Community Contribution 1 – Digital Identity

Before this week, I mostly thought of digital identity as what we choose to show about ourselves on social media. However, after going through this week’s materials, I realized that it is much broader than that. In Eric Stoller’s video, digital identity is connected to our presence and footprint online, what we post and share, how we engage with others, and how we use digital tools. This made me realize that I am constantly creating a digital identity, even when I am not intentionally thinking about it. Spracklen (2015) also describes social networks as spaces where people build communities and perform their identities. As a student, my personal and professional identities may seem separate, but they can increasingly overlap as I move closer to graduation and begin thinking about my future career.

Something I am more concerned about is who actually owns and has access to the information that makes up my digital identity. I think trust, security, and especially transparency are extremely important. I would personally want to know who is able to access my information, why they need it, and even have a record showing who has accessed it in the past. Simply being told that my information is “secure” would not necessarily make me trust a system. Spracklen points out that although the Internet gives us opportunities to communicate and connect, it also involves surveillance, commercialization, and unequal power relationships. For me, transparency gives users more control. If a digital identity system clearly explains how information is collected, accessed, and protected, I would probably be more willing to trust and use it.

I also think our relationship with digital identity will continue to change as the way we learn online changes. Gutierrez (2016) describes a Personal Learning Network (PLN) as a network of trusted connections that we regularly interact with and learn from. This idea really relates to my experience as a university student because a lot of my learning already happens outside the classroom through YouTube, social media, online communities, and other digital resources. With the rapid growth of AI, I think AI tools are also becoming part of this larger learning environment. However, this makes me think that the important question for the future is not simply whether we should use AI, but how we use it while maintaining our own authenticity and critical thinking. A PLN is built around trusted connections and different sources of knowledge, so we should not allow AI to become our only source of information. As lifelong learners, I think we need to learn how to evaluate AI-generated information, recognize its limitations, and use it alongside our own networks and perspectives. For me, digital literacy in the future will mean learning how to live and learn alongside AI without allowing it to replace my own identity, judgment, and voice.