Pt I: The Creation of the Digital Self, Digitized Epistemologies, and Online Collective Consciousness via Social Media

1.1 - Human Information Technologies Evolve

Throughout human existence, the information technologies we utilize have increased in scope, scale, and societal influence; evolving our means to advance society in cognition, responsibility, autonomy, and livelihood (ect). As single entities walking the earth, humans have very little communicative potential to conduct knowledgeable discourse with those individuals who are ‘informed.’ Humankind has progressed through levels of archiving the information we encounter throughout our existence. As far back as the oral traditions of pre-literate humans, we have developed modes of ‘social software’; procedures of society which enables the storing and sharing of information. An example of ‘social software’ from oral traditions would be the use of memory and creating rhymes “or other formulae for linking material together.” (Vansina 2006) For humans, memorization mechanisms which were inherited through the generations did not hold enough ontological weight to be the exclusive ‘social software’ used, so mechanisms for saving the data and metadata of societies were invented. “It was writing that first preserved records through time and permitted the beginning of a reservoir of passive knowledge. Until then a man had only his own observations and experiences to guide him or at most traditions going back a few generations and limited in place to a small neighborhood.” (Holmes 1964) The creation of physical artifice to store memories and information required that skilled people whom were knowledgeable of the praxis of constructing and interpreting recorded information be the individuals whom controlled socially important information. The information technology of writing innovated society because although this activity were exclusive to certain educated people, each generation of humans after this invention passed on important aspects of knowledge for the next generation to draw from. (Holmes 1964) This information technology transformation shifted the preoccupation of individuals from preserving information and ideas, to appraising what information is valuable in what context. Writing; as an information technology, expanding the scope and impact of human activity, and increased the volume of shared human memories. The creation of artifice to manage knowledge also eventually caused “repeatable verisimilitude in the printed word and images through mechanical means.” (Katz 2008 p.176) Although mechanisms for evaluating ‘truth’ and logic have been greatly explored in university systems and in the efforts of intellectuals for centuries, the question of what uses of information technologies will incite further innovation is of importance to our research. Obviously, more technologically advanced methods of categorization and archiving have been developed since the advances of writing-systems, and even since applications of ‘social software’ currently set in place to validate ‘truths’ in intellectual writings. There must be an understanding of how individuals exist over the Internet within communities in order to conceptualize the possible ways humans can utilize information technologies to its fullest potential.

With the invention of the Internet, our individual identities have since become digitized within a global platform of information. As we recognize ourselves in the world as ‘persons’, having ‘identity’; than the representation of ourselves over digital-space would be our ‘digital personhood’ or “digital identity.” A person's 'identity' is the essential and unique characteristics of an entity, like the unchanging physical traits of an individual, that person's preferences, other people’s perceptions of their unique personality, or even the skills that a person possesses. ( A “digital identity” can be defined as a digital representation of a set of claims made by one person about themselves. An individual develops a digital ‘persona’ whereby the person’s identity characteristics attribute to an online role within a community, network, or space. Information which points other users to one’s digital identity, is that which is an ‘identifier’ of that person. Maintaining a 'close relationship' with the actual self to the identifiers which signify a person online is extremely important to not only maintain accurate information on the Internet about yourself, but so that you actively represent yourself as the person you claim to be on the Internet. Mary Rundel has discussed how this close connection to our digital identity could have negative impacts. She says, “the danger is that what is relevant is no longer personhood – the recognition of a person as having status as a person – but rather a profile – the recognition of a pattern of past behaviour.” (Rundel 2007) However, most scholars believe that the Internet will continue to evolve and incorporate methods of thinking about online activity and participating in ways which benefit both the digital representation of an individual and the knowledge base of the person themselves.

Developed by Dick Hardt in 2005, the concept of “Identity 2.0” describes how individuals can more closely link their physical identity with that of their digital identity to eliminate such common fears about the ‘devolution’ of personhood. “Identity 2.0” emphasizes an open process of identity transactions similar to those in the physical world, such as individuals using a driver's license for identification. (Hinchcliffe 2006) Although the concepts and praxis of implementing a closer relationship between physical and digital identities are available, applications have not set the widespread use of “identity 2.0.” The Burton Group Report describes the current situation of digital identity management whereby individuals cannot transition their identities across web-platforms. Mike Neuenschwander said "today's identity systems—which represent a “1.0” architecture, feature strong support for domain management but exhibit scalability and flexibility limitations when faced with the broader identity requirements of Internet scenarios." (Neuenschwander 2006) With this new understanding of how humans can authentically represent themselves over the Internet, the ability to efficiently and effectively verify the credibility of information from other digital identities will more closely link the physical individual to the information one observes via their digital identity.