A New Way to Tell People's Personalities.

Maple--HH

Oct. 07, 2003

A New Way to Tell People’s Personalities

The Internet world is like a kaleidoscope. We surf the virtual world with a computer and cable networks through which we look at the various enchanting scenarios. We have a new experience, however, in getting to know a person’s personality in this virtual landscape. We are able to expand the game when more and more people have their personal web-sites.

　

The old Western saying is: “You are what you eat.” The old Chinese saying is: “You carry glorious air if you have knowledge in your belly.” For me, I think You Are like What Your Mind Is! Conventionally, we tend to learn about someone, from their personalities, their likes and dislikes, by what they wear, what they read, what they listen to, what they eat and drink, what they plant in their backyards, what sports they like, and what their conversational styles are. And then we conclude how the person is. Although we are not able to be face by face with all creators of all personal web-sites, in fact, there are many embodied hints in their web-sites for us to imagine the owners’ personality.

　

The styles of the existing personal web-sites vary. Some of them are cute; some are simple and elegant; some are very Victorian; some are very Impressionistic; some are surrounded with a specific national mode; some are very high-tech, with flashes and cool functions; and some are boring! For the creators, some of them write a lot, whereas, some of them prefer to express themselves by photos and graphs, and there are some in between for sure. A personal web-site actually reveals the type of the creator. And the owners in fact embodied the same kind of physical and virtual spaces. I know an Economics doctoral student whose web-site contains New York style and couples of paintings (Picasso’s, if I am not mistaken). She, herself, is artistic. And her apartment is similarly Metropolitan. A guy I know puts all the advanced and tricky functions which can take you either to the future or to the past virtually. He likes programming a lot and he is a big fan of Star Wars (No wonder??). Hence, a personal web-site not only can tell us what this web-site is for, but also what the creator is concerned about, what the image the owner tries to build up, and even cruelly, about the tastes the creator has.

　

The welcome page of a web-site, just like our appearances, gives the first impression to the viewers. As far as I know, web-site owners usually put their favorite personal photos, treasures, or articles/publications there. Whether or not the web-site owner actually creates a theme for his/her web-site, and whether or not he/she really communicates the theme, the welcome page undoubtedly is the place most of the owners put their efforts. Another interesting thing to look at are the topics located on the welcome page. These generally tell you the category of this particular web-site. For example, is it academic or not? And is it commercial or not? From how the creator has divided and named the main items on the welcome page (C.V., photos, favorites, journeys, links,…etc.), we would be able to imagine how he/she defines and organizes all the materials he/she has. For example, some might have an individual “My favorite” section for all of the things the person holds dear; some might arrange them in a very fine way (Music, Books, and Sports); some might throw all the collections in the link section. Then, we might start to think that the creator does this because he/she is a …… !

　

From my point of view, the link section usually tends to be a collection of the owner’s most-frequently-visited web-sites. Additionally, it is a channel that we can learn about the leisure life of the creator. So, we then can imagine he/she in the following aspects. What organizations does he/she participate in? What are his/her favorite exercises and sports? Is he/she a movie-goer? What does he/she usually see at the movies? Is he/she a museum-goer? What kind of museums he/she usually go to? Does he/she listen to music very often? Does he/she like Classical, Jazz, Pop, or Rock-n-Roll? What does he/she read? What are the e-magazines that he/she reads? Is he/she a shopaholic? What are his/her favorite brands? So on, so forth!

　

We can discover people’s personalities by everything they have on their web-sites. And I think it is a lot of fun to do this, especially when you know the web-site owner or you are expected to meet the creator some day. There are just many hidden stories. The imagination can start from any word and any graph to everything. Having said all of this, I do not know how much information I have released both here and in my own web-site. Perhaps, ample!

　

　

　