My (secret) online identities

I’ve been thinking about this digital literacy thing from my own reality.  There are heaps of definitions out there which basically say that to communiucate properly and safely online you need to be digitally literate, I’ve found Leigh Blackall’s work useful in the area of digital literacy. As our physical and digital lives increasingly converge, things are becoming more complex.  Just as we have a set of social rules and norms when communicating face to face, we have a set of norms and rules which guide our behaviour online.  I wouldn’t tell my professional contacts about my crazy weekend, just as I wouldn’t bore my friends with intricate workings of my latest work project over coffee. So why would I do it online?

Let me clarify… Some of us are always going to be more willing to share different aspects of our lives (particularly Gen-Y’s apparently, but that’s another discussion).

For instance, my Facebook contains people from all walks of life. My Facebook is also my generic “catch all” online identity – I’ll even show it to my classmates on the projector screen. I’m a pretty open person, and if it’s there, I’ve deemed it fit for public display – social and professional.  My lecturer knows I like Pink Floyd? Good for him! My coworkers know my favourite books? – great! However, my Facebook will not tell you what I don’t want “the world” to know so readily. It will not tell you what course I am studying, it doesn’t acknowledge the existence of my blog, my (real) friends know it is not cool to tag me in photos doing incredibly stupid things… and so on.  I have other identities for these things.

For example, my varied Ning memberships will tell you all about my work responsibilities and opinions surrounding e-Learning, but nothing about my favourite books. This is because I choose to use Ning for professional pursuits, just as some may choose to use facebook purely socially, or purely professionally.

My del.icio.us tags are similarly professional in intent.  They are all about surprise, surprise – e-Learning. However, if a professional acquaintence found me on Flickr I’d be surprised and a little confronted as my personal photos are listed under a totally unrelated alias and not referred to on any other social sites on purpose because they aren’t intended to cross the social and digital divide between friends and professionals.

In short, just as my personality is multifaceted in the physical world, it is in the digital world too. Most importantly, who sees what is up to me, it’s my decision what is online, and where it is online. Digital literacy is about understanding the digital medium so you can use it in a safe and well informed manner, and for me, that means keeping some boundaries between the different parts of my life, being aware of the forum into which I am posting my thoughts, considering who may be looking at what I’ve written and so on. There’s more to digital literacy than that, but that’s my short take on digital identity and digital literacy.

Oh, and where do I live? I live online of course B-)