6 selves of being digital: Digital Footprints #bonstewart
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Source : http://theory.cribchronicles.com/2012/05/06/digital-identities-six-key-selves/ and read the comments at the end – below is a copy of the definitions provided
Six Key Selves of Networked Publics from Bon
1. The Performative, Public Self
The networked self is neither a discrete, unique snowflake that can be examined entirely unto itself, outside relationality, nor a generic group member. The networked self is linked in multiple, complex, individual node-to-node relationships with others as part of an ever-shifting public. It is also performative, constituting itself within that public through its practices and gestures.
Within network publics the performative self experiences both the flattening of hierarchies across space and status (I talked to theorist Henry Giroux on Twitter the other day! And he followed me back! Yay! Access!) and the network theory principle that big nodes are more likely to attract attention and links (Giroux didn’t actually talk back to me. Boo. Sniff. But his semi-celebrity status in the world of academia means he’s always going to have a wider pool of people aware of him and clamouring for his attention).
The performative self in networked publics tends to be conscious of his or her multiplicity and performative nature: Rob Horning’s post on the data self does a very entertaining job of encapsulating much of how this self differs from previous cultural conceptions of identity and subjectivity.
2. The Quantified – or Articulated – Self
In social networks, our network contacts are visible and articulated, and our actions and contributions are quantified. This makes the act of choosing to follow or “friend” another person always already a public, performative statement (see above) and likewise a notch in the belt of one’s personal metrics. Status and scale in social networks are frequently treated as overtly measurable attributes, tracked in clicks and follows and @s and likes by tools like Klout: I have hesitancies about the applications and limitations of algorithms as stand-ins for identity, especially when we begin to think about the self in learning contexts.
3. The Participatory Self
The participatory, networked self is not only mobile and connected, never fully disengaged from the communications of the network, but is able to engage and contribute at a click to the self-presentation of others. This is based in part on the produsage or prosumer nature of networked publics, merging production and consumption: within my networks I am both a creator of my own content but also a consumer of that which my peers produce and share. My relationships are groomed by the constant iterative work of participation, and my comfort with working in isolation towards a final product – as was the paper model of creative work – recedes in the rear-view mirror.
4. The Asynchronous Self
Simply put: I hate when my phone rings. And I’m not alone. Digital sociality practices and networked publics moved increasingly towards asynchronous mediated communications, rather than the interruptive, immediate demands of telephones. Last night, as I tried to record the video for this post, my stepmother called. Twice. I rest my case? ;)
5. The PolySocial – or Augmented Reality – Self
Contrary to much of the digital identity scholarship of the 1990s, which tended to emphasize the fluidity of identity uncoupled from the gendered and signified body – the “on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” theme – the concept of networked publics has given rise to a far more enmeshed notion of reality. Drawing from this, my work frames digital identities not as virtual selves, but as particular subjects brought into being by our relational, mobile interactions in the world of bits and extending into the world of atoms. My networks and relationships – and therefore my identities – exist within the enmeshed and multi-faceted realities of contemporary human interaction.
On the cyborgology blog, Nathan Jurgenson, PJ Rey et al have done an exceptional job of examining and detailing the complexities of what they call Augmented Reality, or the enmeshed and mutually influential confluence of atoms and bits. Sally Applin and Michael Fischer offer the somewhat differently framed concept of PolySocial Reality to explore the interoperability of contemporary contexts.
And from the perspective of someone who once pretended to be a dog, Alan Levine (@cogdog) has a great video keynote narrating his experiences as a self in the enmeshed world of atoms and bits.
6. The Neo-Liberal, Branded Self
Our social networking platforms are increasingly neo-liberal “Me, Inc” spaces where we are exhorted to monetize and to “find our niche.” I’ve argued that in these spaces, no matter how we choose to perform our identity, we end up branding ourselves.
And from me I would add
7. Sharing self
The basis of humans, we love to share and sharing is our form of identity. http://www.mydigitalfootprint.com/?sort=&search=sharing
8. persona at a point self
The ability to create a mixture of any identity I want as a persona at that time, for what ever reason.
http://www.mydigitalfootprint.com/?sort=&search=persona
9. Helping Self
I am a citizen and I find my identity through helping
Most of out need for some form of Identity comes back to some good old fashioned basic human physiology…. Is there anything new under the Sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
Background: http://catherinecronin.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/digital-identities/ and http://ct231.wordpress.com/ CT231 Professional Skills is a 2nd year course in the BSc Computer Science and Information Technology programme at NUI Galway. The course covers a range of topics related to research and communication: search and research strategies, evaluating sources, referencing, writing and presenting ideas, online publishing and curation, and teamwork. To complement this focus on the practices of research and communication, we will study and discuss a wide range of digital and social media topics, e.g. digital identity, privacy, openness, Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) and more. Each student will research a topic of their own choice, write and publish in different formats, prepare and deliver a presentation, and participate in online social networks about course topics.