Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Dr Tama Leaver / @tamaleaver

Who Do You Think You Are ‘2.0’?12 November 2012

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Outline

1. Context: the Ends of Identity

2. Who Do You Think You Are 2.0

3. Looking Forwards …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

(1) Context: Ends of Identity?

What happens in web presence/ self-presentation / ‘Identity 2.0’ style research when agency becomes a variable?

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

Web Presence (very approximate) …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Majority of current research …

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

(2) Who Do You Think You Are? (2.0!)

BBC series exploring history via personal genealogical narratives of celebrities.

Tiny fragments of information speak loudly.

Reminder that people = data long before digital databases.

However, digitisation leads to unprecedented searchability.

What would WDYTYA 2.0 look like, once today’s viewers become dust?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Instagram: #ultrasound (11/11/12)

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Instagram

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Instagram’s growth …

October 2010: Launch (Apple AppStore).

December 2010: 1 million users.

June 2011: 5 million users.

September 2011: 10 million users.

April 2012: Android version released.

September 2012: 100 million users.

But DOES MOBILE = PRIVATE?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Privacy: experiential but not technical …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

A plethora of Instagram web clients …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Geotags …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Data ownership …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

And now official Instagram web timelines …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Instagram: #ultrasound (11/11/12)

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

Implications?

Social implies conversation (considered ephemeral) but media implies content (which persists).

Privacy is often presumed and ‘experienced’ but not technically the case.

Interface Occlusion: hard to imagine mobile apps as public web material.

Thus when personal data is about broader contexts (eg families, not just individuals), the utility and persistence of data matters even more.

Parental social media (over-)sharing both persists and frames children’s identities online.

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

But, at the other end …

Are personal conversations (email) and other social media (photos, videos) owned by the individual?

‘Digital estates’ an emerging topic of interest and deeply unclear in law.

Corporate policies stress individual privacy and agency, with varying responses to users’ deaths.

For example, what happens when a loved one or business partner desperately needs details in a recently departed person’s email account?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

To access a deceased relative’s Google account … (1/2)

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

To access a deceased relative’s Google account … (2/2)

Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=14300

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

NB: Single Google Privacy Policy …

1 March 2012: 70 different privacy policies for Google products (Gmail, Blogger, Picasa, YouTube, etc.) merged into a single Privacy Policy.

+ve simplification

-ve deep integration across all Google databases about you (watch something on YouTube, see related ads on Blogger).

http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

And: A Single ‘Delete’ Button, Too …

Source: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1151740

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Historically-significant videos?

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Why?

It’s hard to sell ads to dead people.

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Looking forwards

We need to consider …1. What information do we want to persist (for ourselves and

others we converse with and about).

2. Who else should (or could) have access to ‘my data’ once I’m dead?

3. Should corporations decide what material is deleted after someone dies? (Should my YouTube videos have to disappear if someone closes my Gmail account after I’m dead)?

4. What policies do we need to distinguish personal information we want to erase from material of historical or other significance?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

It might be silly, but it’s still part of our legacy …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Questions or Comments?

Or find me later …

www.tamaleaver.net

@tamaleaver

t.leaver@curtin.edu.au