Digital Identity - What does yours look like? (Tech task #1)

Go ahead, google yourself, I will wait for you to come back to this tab. 

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

Welcome back! While you were gone, I also googled myself. If I google my maiden name, my online presence is very professional and positive. Academic awards, my Instagram and past school projects come up, in that order. All of the headlines that appear are things that I am proud to have as a part of my digital identity because even on my social media, there is nothing that I wouldn't want anyone to see. This isn't by accident, I have constructed and edited my digital identity over years of being on the internet. 

What did your digital identity look like when you googled yourself? Were you proud or maybe shocked? 

This blog post will take you through what the term digital identity is, conversations regarding the different views on digital identity such as digital dualism and my thoughts on digital identity spread through the post. 

What does "digital identity" mean?

Before searching around for more information, I already found the question about digital identity loaded because the definition of identity in itself, can be taken in many ways. Dictionary.com give us TEN different meanings of just the term identity, but for the purpose of this blog let's use the following definition of identity; "condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person or thing." 

With the continual increase in the use of technology and the internet in our lives, the concept of digital identity and questioning what that concept means has surfaced as an ongoing conversation. A Jumio blog post defines digital identity as anything and everything about you that exist in digital form. They go even further to break up the digital identity being composed of two categories: your digital attributes and digital activities. There is a great table here, that breaks out what is considered within those two categories. 

Alongside the concept of digital identity, there is a debate about the divide between the digital world and the real world (the physical world). The debate comes with a term to describe those who believe in the divide called; digital dualism. 

What is digital dualism and how does it affect digital identity?

The individual, Nathan Jurgensor, who coined the term digital dualism, defines it as a bias held that the digital and the physical are separate; believing the digital world is "virtual"  and the physical world as "real."

I am proposing an alternative view that states that our reality is both technological and organic, both digital and physical, all at once. We are not crossing in and out of separate digital and physical realities, ala The Matrix, but instead live in one reality, one that is augmented by atoms and bits.

                                                                                                 -Nathan Jurgensor

The implications the belief of dualism has on digital identity are many. One that comes to my mind is that if we see our digital identity as separate from the physical life, that implies that there are is a connection in the consequences of our digital identity in the physical world and vice ver·sa. Although, all of us, if not many of us know that is not the case. There are physical consequences for things that you post online, whether that be reprimanded in your workplace, praise by your peers or many other tangible consequences. The digital platforms widely used such as Facebook connects us to people we have met in the physical world and things that are physically attend or do. Does this not mean that those two supposed "separate" worlds are not just one big reality we live in? 

Taking control of our identity as a model for our students

When it comes to my identity, I have so many qualities and beliefs but I choose to only express particular ones in different situations. So when talking about digital identity, I do not take a dualist approach as I believe that we do not live in two worlds, but rather one reality. Simply, my digital identity is another extension of myself, no different than the various extensions I present to the world at work, at home, to my friends and in different situations. All those versions of me, are no less my identity than the digital footprints I leave on the internet. 

The idea of digital identity is often met with the concept that we have no control over our digital identity but I believe that we can and should take ownership of how we present the digital extension of ourselves to the world. The concept of owning your digital identity is something I intend to bring into the classroom. Teaching my students about the tools and skills they can use to create the online presences that they can be proud of and one that shapes their true self. My learners will know the risks but also the benefits and opportunities of building their digital identities. 

Hopefully, today wasn't the first time you have googled yourself. I urge you to continue to take ownership of your digital identity and for my fellow teachers, I urge you to inform your students how to do the same.