Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Dr Tama Leaver, Centre for Culture and Technology.

Birth, Death and Facebook25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Overview.

Identities and agency online.

Facebook and (pre) birth.

Facebook and death.

Conclusions and directions.

25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

I. Identities online and agency?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

The Networked Self / Networked Publics

Persistance

Replicability

Scalability

Searchability (boyd, 2010)

+ Ownership (Aufderheide, 2010)

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Identity 2.0 (Helmond, 2010)

In Perpetual Beta

Networked

(other) User-generated identity

Distributed

Indexed

Persistent

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Web Presence (Allen, 2010; Leaver, 2010)

Internet Footprints

Digital Shadows

Social Media Rivers

From “user-generated content” to “Content-generated users.”

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Shared assumptions of Identity 2.0, the Networked Self, and Web Presence

Individual agency is central.

Presumption that identity should be controlled, curated and managed by the ‘self’ being presented.

When agency is not the controlling influence, this is seen as an issue to be overcome (eg better privacy settings).

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

What about the Ends of Identity?

Following Erving Goffman (1959) if frontstage is self performed, and backstage is more essential self, who builds the stage, and who remembers the performance(s)?

Before (online) agency: before birth, until the ‘reigns’ of online identity tools and performances are inherited?

After (online) agency: who looks after online traces of self once the self they refer to dies?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

II. Facebook and (pre) birth

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Facebook: Deletes Kids

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=kids+on+facebook

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

But … Timeline: Starts at birth.

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

The emergence of such social media platforms as Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Bundlr and YouTube facilitating the sharing of images has allowed the wide dissemination of imagery and information about the unborn in public forums. Indeed, sharing of the first ultrasound photograph on social media has become a rite of pregnancy for many women. (Lupton, 2013, p. 42)

25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Parents as initial identity curators …

Parents/guardians set the initial parameters of online identity.

From ultrasounds photos to cute toddler pics, losing that first tooth etc …

How do and should young people ‘inherit’ online identities?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Parents: Framing Online Identities?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

The Shift to Real Names (nymwars) …

Single database point. All activity connected …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Also …

Surveillance vs sousveillance (not without agency).

Shadow profiles (Facebook’s non-user database).

Facial recognition (all profile pictures; likely soon all pictures).

25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Infants becoming big data …

25.09.2013

http://owletcare.com/

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

III. Facebook and death

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Memorializing Performed Digital Selves?

What happens to profiles, accounts, photos, videos and other social traces after someone dies?

Do we have the right to delete it all?

Should it be memorialized?

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Timeline: Curate Losses

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Facebook: Memorialize or Delete

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help?page=842

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Facebook: Memorializing Accounts

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help?page=842

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

No ownership

No digital assets, no digital will.

‘Rights’ revert to Facebook.

25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Facebook …

ALL (memorial) or NOTHING (deleted).

No CURATION of the final memorialised page.

(Many loved ones ‘drive’ the account after someone dies since they’ve been left the password).

CONTEXT COLLAPSE.

Memorialised = space to remember, space to post about the deceased.

Also memorial pages (created specifically, not timelines) but that brings the grief trolls.

25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

It’s hard to sell ads to dead people.

But you can sell ads at the funeral.

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

It might be silly, but it’s still part of our legacy …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

IV. Conclusions and directions …

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Where does this fit?

1st generation internet studies:identity play, gender play, avatars, utopian notions of community (be whoever, whatever, no boundaries)

2nd generation internet studies:it’s all connected, online and offline are just the everyday (social networks, mobile web, real names)

3rd generation internet studies (?):the nuances – it’s all connected, but different, too (communicating vs creating media; birth, death, ownership, being big data)

25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

This is history not just communication. PRISM and so forth showed that once data is gathered, it’s a Pandora’s box; no one can resist looking inside to see what that might ‘say’, no matter how poorly that might be understood. Big data needs big ethics, and we don’t have them yet.

25.09.2013

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

References Allen, M. (2009). Web Presence: Understanding persistent and interlinked content as the basis of

identity formation and promotion through the contemporary Internet, Communication, Creativity and Global Citizenship: Australia and New Zealand Communications Association Annual Conference, Brisbane.

Aufderheide, P. (2010). Copyright, Fair Use, and Social Networks. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 274-303). Routledge.

boyd, danah. (2010). Social Network Sites and Networked Publics: Affordances, Dymanics and Implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 39-58). Routledge.

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Book.

Helmond, A. (2010). Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. www.annehelmond.nl, PDF: http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf.

Leaver, T. (2010) I tweet therefore I am? Challenges in learning identity by teaching web presence, Teaching and Learning Forum, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup.

Lupton, D. (2013). The Social Worlds of the Unborn. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Papacharissi, Z. (2010). Conclusion: A Networked Self. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 304-318). Routledge.11 October 2011Internet Research 12, Seattle.

Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of TechnologyCRICOS Provider Code 00301J

Questions to ponder …

1. How have you experienced the circulation of media about babies and young people on social media (or if not using social media, are other electronic forms used)?

2. How do YOU want to be remembered when you die? (Online at all?)

3. Where should parents learn about social media and communication? (At parenting lessons? Online? Where else?)

25.09.2013