Identity on the Internet – The Bosnian Context

Abstract

Identity is built on individual and social characteristics of every person, indicating one’s belonging to certain social groups, based on the criteria of race, gender, ethnicity, language etc. In addition to this, identity today is represented in a specific way in the virtual world, which is a new setting for communication.

Cyber space erases traditional understanding of space and time, and our identities as well.

This paper explores the issue of nicknames which are the very first element of someone’s identity on the internet. This paper analyses a corpus of four hundred nicknames found at bihforum.net website, within twenty-six topics.

It is aimed at revealing original, source concepts and conventions the nicknames are based on, providing thus information about beliefs and values Bosnians chose to engage in their communication on the internet, and consequently, come to the elements of identity the Bosnian people use, and therefore see as part of their value systems.