Identity, identification and identifiability

Abstract

Location-aware mobile applications have become extremely common, with a recent wave of mobile dating applications that provide relatively sparse profiles to connect nearby individuals who may not know each other for immediate social or sexual encounters. These applications have become particularly popular among men who have sex with men (MSM) and raise a range of questions about self-presentation, visibility to others, and impression formation, as traditional geographic boundaries and social circles are crossed. In this paper we address two key questions around how people manage potentially stigmatized identities in using these apps and what types of information they use to self-present in the absence of a detailed profile or rich social cues. To do so, we draw on profile data observed in twelve locations on Grindr, a location-aware social application for MSM. Results suggest clear use of language to manage stigma associated with casual sex, and that users draw regularly on location information and other descriptive language to present concisely to others nearby.

The mediation of gay men's lives: A review on gay dating app studies

“…Thus, in their profiles, some users input the name of socially defined spaces that they identify with, such as neighborhoods, city names, or institutions. They associate themselves with these landmarks to make themselves more socially attractive (Birnholtz et al, 2014).…”

“…Finally, sex-related stigma attached to dating apps can cause stress (Blackwell et al, 2015). Users carefully present themselves as not looking for casual sex to circumvent the stigma, and even those who seek causal sexual encounters tend to use euphemistic terms or abbreviations, such as "fun" for sex and "nsa" for "no strings attached" (Birnholtz et al, 2014). To hide their identity, users may use profile pictures that do not reveal their face (Blackwell et al, 2015).…”

“…We look at studies highlighting how gay men's use of dating apps is afforded by technique and design features of the dating devices under existing but changing social arrangements. These studies demonstrate multiple goals of gay dating app users, some of which are even not intended by dating app designers (Shield, 2017), and the ways users present themselves in profiles and interact with others through private chat to achieve certain goals (Birnholtz et al, 2014;Blackwell et al, 2015;Fitzpatrick & Birnholtz, 2016). In Figure 1, this focus can be found in the segment defined as remediation and highlights the practices of gay dating app users.…”

“…There is a relatively clear research strand marked by self-presentation and interaction frameworks. This strand-to which researchers from Northwestern University in the United States (NU Social Media Lab) has contributed greatly-focuses on how users present themselves on their profiles and interact with each other through private chat (Birnholtz, Fitzpatrick, Handel, & Brubaker, 2014;Blackwell, Birnholtz, & Abbott, 2015;Chan, 2016;Fitzpatrick & Birnholtz, 2016;Licoppe, Rivière, & Morel, 2015). Except for this strand, however, other literatures on gay dating apps do not form a direct dialogue.…”

Operationalizing Conflict and Cooperation between Automated Software Agents in Wikipedia

“…If it is the bot will then find the list of links that are included along side it on wikidata and remove those from the article." 3 Within two days, various members of the Bot Approvals Group discussed the bot and then approved it for a full-scale run on English Wikipedia. Adam also made sure that the communities in other language versions of Wikipedia as well as Wikidata also approved of this task.…”