Month: September 2022

What is a digital identity?

Digital identity is a new concept of identity based on the Internet, where the sum of all the information available online about a person is the key to form that individual. Everything people put on the Internet, article, picture, blog, etc. that they post is part of their digital identity. This also leads to the fact that digital identities are diverse, so that people can also create a digital identity that is completely different in the real life by deliberately fabricating information.

On the other hand, digital identities also include digital sovereign identities, such as digital IDs, which are issued and administered by the government. Residents can upload their IDs to official platforms and present them in case they forget or lose their physical IDs.

How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?

People enter social media, whether in a personal or professional digital identity, they search of a sense of community and belonging. People look for communities of their interest or related professions on social platforms and find like-minded friends or professionals and exchange their ideas.

When people enter social media with personal digital identity, they are entering a casual space. In this casual space, they are free to express his opinion, although this freedom of communication sometimes leads negative consequences, such as cyberbullying. However, when people enter social media with digital professional identity, they are more focused on academic research. People communicate professional ways and means on social media and provide valuable information to others in a professional capacity.

How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?

Compared with traditional identity, digital identity has greatly improved the efficiency of government work, enhanced effective communication between government and citizens, and also solved the problem of missing identity for some citizens.

During COVID-19, electronic passes were implemented in many countries and applied in many industries such as transportation and catering. Users can obtain basic personal information, vaccination records, and nucleic acid testing records by simply scanning a QR code. Despite complicating daily life (you need to keep showing your QR code), it has effectively safeguarded people’s health during the pandemic. However, the popularity of digital identity has also brought information security issues. In the event of a data breach on the platform where the data is stored, a serious information security incident can occur.

What does it mean to network using social media?

The development of internet communication technology connects people all over the world, and whenever Wi-Fi or 5G is available, people can enjoy surfing the internet. Through the Internet, people create a new “online identity” and use it to share our opinions, experiences and views with others on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Weibo, etc., and to interact with others through likes and comments. When these online individuals come together through social media, they form a huge interactive network of information from which all people can get the knowledge and information they need.

How are we motivated to participate in networked publics?

The rapid development of society exposes people to a variety of unknowns, and in order to deal with these unknowns, which can happen at any time, we need to learn and improve ourselves. As mentioned in the article Understanding Personal Learning networks: Their Structure, Content and the Networking Skills Needed to Optimally Use Them, the ability to “find and connect with relevant others” should be a lifelong skill. The Internet exists to provide a platform for people to meet and connect with like-minded people, to access the knowledge and information they need, and to expand their personal learning networks. For example, in our daily learning, we need to consult various materials and literature to improve our knowledge system, and these materials come from strong or weak knowledge connections with others.

What are the risks & rewards of public communications?

Public communication helps people quickly learn about the latest hot topics and events, but the speed and breadth of information also makes it possible to keep everything on the Web uninhibited. In the online world, any information is more persistent, reproducible and scalable, and people have no privacy in the face of big data.