Video Script

Everyone starts out as a nobody online. (visual: some kind of cool-looking silhouette of people)

(Um… cue the music? Techno is cool…)

“Identity” on the Internet is built, defined not only by the names we choose and the information we enter into our profiles (visual: screenshots/video of filling out form data, Facebook probably),

But also in the way we interact with others… (visual: more screenshots of these? I don’t know… need to try it out first)
the groups we join,
the topics we discuss,
the pictures and videos we produce,
everything down to our language patterns
all provide information (visual: information of some type, maybe binary) to others (visual: images of people) about who we are in a place where no one can physically be (visual: tubes, lol).


“Information spreads and diffuses; there is no law of the conservation of information. The inhabitants of this impalpable space are also diffuse, free from the body’s unifying anchor. One can have, some claim, as many electronic personae as one has time and energy to create.” – Judith Donath (visual: maybe a clip from the lrmaque video in the background, behind the text?)


(Music needs to get more intense here)

Trolls exploit this (visual: troll images)

Making a game out of identity manipulation (visual: L.H.O.O.Q? I am not sure about this, but for some reason Dada art just seems appropriate)

And provoking real-life emotional responses from others without consequences to themselves. (Video clips: 3-4 short clips of people talking about trolls, what they are/do, about 20 seconds, need to try it out)

For trolls, identity ≠ self.

They may create multiple, unique identities (visual: some sort of image representing division)

The characteristics of which do not reflect their true selves – intentionally.

Trolls use the anonymity of new media to separate identity from the self,
And show that identity is fluid and inconsistent, (visual: water?), names are not associated with bodies, individuals are not necessarily individual (visual: something trippy, maybe a video with illusions that show things are not what they appear to be)

As the technological capabilities of the Internet change, so do the ways in which we use it to communicate. (Video clips behind text: illustrate evolution from simple text-based non-interactive webpage to message board, chat room, blog, YouTube, SecondLife, etc.)


Trolls violate real life social norms online. They show that it is difficult, if not impossible, for real life codes of conduct to be enforced in virtual communities.

How can we define a context in which potentially all information from everyone everywhere may be available to everyone all the time, on every device? (visual: flashing images of computers, cellphones, blackberries, iPhones, etc.)

Where no rules are written, breaking them shows where the lines are really drawn. Creating multiple identities shows that identity is not a singular entity.

Who are you if no one knows if anything about you is even true? (visual: question mark??? Need something better…)