I am well and truly into the thick of thesis season now! In fact, I have now added three chapters to my master thesis document. The new chapters are my findings chapters, one for each of my three research questions.
Chapter 4 presents the findings of the analysis and interpretation of data for the first research question, “How do individuals use information to build identities for themselves online?” The findings in this chapter show that people use online information to present aspects of identity, rather than to build or create identity in its own right. It also highlights the fact that identity is comprised of multiple personas which are showcased in a way that highlights different aspects of an individual’s identity for different audiences. These practices are generally undertaken to manage the blurring between both individuals’ professional and private lives and their online and offline environments.
Chapter 5 presents the findings of the analysis and interpretation of data for the second research question, “How do individuals use online information to build and manage their reputations?” The findings show that participants deploy different information sharing practices based on the platform they are using and the perceived audience for that platform. This is generally viewed as a way of managing the blur between participants’ professional and private lives, with an emphasis on managing their professional reputation.
Chapter 6 presents the findings of the analysis and interpretation of data for the final research question, “How do individuals evaluate the reputations of others based on the information available to them online?” This set of findings shows that the evaluation of others based on online information is not an intentional practice. Further, when evaluations are made, the findings show that the participants use their own information practices as a benchmark for the evaluation of others. Interesting, it has also been shown that reputational evaluations are not static. Instead, they are often impacted by additional information that the participants have about the individual being evaluated.
There is, of course, a lot more to it than that. But you will have to wait until the whole PhD is done and dusted before you can read all about it!
The next big step is to complete the discussion chapter. After that, I will finalise the introduction and conclusion and review the entire thesis in preparation for my submission. Things are starting to come together now, and I am very excited about my progress.