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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) …

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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?

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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

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

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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?)?

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Parents: Framing Online Identities?

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Facebook’s Timeline: Starts at birth.

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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?

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Gravestones as Databases

Living Headstones comes with 5 years of QR-code driven database access about the deceased person.

www.monuments.com/livingheadstone

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PassMyWill.com

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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

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).

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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

t.leaver@curtin.edu.au