Digital literacy has often been based on skills for using software and hardware tools. This paper presents the exhibition Digital Identity, a reflection about concepts, basic tools and necessary skills for creating and managing a digital identity. This cultural and educational project has been organized by Sa Nostra Foundation and IBIT Foundation, two regional institutions with the collaboration of IB3 TV and radio. After the host venue of Palma (Majorca, Balearic Islands), the exhibition will take place in Minorca and Ibiza. Around the exhibition, speeches, film sessions, teacher training courses, guided visits and videocast-podcast workshops for teenagers and adults have been scheduled.
Following the phrase from Anil Dash, “I am the primary and principal source of information on myself”, we understand the concept of Digital Identity as a representation of ourselves, an autoconstruction that we build on the web with every single action that we do, for instance when we create a nickname, we open a blog or we buy a web domain; when we publish words, photos or videos; when we do geographical localisations of the pictures that we share with friends and relatives; what we explain about our life, hobbies and job; or simply when we leave small traces of ourselves on the Internet through interactions, communications or dialogues with other digital individuals.
The exhibition shows the role of the personal and corporative digital identity in the web society, how important it is to build and manage, and underline the opportunities and risks that accompany the net existing in forums, chats, websites, blogs, social networks, collaborative spaces and metaverses. Young and adult visitors are made aware of the digital identity as they take care of themselves in the physical world, specially for two reasons: a) To avoid social digital exclusion b) To control the digital image that we show to the others through our interventions in cyberspace, and track self related information that others publish on the web.
The project includes the use of web spaces by a mannequin called Josomid, example, host and reporter of the project. In all those virtual spaces, Josomid has been discovering and reflecting on the digital identity. He has published pictures and videos on Fotolog and Youtube. In addition, to further promote social relationships over the Internet, he is working on his positioning in cyberspace through spaces for content and relations, like Twitter and Orkut. He is also profiling his digital identity based on the music listened to via LastFM. Josomid has created his digital identity by using those 2.0 webtools, but all that disperse and fragmented information about himself has been integrated on the official website (www.identitatdigital.net) by using Feevy tool, that increases the visibility of the example given by Josomid as well as provides updated information about the related activities and the forthcoming events.The official website includes practical information, the results of an online questionnaire about digital identity and a catalogue of digital identities.
The lessons learned are three: (1) Digital actions can have an effect on the construction of digital identity; (2) Digital identity is a need as well as a requirement within the net society, specially for young people. Nobody can avoid having a digital representation; and (3) Visibility popularity and recognition must be taken into account on the net as in the physical world.