Gem Bosworth 10:12, 13 Aug 2004 (EST)
