The document explores the complexities of personal identity in the context of technology and online interactions, emphasizing that identities are not static but are shaped by external influences and social structures. It discusses the impact of anonymity, multiple identities, and the ownership of one's personal identity, questioning how individuals value and perceive themselves and others in digital spaces. Ultimately, it suggests that identity is a fluid construct, created collaboratively through interactions and experiences.

1. How WE create I
H+ Summit * June 2010
Heather Schlegel * heathervescent

2. My Interest
• We don’t pro-actively create identities
• Structures encourage behaviors
• Exploration of my personal brand
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3. The Mass Age
• Marshall McLuhan
• Douglas Hofstadter
• Jaron Lanier
• NY Times
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4. How I think about this
• The way we create, experience and
respond to technology
• Value-sets: And the underlying values
encoded in a system
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Photo Credit: Machine Project

5. Who are you?
Always the same person?
I’m not.
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6. Fragmented (Online) Identities
• Anonymity
• Pseudonyms
• When your Identity takes
on a life of it’s own?
– Success as stagnation
– Pigeon-holed
– Strange Loops: Living in another’s mind
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Photo Credit: Viss

7. Extending our Identities
• Identify Externally
– Brands, Cars, Devices, Objects
– Groups: Institutions, Communities, Movements
– Music
• Multiple Identities
– Private
– Anonymous
– Alternates: Avatars, Game Role-playing
• Physical modifications
– Plastic surgery
– Tattooing, Beauty enhancements
• Cognitive enhancers
– Attention, focus, “energy”
– Research, Training and Drugs
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Photo Credit: Brazil

8. The Doors of Expression
• Second Life
• Gaming Worlds
• Blogging, Twitter & MySpace
• Personal Brands
• Facebook ID Lockdown
• ID Theft: Single White Female
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9. June 2010 | Humanity Plus
Photo Credit: Evonne Amoration

10. Do we get lost? (I get lost)
• Avatars: Embodiment = Immersion
• Caught in streams of influence
• The Audience Effect
• Participation & Motivation
• Privacy
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Photo Credit: Evonne Amoration

12. Self-Value
• What do we end up valuing?
• What types of identities are valued?
• How does one value self?
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13. Ownership of our Souls
• Who owns your identity?
– Projected
– Perception
– Remembered
• Which parts are (truly) ours?
• Betrayal
“I don’t even see you, I see the mental image of you in my mind.”
“I have conversations with the person you are in my mind.”
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Photo Credit: Evonne Amoration

14. The Truth is Easier
• Real time life tracking & Public Diaries
– Blogging (& Life Streaming)
– Twitter
– Flickr
• Physically
– 23 & me
– Zeo
• Collective History
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15. And the point…
• Identity is not created in a vacuum
• Iterative, Evolves
• The medium is the mæssage is the
distraction.
• In the end, I may create WE
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16. Finally: Who are you?
I – I hardly know, sir,
just at present – at least
I know who I was when
I got up this morning,
but I think I must have
been changed several
times since then.
- Lewis Carroll m
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Photo Credit: Jeff Christiansen

17. Thank You
Heather Schlegel
aka heathervescent, The Purple Tornado
puissant@heathervescent.com
www.heathervescent.com
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