18 - Histoire de l’Internet, l’Internet dans l’histoire
Send
Print
Fanny GEORGES
« In the Image of Man » : Cyborgs, Avatars, Digital Identities
Le Temps des médias n°18, Printemps 2012, p. 136-147.
>> Acheter cet article sur CAIRN
This paper analyses the three major forms representations of the user on the Internet, since the first tools of discussion (BBS, Usenet), in order to show the fantasies associated with the possibilities of connecting human beings to a network. In the early history of computers, the figure of the cyborg seems predominant, as a dehumanized substitute of the human being. Then, in the 80s, the figure of the avatar embodies a different model, a virtual character manipulated by a human being who can project into it his/her own fantasies. Finally, the more mundane and diversified figure of the user profile is also testament to the aggregation of communication and consumption activities on the Internet. This approach shows the passage of a representation, the cyborg, entirely detached from the body, to a representation much more dependent on the user and anchored in the everyday life of the consumer society.