presentation of self in digital life

The Presentation of Self in Digital Life: identities, literacies and pedagogies

Steve WheelerPlymouth University

Photo by Rick Doble: https://commons.wikimedia.org

Instruments, mediating tools

Subject Object

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CommunityRules Division of Labour

Engeström, Y., Miettinen, R. and Punamäki, R. (1999) Perspectives on Activity Theory. Cambridge University Press.


Subject Object

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Technology

Identity

Community

Learning



Subject Object

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Technology

Identity

Community

“We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us.” - Marshall McLuhan

“New tools of thinking give rise to new mental structures.” - Lev Vygotsky

“We see ourselves reflected in the eyes of others.” - Charles Cooley

Learning


Who am I?

Photo by Brecht Soenen: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bresc/38964903/

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I am who I think you think that I am

I am not who you think I am

I am not who I think I am

Who do you think you are?

Symbolic Interactionism

Image source Demeter Gray: http://shadeofashes.blogspot.co.uk

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“We see ourselves reflected in the eyes of others” – Charles Cooley (1902)

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“People are able to build a ‘self’ by cycling through many selves”

- Sherry Turkle Stev

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“Identity … experienced as a set of roles that can be mixed and matched, whose diverse demands need to be negotiated” – Sherry Turkle (1995)

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Photo by Master Philip: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-4442912215

‘The Saturated Self’ – Kenneth Gergen

http://kols.deviantart.com/art/The-Ghost-of-Saturday-Night-177201886

People are “compelled to present themselves more accurately to people who know them better.”

Leary, M & Allen, A. (2011) Self-Presentational Persona: Simultaneous Management of Multiple Impressions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101 (5), 1033–1049

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Photo by Steve Wheeler

Anonymity

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“…feelings of anonymity may encourage greater participation, and create more equal opportunities for contributions, with no interruptions from the more vocal members of the group.”Pearson, J. (2000) Lurking, Anonymity and Participation in Computer Conferencing. In D. M. Watson and T. Downes (Eds.) Communications and Networking in Education: Learning in a Networked Society. London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

http://christophersmark.wordpress.com/

PassiveObserver

TransactionalParticipant

PeripheralParticipant

Adapted from: Karalis, T. (2010) Situated and transformative learning: exploring the potential of critical reflection to enhance organizational knowledge, Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 24 (1), 17 - 20

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Lurking = legitimate peripheral participation?

Core

‘Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feelings, and actions.’ (O’Sullivan, 2003)

http://www.halloffame.outreach.ou.edu/2003/Mezirow.html

Jack Merizow

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Perspective transformation

Psychological (changes in self concept) Convictional changes (revision of belief systems)Behavioural changes (changes in lifestyle)

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Photo by Steve Wheeler

PassiveObserver

TransactionalParticipant

PeripheralParticipant

Core Group

Full Member

Adapted from: Karalis, T. (2010) Situated and transformative learning: exploring the potential of critical reflection to enhance organizational knowledge, Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 24 (1), 17 - 20

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The transformation ‘event horizon’ – Kevin Burden

Data

Information

Knowledge

Wisdom

Transformation

ENGAGEMENT

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Photo by Josh Liba: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-4017909606

Digital Identityhttp://kellyholborow.blogspot.co.uk

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ktpPgzcNXhE

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Blogging

http://www.volusion.com/

In the act of writing... ...we are written.

- Daniel Chandler

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@timbuckteeth

Presentation of self in cyberspace

... the performance of ‘the self’ online

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http://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/image.jpeg?w=880

The case of Santiago Swallow

Presentation of Self in Digital Life

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Photo by Richie Diesterheft: http://www.flickr.com/photos/puroticorico/326684729/

Goffman – Drama Model

How would your behaviour change if this man walked into the room?

Goffman in the real world: The ‘Celebrity Effect’

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org

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What about these men?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-cbi/5148144187/

http://commons.wikimedia.org

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What about this woman?

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http://com

mons.w

ikimedia.org/w

iki/File:Pamela_Anderson_2_cropped.jpg

Would your behaviour change if one of these walked into the room right now?

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• Well known person and an unknown person walk into a shop

• The unknown person asks for change of a £20 note to make an urgent phone call

• Observers watch for reactions from the till operator

• They measure interactions• In the ‘control condition’ two unknowns

walk into the shop

A Field Experiment

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• A pleasant surprise• Shop assistants were

‘forced’ from their front stage into their back stage roles

• Celebrities ‘come into our homes’ everyday!

