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in progress-------->> Networked/ Online identity

Im interested in the issue of identity in the networked society and particularly in online identity. I find it useful to comparatively begin on how the individuality construction (Foucault) has been transformed through the informational interchanges of information society (Deleuze) to the current protocol status. (Gallaway) Trough the examination of identity and the self within the three historical waves I will attempt to approach the current status of our online identities that seem to be created with a curator-librarian methodology. They are built with information collections accesed online, described with metadata and based on textual formats like the code. Moreover they are distributed within the network again and their elements can be further remixed by others.

It seems that the online world offers a space for identity exploration and construction through a variety of platforms and activities like personal webpages, blogs, social networks, elearning, online business, communicating with others, uploading content etc. This could be liberating on the one hand, but on the other is overshadowed by the fact that we tend to think of internet as a free space, while it is highly controled. Online identities seem to be connected to both techno-libertarian utopia and the internet as a tool for personal freedom. In addition they exist as a field of critical exploration about the self, anonimity, pseudonimity, participation, self presentation.

Therefore it raises my interest to explore questions like: Are we free in the objects we chose in our information collecting practises ? What is the role of identity in the context of social networking and what methodologies do we use to construct our profiles? How does this affect the way we perceive and present ourselves? How does the extensive use of metadata created by others affect us? (I am thinking that -at least modern- identity was always built with metadata,always created in a database mode, but within the cultures of free access and sharing, social tagging and remixing this is beeing transformed) Can virtual space be liberating or are we enclosed in a very liquid controlled identity construction space? What is the role of archiving and digital preservation (of the self)?

Connections with important writers and identity related topics seem meaningful. (Harraways fragmented identities, Foucaults the care of the self, G. Lovinks multiple self and E.Illouzs institutional self, Hayles critical posthumanistic views etc.)

identity, individuality, self, selfhood- identity and the online condition- identity and social networking- personal/customized curation- management reputation- person as information- self preservation- collection development and management- self and design- state of the self

[[1]] (notes on free culture workshop)