- What is a digital identity?
A person’s identity is a the collective of a person’s digital presence (Stoller). It includes the digital platforms that the person uses and the searchable records that the person leaves on these platforms (Stoller). A person’ digital identity often contains contents that pertains to that person’s profession (Stoller). For example, a visual designer is likely to incorporate his/her portfolio as part of his/her digital identity. Digital identity is also unique to each individual in that it helps to identify each person as a lawful individual within the society, which facilitates activities such as registration, education, employment, and so on (Davos). Due to the nature of digital platforms, people’s digital identities constantly change and adapt (Stoller).
Personally speaking, I think digital identities entail way more than our identities written on an ID card. While our ID card contains enough information about us for identification, our digital identities help to depict profiles about ourselves that help others to know us from all different angels, since they are built upon the collective of our online activities and our online interactions with other people. And because our digital information is stored across digital platforms that have seemingly limitless storage, our digital identities last throughout space and time.
- How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?
Personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affects people’s social media use in both who they communicate and interact with and how they communicate and interact with these people. Personal use of social media revolves around interactions with people with shared interests and like – mindedness, and people also use social media to connect with friends and families (Spracklen). In these cases, personal approaches to digital identity puts less emphasis on professionalism and objectivity, as people are more likely to look for information that already confirms their pre-existing opinions and ideas (Spracklen). Personal use of social media is often more exclusive, as people are less tolerant of people whose opinions differ from theirs (Spracklen).
On the other hand, professional use of social media often serves a clear and strong purpose, whether it is to facilitate one’s career, or to support one’s professional learning. Thus, professional approaches social media use revolves around interacting with people in the same profession, and these interactions often revolve around professional subjects (Jawd et al.). When engaging in these professional networks, people are also more likely to appear professional and behave in ways that correspond with the expectations of that profession (Jawd et al.). For example, a medical graduate’s professional use of social media may including networking with other medical graduates on Linkedln, engaging in conversations on medical forums, answering medicine-related questions online, to name just a few.
- How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?
Digital identities have profound implications for both individuals and organizations in the public place. For individuals with no identification in both developing nations and developed nations, the technology that helps people get digital identities has profound implications for these people’s lives (Davos). Identification helps with virtually every aspect of people’s lives: access to education, opportunities for employment, registration for public services, digital transactions, to name just a few (Davos). Digital identities also facilitates people’s travel. Instead of an ID card that could easily be lost, digital identities could accompany people regardless of space and time (Davos). For organizations and institutions, the use of digital identities improves work efficiency and facilitates cost reduction in significant ways (Davos).
- Can a digital wallet provide trust in networked publics?
In my opinion, digital wallets could provide trust, but a lot of efforts must be put into the process. Incidents in the real world have proved time and time again that the current system used to protect our privacy and security is flawed. As mentioned in the Davos Forum discussion, new and more advanced technologies should be used to protect our privacy and security. For example, technologies that allow people to choose what information they want to disclose and technologies that allow people to give certification to companies would be particularly useful in these cases (Davos). What’s more, apart from technologies, there should also be commonly agreed upon standards for ethics and conduct for our digital identity, which should be used to guide operations (Davos).
Davos 2019 – Press Conference The Value of Digital Identity for the Global Economy and Society. “Davos 2019 – Press Conference the Value of Digital Identity for the Global Economy and Society.” YouTube, 5 Feb. 2019, youtu.be/1-V7lyxrOmw. Accessed 1 Feb. 2021.
Jawed, Saira, Usman Mahboob, and Rahila Yasmeen. “Digital professional identity: Dear Internet! Who am I?.” Education for Health 32.1 (2019): 33.
Spracklen, Karl. Identity-Making and Social Media. In:Â leisure, the internet and popular culture: Communities and identities in a digital age. Springer, 2015.
Stoller, Eric. “Eric Stoller – What Is Digital Identity?” YouTube, 25 Nov. 2016, youtu.be/u0RryRbJza0. Accessed 1 Feb. 2021.
Hi Heidi,
I like your idea that the digital identity is more important than the identity written on the ID card. Compared with traditional identity, digital identity greatly improves social efficiency and enables users to use personal information flexibly. In the Internet era, people’s digital identities are relatively scattered due to the numerous media for information acquisition and storage. Through continuous integration, a more comprehensive description of users will be realized.
Hi Zimeng,
I totally agree with you that people’s digital identities are relatively scattered due to the numerous platforms that we use. And I think it would be really cool if there is a service that could integrate our personal digital marks into a comprehensive portfolio, which could do us great favor in terms of making friends, forming a community of people with the same interests, or even seeking job opportunities and applying for schools.
Hi Heidi! Your blog post is excellent and well researched.
The quote from Spracklen’s book referring to personal digital identity as having “less emphasis on professionalism and objectivity … people are more likely to look for information that already confirms their pre-existing opinions and ideas.” and the idea that social media is more exclusive was helpful in reinforcing my learning from this week. The motivations for PLN building, like-mindedness, reputation and benevolence seem to remain part of the selection process (Rajagopal et al.) in professional digital networks as well. A great use of the quote, “[on] professional networks, people are also more likely to appear professional and behave in ways that correspond with the expectations of that profession. Maybe that’s why in the study by Jawed S, Mahboob U, Yasmeen R., emphasized the importance for teaching medical students how to be savvy in the performance of digital professional identity. One aspect that could be explored is the differentiation of performance in male and female digital professional identity. The study discussed how online social interactions are part of what shapes digital identity as well as digital professional identity. In a book titled RUDE [Stop being nice and start being bold] by Rebecca Reid, she shares a 2006 study by Carol Waleski where “women are more likely than men to use exclamation points as a softener in their email communication… women are considerably more worried about how their written communication comes across.” (Reid, p.116). I wonder if social interactions are part of the quotient of this outcome, like Jawed S, Mahboob U, Yasmeen R would suggest as it’s a performance of the digital professional identity through e-mail.
I like that you emphasized the benefits of digital identities for those in developing nations. I agreed with summarizing building trust in digital wallets as autonomy of the user over the data and data release and the collaborative and transparent regulations for these platforms.
Works Cited
Jawed S, Mahboob U, Yasmeen R. Digital professional identity: Dear Internet! Who am I? Educ Health 2019;32:33-5. https://www.educationforhealth.net/temp/EducHealth32133-1039146_025311.pdf
Rajagopal, Kamakshi, et al. “Understanding Personal Learning Networks: Their Structure, Content and the Networking Skills Needed to Optimally Use Them.” First Monday, vol. 17, no. 1-2, 2012, https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/download/3559/3131 doi:10.5210/fm.v17i1.3559.
Reid, R., 2020. Rude : Stop Being Nice and Start Being Bold. Simon & Schuster, Incorporated, p.116.
Hi Patricia,
Thank you so much for your insightful comment! I really appreciate is that you mentioned gender differentiation in the performance of digital professional identity. In my opinion, the differentiation largely results from gender roles within the society, which refers to the behaviors and attitudes that are considered appropriate and acceptable within a society. Within our society, females are generally expected to be “nicer” than males, and I think this fact could explain why females are more likely to use softeners in their emails. A lot of times online communications could be seen as simulations of real-life communications, and it is reasonable to expect that what happens in real-life communications would happen in online communications as well.