• Rules were forgotten or broken

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Photo by Dawn Wheeler

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugovk/3945049632/

Sentiment tracking

Digital Reputation

language

Managing online identity

nameimages

netiquettereputation

avatar interaction

privacy

personal data

identity

legacy

reputationname

privacy

images

interaction

http://i.dailymail.co.uk

Learners need ‘digital wisdom’

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Digital Tribes and the Social Web:

How Web 2.0 will Transform Learning in

Higher Education

Steve WheelerUniversity of Plymouth

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Engaging the Digital Generation Conference: University of Middlesex, London, 29 June 2010

In 2010 I presented this keynote…

“Where digital communication has

fractured the tyranny of distance and computers

have become pervasive and ubiquitous, identification through digital mediation

has become the new cultural capital”.

- Wheeler (2009)

Digital cultural capital – Membership of the Tribe

http://www.coreideas.com.au/

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Connection

cc S

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http://i.imx.comw

Celebration

One tribe or many?

http://www.zimbio.com

Collaboration

http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

Costume echo = group identity


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Postural echo =Identification

http://w

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Tribal Nature of New Media

“New media ... have made our world into a single unit... The world is now like a continually sounding tribal drum. Media point us away from individual man and toward tribal man.”

- Marshall McLuhan (1960)metapedia.com

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“Twitter and blogs ... contribute an entirely new dimension of what it means to be a part of a tribe. The real power of tribes has nothing to do with the Internet and everything to do with people.”

Internet Tribes“A tribe needs a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

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“The internet eliminates geography. This means that there are now more tribes: smaller tribes, influential tribes, and tribes that could never have existed before.” - Seth Godin

http://nedgrace.files.wordpress.com

Tribes

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Digital Tribes and Virtual Clans

There is one digital tribe ... But there are may subsets of this large digital tribe – what we can term ‘virtual clans’.

- Wheeler (2009)

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http://www.phillwebb.net

Totems

“It is easier to project your feelings of awe towards a totem than something as complex as the tribe.”

- Emile Durkheim

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Digital Totems?

• Gathering places• Rituals and rules• Celebration and fun• Transmission of customs,

social mores and values (storytelling)

• = Tribal identity• = Social networks

http://w

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alsh/3412625028/

Source: Wheeler (2009) Digital Tribes

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Digital Totems

For digital tribes ... their totems are their social networking tools within the World Wide Web.

http://www.faqs.org

Source: Wheeler (2009) Digital Tribes

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Wikipedians(Deletionism + Exclusionism) /Inclusionism =

Darwikinism

Source: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Darwikinism

Survival of the fittest

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Flickrites and Facebookers

http://www.travel-images.com http://www.coal-is-dirty.com

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Smart Mobs

http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu

“Smart Mobs consist of people who are able to act in concert even if they don’t know each other. [They can] cooperate in ways never before possible.”

Rheingold, H. (2002) Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

The ‘Thumb Tribe’ – one thumb signalling

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Flash mobs

http://idirekt.cz

The power of txting to organise collective action

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Blogging Tweeting

Public performance of learning?

Video Podcast

Photo by Ed Yourdon: http://fr.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-3405811164

What my students said about Twitter...

http://jcbarrington.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-twitter.html

http://jiscrsc.jiscinvolve.org/wp/files/2013/04/digvis-digres.png

“We all fall somewhere along a continuum between Digital Visitor and Digital Resident, from very occasional online interaction, like accessing your bank account, to the evolution of a complex online presence through a variety of platforms.” – Judy Bloxham (JISC, 2013)

Digital Residents, Digital Visitors (White & Le Cornu, 2011)

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Personal Learning NetworksPhoto by Steve Wheeler

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Beyond my reach

What I can learn with help(ZPD)

ZPD and scaffolding

What I can learn on my

own

Technology and toolsKnowledgeable others

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http://thirdmonth.blogspot.co.uk

Computers as ‘mind tools’ for the engaging of learners in critical thinking

- David Jonassen

Photo by Mark Hillary http://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/4135336907/

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Twitter Wall

Students blogging

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“I have never had to work so hard before!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgaCdR1IZzA

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Learners will need new ‘literacies’• Social networking• Privacy maintenance• Identity management• Creating content• Organising content• Reusing and repurposing• Filtering and selecting• Self presenting• Transliteracy

http://www.mopocket.com/

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