Welcome to the First Week of #DigPINS!
Before you can interact with others in a digital space you need an identity of some kind yourself. Digital environments allow people to express and portray themselves in a myriad of ways. Sometimes digital spaces are used to paint authentic reflections of self but they can also be used to create new identities. Identities do not have to be that of an individual and often they are not.
#DigPINS starts with an exploration / reflection on one’s own digital identity(s). Together, we invite you to think about and discuss the digital identities that we have or would like to develop. We are not going to encourage a “right way” to form a digital identity. Rather, we will each share what spaces we occupy online and we will discuss what has worked for each person, what hasn’t, what fears we may have, and possible ideal identities for given contexts, as well as what we would like to avoid.
Some of the guiding questions for this week include:
- How do you portray yourself in different online spaces?
- How does a digital environment shape the way you can portray yourself?
- What social traces do you leave when you are on the web?
- How would you like to start / continue curating or shaping your digital presence and identity?
This week think about how you are going to get to know the others in our group. When we share physical space we don’t need to think about this as much or do as much. We send subtle cues about who we are by the way that we dress, the way we hold ourselves, the way we decorate our spaces, etc. In an online space we need to reach out and show who we are. If you have not reviewed the participation page of Week 0 you may want to check that out for some tips on how to do this.
Week 1 Content
View this welcome video from facilitators
Read:
- Why Academics Need a Digital Persona – Laura Pasquini
- In Praise of Living in Public – Bonnie Stewart (this article is a great introduction to the idea of context collapse)
Week 1 Activities
If you did not get a chance to review the Week 0 materials, that is okay but for this week, you should be sure that at minimum you have access to our #DigPINS Slack workspace and this blog.
1) Digital Identity Analysis
As a way to analyse, think, and talk about your digital identity we are asking you to make a Visitor and Resident (V&R) map and share it with the group or more broadly on Slack and Twitter if you so choose.To learn about how to make a Visitor and Resident map check out these video and reading resources – Visitor and Resident Typology and Video on VR Mapping. You can choose how you would like to make it but I recommend that you just draw it out on paper and then take a picture of it to share it with us. You may already have more than one digital identity if you maintain an identity for a business or project – feel free to map whichever identity you feel you would like to explore. At minimum share it in our Slack #week-1-identity channel but if you are looking to share more broadly post it on Twitter using our hashtag #DigPINS.
*Optional but very cool – If you are looking to go even further with exploring your digital identity some of the originators of the V&R mapping have moved away from V&R and started a new mapping process they are calling the Digital Practice Triangle. How does the triangle compare to the 2×2 matrix? Once you complete your analysis take a pic of it and post it to Slack. You can also consider reflecting on this practice as a potential topic for your blog post for this week.
2) Sync Video Call
We have two dates/times (June 2, 10-11am and June 3, 12-1pm) for all participants across schools to connect via Zoom. Hopefully you’ll be able to attend at least one of the sessions. I’ll personally share meeting information with each of you.
3) Slack
Slack is our backchannel to engage in text chat with those from our other networked schools. Inside of Slack you will find channels for different topics – we will add topics as we go along.
If you haven’t done so yet introduce yourself with a few sentences around who you are and why you are interested in #DigPINS in the #common-room channel in Slack.
Note that Slack will be our main mode of communication. To get the most out of this experience you should check it daily. If you feel comfortable, the best way to stay in contact is to download the app and make sure the notifications are turned on. Some things you could/should use Slack for:
- Posting quick informal thoughts on readings or concepts
- Responding to others’ quick informal thoughts
- Sharing other articles, videos, or podcasts that you come across
- Sharing things from your activities – like your Visitor/Resident map or your blog post each week
- Being notified that others have posted blog articles
- Asking and answering questions
4) Blogging
Write a blog post here on colgate.digpins.org (by the end of the week or even into the start of next week) with the #DigPINS community as your intended audience (although you may have other audiences in mind). Remember, this blog is public and will be syndicated at discuss.digpins.org).
What to write about?
This week’s post can be a response or reflection to the readings, the visitor / resident activity, a conversation from Slack, or anything else you find related – maybe something happened in your life this week or in the news that you find is related to “digital identity.” If you are having trouble picking a topic maybe think about posting to Slack to ask for some ideas. You can reflect in many ways (writing is only one), maybe, consider a video response – there are no word limits but remember your audience probably wants something in the middle (not too long or too short).
Remember…
Part of “blogging” is also reading and commenting on others’ posts so don’t forget to do that and remember the posts from all of the cohorts from all five schools syndicate to discuss.digpins.org. Once you create a new post, don’t forget to promote your post in Slack or on Twitter – no one knows that you have posted unless you tell them.
5) Twitter
We won’t use Twitter until next week, but start thinking about a Twitter handle if you don’t have one already. Not sure what you want your Twitter handle to be? maybe bring that up for discussion in Slack. Remember that Twitter is a public forum. Even if you don’t join Twitter in Week 2, you can follow the #DigPINS hashtag to see the conversations unfolding in that space.
Looking for More?
We only have so much time and #DigPINS is designed to be a quick and low-time commitment kind of experience. Digital Identity is a huge topic and if you are looking for more information this curation of articles, tools, repositories, platforms, and security and privacy resources by Lee Skallerup Bessette from a recent workshop that she led at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute is a great resource.
