Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Dr Tama Leaver / @tamaleaver
The Ends of Identity?28 June 2012
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Outline
1. Who am I (and what have I done)?
2. Looking Beyond Agency?
3. Investigating the Ends of Identity
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
I. Who am I (and what have I done)?
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Web Presencewith Matthew Allen
Note: ‘Pig’ picture will not appear on actual cover!
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Web Presence (Allen & Leaver, Forthcoming)
Internet Footprints (online identity material over which the user maintains control)
Digital Shadows (online identity material outside of the users’ control)
Social Media Rivers (purposeful organisation and aggregation of disparate online identity material)
Essentially argues that online identity today involves not only ‘user-generated content’ but also careful consideration of how these elements are combined/curated into ‘content-generated users’.
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Web Presence (very approximate) …
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Majority of current research (including ours) …
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Now …
As a new CCI Research Fellow working in the Cultural Science program …
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
II. Looking Beyond Agency?
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
The Networked Self / Networked Publics
Persistance
Replicability
Scalability
Searchability (boyd, 2010)
+ Ownership (Aufderheide, 2010)
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Identity 2.0 (Helmond, 2010)
In Perpetual Beta
Networked
(other) User-generated identity
Distributed
Indexed
Persistent
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Shared assumptions of Identity 2.0, the Networked Self, and Web Presence
Individual agency is central.
Presumption that identity should be controlled, curated and managed by the ‘self’ being presented.
When agency is not the controlling influence, this is seen as an issue to be overcome.
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
III. Investigating the Ends of Identity
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
What about the Ends of Identity?
Following Goffman (1959) if frontstage is self performed, and backstage is more essential self, who builds the stage, and who remembers the performance(s)?
Before (online) agency: before birth, until the ‘reigns’ of online identity tools and performances are inherited?
After (online) agency: who looks after online traces of self once the self they refer to dies?
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Focusing on the ends matters (and will also reveal more about the middle) …
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Parents as initial identity curators …
Parents/guardians set the initial parameters of online identity.
From ultrasounds photos to cute toddler pics, losing that first tooth etc …
How do and should young people ‘inherit’ online identities?
Should ‘OMG kids online’ moral panic invert (OMG how are my parents shaping my online identity?)?
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Parents: Framing Online Identities?
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Facebook’s Timeline: Starts at birth.
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Facebook: Deletes ‘Kids’
Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=kids+on+facebook
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
At the other end:Memorializing Performed Digital Selves? What happens to profiles, accounts,
photos, videos and other social traces after someone dies?
Do we have the right to delete it all?
Should it be memorialized?
Does the presumption of ‘privacy’ supersede all other considerations after death?
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Gravestones as Databases
Living Headstones comes with 5 years of QR-code driven database access about the deceased person.
www.monuments.com/livingheadstone
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
PassMyWill.com
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Facebook: Memorialize or Delete
Source: https://www.facebook.com/help?page=842
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Facebook: Memorializing Accounts
Source: https://www.facebook.com/help?page=842
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Some initial framing questions …
What do current initial identity curation practices (by parents etc) and memorialisation practices reveal about the way online identity is conceptualised?
How does agency act as a variable when considering social media?
How might data about identity be (re)conceptualised in light of the identity information outliving individuals?
What current digital literacies are under-developed (eg parents thinking about their kids identities; estate planning about digital materials).
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
References Allen, M., & Leaver, T. (Forthcoming). Web Presence: Staying Noticed in a Networked World. Social
Media Series. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.
Aufderheide, P. (2010). Copyright, Fair Use, and Social Networks. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 274-303). Routledge.
boyd, danah. (2010). Social Network Sites and Networked Publics: Affordances, Dymanics and Implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 39-58). Routledge.
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Book.
Helmond, A. (2010). Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. www.annehelmond.nl, PDF: http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf.
Papacharissi, Z. (2010). Conclusion: A Networked Self. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 304-318). Routledge.
Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Questions or Comments?
Or find me later …
www.tamaleaver.net
@tamaleaver
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