Why am I studying cyberpsychology?
Posted by Robert Frittmann on June 2, 2009
As I mentioned on the Curriculum page of this blog, my interest in cyberpsychology stems from my career goal to become a cyber-sleuth. I am in the process of trying to blend my two career histories into one. I have experience in the computer industry, and I also have experience in the security industry. In 2004, my 8 year career in the computer industry took a major direction change with the closure of my business, Computer Warrant of Fitness Ltd. Deciding to return to the safety-net of a regular wage instead of the vagaries of self-employed income, I began a whole new career in the security industry. But this career change was not as drastic as you might think. What I was actually doing while working in security was gaining valuable experience as an end-user in a multinational corporation. My position at Chubb New Zealand exposed me to a wider range of computer activities than I had access to previously. For example, even though I once worked at Telecom New Zealand, I had never previously had real access to a VOIP-based PABX system until I started working at Chubb. And intranet usage was only theoretical until I had the chance to use one every day in the security industry. My prior experience with Microsoft Exchange was from the perspective of an administrator and a VBA form designer previously, but my experience as an end-user at Chubb gave me insights that I couldn’t achieve with Microsoft Certified Professional training alone. So, effectively, my heart has always been set on furthering my career in the computer industry, despite my diversion into the security industry.
Another thing that I gained from my time in security is a clarity of what it is that I want to do in the computer industry. Half way through my time at Chubb, I moved to offender monitoring, and was exposed to the wonderful world of Justice, Corrections, and Law Enforcement. This exposure crystallized my intention to get into the field of computer forensic investigation.
Reading back over this post, I am amused to see that, so far, it has been more about computer forensics than about cyberpsychology. The reason that I started this blog in the first place was because my computer forensics blog, Frittmann Forensics, was looking too much like a cyberpsychology, ontology, and online identity blog. So let’s get closer to an answer to my original question, about why I am studying cyberpsychology.
To achieve my goal of becoming a cyber-sleuth, I believe that I need a better understanding of behavioral issues in cyberspace, to complement my formal studies in computer networking, ethical hacking, and computer forensic investigation. Rather than taking a conjoint degree, I have decided to do informal studies in cyberpsychology for now. I may take a postgraduate course in psychology later, but for now the focus of my formal studies needs to be in computer forensics, I believe.
Since about 1998, I have been aware of the website The Psychology of Cyberspace, created by John Suler Ph.D. of the Department of Psychology at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. I have read many of the articles from the website, and I decided to settle upon the website as a curriculum for my own personal, informal studies into cyberpsychology. I began earnest informal study of cyberpsychology on 1 June 2009, with the creation of this WordPress blog.
I have also posted a comment on Dr. Suler’s blog, to introduce myself and let him know what I am doing.
Hi John, I just wanted to let you know that I have started my own blog , Psyber Psychology to document my own informal studies into cyberpsychology, using your Psychology of Cyberspace website as my textbook. I had hoped to find your blog alive and buzzing here still, but it seems that nothing has been posted here since 2007. I will still be referring to your blog, and probably commenting and digging some of your old posts here while I do my studies. Thank you for making your wealth of knowledge available to the online community. I hope to at least do it justice.
So, that is what I am doing here. I have created the categories in my blog here to mirror the the subjects listed in the The Psychology of Cyberspace Table of Contents, and will make at least one post in each category once I have read through the information. I have no defined timeline for this study, and will just work through it at my own pace.
I hope to meet up with other people who are interested in studying cyberpsychology with me, and also people who have been through Dr. Suler’s material before. Owing to my acknowledged lack of prior experience, I welcome any constructive criticism and advice about how best to study the subject of cyberpsychology using The Psychology of Cyberspace materials, and I’m always keen to hear from other people who have worked through the material. I would ask that comments be kept brief, relevant, family-friendly and insult-free.
