I do not believe one's personality is one-dimensional. Rather, I think everyone has their own masks, called personas, and wears a certain mask based on the context. For instance, teachers should wear a soundness mask to meet social norms that are asked of teachers, but they can wear a personal mask when they meet old friends. This might be similar to the idea of context collapse in online communities.
Then, a question arises: when we design classroom-based or professional purpose online communities, will people wear the same mask as they are in classrooms or professional development conferences? It could or could not, but the more important thing to understand is whether online community structures and rules affect which masks people wear. Do you think lurkers feel pressure to wear a different mask if the community requires their active participation?
This is an interesting ponderance. When I walk into a room of students as the "professor", my goal is to be all me while understanding that my students see me as a certain persona. That is the strange part of being a grown up.
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