Openness and Identity

Session Title: Openness and Identity

Presenter: D’arcy Norman, Educational Technology Consultant, University of Calgary

Time & Date: 3:30 P.M. - 4:15 P.M., Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Location: Rm. C100

Session Description: We have had strategies and cultural norms in place to isolate and protect aspects of our identities, but many of these become difficult or impossible - or are explicitly negated - when dealing with open and online contexts. How does a person define who they are, when so much raw data about them is freely or easily available? How do they determine who they are? Do they get to determine that for themselves? How do anonymity and privacy interact to help individuals control access to their identity online? How can they publish content and discourse on controversial topics if there are concerns about repercussions and personal safety as a result?

This presentation will explore several themes that overlap to form the compound concept of identity (ownership, control, credentials, assertions, personas, activities, etc…). Although many of the aspects are obvious and intuitive, a discussion of the implications, including risks and benefits, of open and online exposure is essential to fully understand what we are asking our students to do. What does it mean for a student to publish their work online? How does this affect their online identity, and by extension, their identity as a whole? How can students continue to publish content online, while doing so in safety? How can we provide safe places for students to explore and discuss topics that could potentially be damaging to their identity and credibility, without negating the powerful network effects offered by social software? Who controls access to various parts of a person’s identity? What are these parts, and who gets to define them?

There will likely not be any profound answers offered, but rather a discussion of these issues, and how they relate to open education and online activity in general.