Module two- Digital Identity

TEDtalk Alec Couros

Digital identity is all about “an electronic representation of an individual…allows us to reliably prove who we are and to take part in society” (New Zealand Government, 2019). Being in a society in which is shaped around technology and social media, it is very important to keep your digital identity safe, and to ensure you are keeping other people digital identity safe. As these digital platforms advance, they have the ability to actually ‘remove’ our digital identity. Take Snapchat for example. You can post whatever you want to whoever you want, however it disappears for good after a certain period of time, never to be seen again.
 
In Alec Courous’ TEDtalk (Couros, 2015), the main themes that stood out for me was the fact that a few many years ago, our stuff that was put online was private by default and public by choice however, this theme has drastically changed to that of private by effort and public by default. This being said means that we must go out of our way to ensure that everything we put on the web is private, and if not then we must expect it to be shared with anyone and everyone no matter what.
 
An affordance in relation to digital identity in terms of education is that you have the ability to connect with anyone all over the world. This means you have a chance to comment on other peoples work, and reflect on your own work once seeing someone else’s. Alec Couros, a professor from Canada stated in his TEDtalk that having the ability to comment on other people’s work is very important for educational purposes (Couros, 2015)

 
On the other hand, the limitation to this thread being digitial identity is the fact that something can be taken differently to how you wanted it to be. This can then lead to cyber bullying and in extreme cases, suicide. Whether it be something private that got altered or shared around in a vicious way can also affect your education as bullying can go from online to physical bullying in a school environment. Or something that was for educational purposes can be taken and mimicked/made fun of, ruining ones self confidence and ability to thrive in their educational setting. People need to ask themselves more often if its worth it?
 
 
References

Couros, A. (2015, March 17). Identity in a digital world. Identity in a digital worls. Canada: Youtube.

New Zealand Government. (2019, March 14). Digital Identity. Retrieved from digital.govt.nz: https://www.digital.govt.nz/standards-and-guidance/identity/digital-identity/