identity management

[netwoman]

Identity management with ubiquitous computing....
Negotiating ourselves online
Blurring the boundaries between work and the personal – are there any boundaries anymore? we tend to post a lot about ourselves online - both in the sense of the front stage and back stage - our work/public selves and our orivate selves - or for friends and family
For example, posting stuff about yourself online = Flickr – a potential employer finds pics of you at a party and you’re drunk and look stupid. People will google stalk you and search for information about you. SHould they do they? ethically - i mean people will do it whether it's ethical or not.

What about if the person you are looking for/googling is a different person?
Naomi Baron talks about this - here's the ppt link:
http://www.american.edu/tesol/YouAreWhatTheyPost.ppt

so with ubiquitous computing/internet - we need to think about our identity management/presentation etc....

[Joanna Robinson]

Glad you raised this topic, as I've thought about it often.

As an early adopter, I've always enjoyed going to the "dark reccesses" of the web, to see what is really going on there, rather than simply consuming reports about their (so called) deviance and leaving it at that. After all, deviance is socially constructed! Whenever I am in such a place, I am always concious of the choice to reveal that I am a rl-researcher, and will always tell people what I do for a living if they ask. Usually this consists of a "I research, but I am not here researching you" type conversation. Often I get positive responses to this, people are glad that academics are actually wanting to understand communities, by being a part of them, even when not doing research. They seem quitea glad that "people like me" are there, for whatever reasons.

Another part of me says, it shouldn't matter who I am, as I'm not here in that capacity....

At first, I handled this by having separate identities, online in such places I was simply my nickname, and then my academic website (and hence identity representation) was separate entirely. Lately, I have been more confident to link the two, but still with caution.

In terms of flickr photos, I always take social (or bar/pub!) pictures as well as more formal photos when I go on a conference trip. I think it's great that the flickr.com software allows users to decide which pictures will be seen publicly, and which only their friends (using the flickr friend list) will be able to view.
If you go to my flickr (through my website at www.JoannaSRobinson.com), you will see that on my last trip, I opted to put some pictures of myself drinking with other conference participants. When I took all of my pictures (whether formal at the conference, or informal), I asked the people in the shots if it was okay to put them on my academic blog/photo album. They all consented, except for one individual, so I didn't include those pictures.
If potential employers don't want to hire me because of my (sometimes radical) views I post on my blog, or because I am drinking vodka in a photograph, then they can hire someone else who suits their more conservative ways!

I guess I just ask myself, what am I happy for people to know about me?
What am I okay with discussing with any member of the public or academic community about my identity?
What is private?
I think it is up to me to make sure what is private cannot be google-stalked.