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Dr Tama Leaver, Curtin University

Co-creating Life and Death

on Social Media?23.10.2013

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

Outline

MOAR Agency?

The Ends of Identity: Birth and Death

Online Identities and Co-Creativity?

23.10.2013IR14 Preconference

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

I. MOAR AGENCY

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The Networked Self / Networked Publics

Persistance

Replicability

Scalability

Searchability (boyd, 2010)

+ Ownership (Aufderheide, 2010)

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Identity 2.0 (Helmond, 2010)

In Perpetual Beta

Networked

(other) User-generated identity

Distributed

Indexed

Persistent

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Web Presence (Allen, 2010; Leaver, 2010)

Internet Footprints

Digital Shadows

Social Media Rivers

From “user-generated content” to “Content-generated users.”

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 (eg better privacy settings).

BUT what about identities not tied to users with agency?

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

II. The Ends of Identity?Birth & Death

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What about the Ends of Identity?

Following Erving 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?

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The emergence of such social media platforms as Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Bundlr and YouTube facilitating the sharing of images has allowed the wide dissemination of imagery and information about the unborn in public forums. Indeed, sharing of the first ultrasound photograph on social media has become a rite of pregnancy for many women. (Lupton, 2013, p. 42)

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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?

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

Parents: Framing Online Identities?

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The Shift to Real Names (nymwars) …

Single database point. All activity connected …

(It’s harder to play when nothing goes away.)

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

Also …

Shadow profiles (Facebook’s non-user database).

Facial recognition (all profile pictures; likely soon all pictures).

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

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?

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Facebook: Memorialize or Delete

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help?page=842

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Facebook: Memorializing Accounts

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help?page=842

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

No ownership

No digital assets, no digital will.

‘Rights’ revert to Facebook.

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

Facebook …

ALL (memorial) or NOTHING (deleted).

No CURATION of the final memorialised page.

(Many loved ones ‘drive’ the account after someone dies since they’ve been left the password).

CONTEXT COLLAPSE (Marwick and boyd, 2011).

Memorialised = space to remember, space to post about the deceased.

Also memorial pages (created specifically, not timelines) but that brings the grief trolls.

25.09.2013

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It’s hard to sell ads to dead people.

But you can sell ads at the funeral.

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

III. Online Identities and Co-Creativity

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Co-Creativity?

Initially developed to describe increasing user input into design of videogames (Banks & Humphreys 2008; Banks and Potts 2010).

Co-creativity emphasises:

1.Meaningful/influential user input into design/creation.

2.Recognises unequal power relationship between companies and users.

3.Focuses collaborative media creation.

4.Emphasises users as an active community, not just individuals.

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Co-Creating Identities

1. Meaningful/influential user input not just using a platforms affordances as intended, but also pushing beyond, and at times arguing for new ones (eg memorialisation).

2. Unequal user/company power relations influence doesn’t mean equal standing (design, affordances, privacy policies, EULAs etc.).

3. Focuses collaborative media creation identity as ‘media’ highlights its longevity and value for users and companies/platforms (as meaning, as legacy, as history, and as raw material for ‘big data’).

4. Emphasises users as an active community, not just individuals many people ‘create’ an individual’s online identity; at the ends, it’s the dance between other users and the company/platform that ‘creates’ the most. (Parents/guardians/etc create kids online; families/friends continue to create someone’s online legacy once them pass away).

23.10.2013IR14 Preconference

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

References Allen, M. (2009). Web Presence: Understanding persistent and interlinked content as the basis of identity formation

and promotion through the contemporary Internet, Communication, Creativity and Global Citizenship: Australia and New Zealand Communications Association Annual Conference, Brisbane.

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.

Banks, J., & Humphreys, S. (2008). The Labour of User Co-Creators: Emergent Social Network Markets? Convergence, 14(4), 401–418.

Banks, J., & Potts, J. (2010). Co-creating games: a co-evolutionary analysis. New Media Society, 12(2), 253–270.

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 .

Leaver, T. (2010) I tweet therefore I am? Challenges in learning identity by teaching web presence, Teaching and Learning Forum, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup.

Lupton, D. (2013). The Social Worlds of the Unborn. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Marwick, A. E., & boyd, danah. (2011). I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media & Society, 13(1), 114 –133. doi:10.1177/1461444810365313

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.