From 4-9 August I took part in the Digital Pedagogy Lab (DPL) 2019 at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. As a DPL 2019 Fellow I had the opportunity to deliver an afternoon workshop on the Wednesday on Black Diasporic Digital Knowledge and Pedagogy which involved discussing and drawing the many ways that Black people around the world create, curate, and share knowledge in and through digital space. As well as getting the chance to deliver this session, during my week at DPL 2019 I participated in a 5-day course on Digital Identity which was led by Sherri Spelic who runs the brilliant blog ‘edifiedlistener’.
DPL 2019 (which included several visits from adorable friends at Blue Gray Therapy Dogs!) offered a wide variety of week-long courses that piqued my interest. Among them were courses on Critical Open Pedagogy, Digital Scholarship, Inclusive Design, and Social Justice and the Curriculum. I would have gladly learnt more about all of these topics. However, having spent years researching issues related to digital culture and identity, as soon as I read about Sherri’s track I knew that I wanted to take part in it. Over the course of the week those who participated in the Digital Identity sessions explored questions concerning identity and the self (‘online’ and ‘offline’), different digital contexts (social media, digital creativity, online searches, blogging) and power struggles (between individuals, institutions, ideologies, and digital infrastructure). The questions covered were many, with variations of the following:
1. What is digital identity?
2. Can this concept [‘digital identity’] even be defined and what other words and language may be a useful way to capture issues and experiences related to digital environments, the self, identity, and online interactions?
3. How much control do people have over their digital experiences and/or how much control do they feel they have over them?
4. What are the different ways that people’s use of digital media and devices is implicated in their pedagogical approaches and learning experiences?
It’s hard to distil all the conversations had into one blog post. Alas, I try. At the heart of lots of questions and ideas that were shared at this wonderful course was the thought that terms such as ‘digital’ identity’, ‘digital presence’, ‘digital experience’, and ‘digital persona’ encompass a lot more than what may initially come to mind. While social media and video-sharing sites are commonly a part of discussions about digital media and identity (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, YouTube), some aspects of online activity are often less considered, such as browser search history, email accounts, online learning systems, online financial matters and certain aspects of podcast culture. Put briefly, people’s digital experiences (how and what they communicate about themselves in digital ways) are expansive and involve various (un)intentional actions and effects.
The concept of digital identity is a shape-shifting and slippery one that seems to escape ever fully being grasped. Is it merely a sum of digital parts; the accumulative impact of what a person says and does online, and how this is interpreted by others? Is it confined to online activity or does the concept of digital identity include different experiences that involve digital technology, devices, and media which are removed from an ‘online connection’? The DPL 2019 Digital Identity course was a deep-dive into grappling with what it means to be online but it was also a supportive space in which we wrestled with philosophical questions concerning what it means to be—how people’s sense of self is shaped by a messy web of ever-changing internal and external factors. Questions such as ‘what is digital identity?’ danced their way into others:
1. What is a person’s identity based on?
2. How is identity defined in different ways in society?
3. In what ways do people disclose their identities (disclosure practices) and/or experience others disclosing information about them?
This DPL 2019 course fostered a broad discussion of how people’s identities develop, in addition to tensions between how they self-identity/self-define and how others interpret their identity and try to assign them one (imposed/assigned identities). Rather than attempting to make the messiness that is “the digital world” seem neat and nicely packaged as buzzwords and slick definitions, this workshop rightly encouraged reflection on challenges involved in trying to sum up digital experiences, as well as critical analysis of what these challenges suggest about digital encounters and environments. Guided by Sherri, and through a combination of talking, moving, drawing, writing, creating, sharing, photographing, tweeting (and everything in between), during my time at DPL 2019 I thought about the fluidity of digital spaces. From the structure of social media platforms to the content found on them, digital spaces can be like putty—played with and sculpted by people in various ways that lead to end-results which can provoke playfulness, intrigue, outrage, and many different reactions.
When considering contemporary digital activity, the allure of dissecting particular dimensions of digital spaces and experiences can sometimes eclipse the need to account for different perspectives of what constitutes knowledge and existence—both online and offline. Through taking part in Sherri’s course I realised the importance of returning to philosophical questions to do with being and knowing when thinking and working through issues to do with digital identity and pedagogy.
*I wrote this in August 2019 and have returned to these reflections in the lead up to DPL 2020
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