Digital Identity

What Is Identity?

Before considering identity in a digital context, it is important to understand identity outside of digital environments. Identity is a construct, or set of constructs, that allows each individual to have a separate existence, where that person can own objects, have relationships to other persons, and assign meaning to oneself and to one’s relationships to other persons, entities, and attributes of one’s environment. Identity is one of the key elements that provides a stable point of reference for persons to assign meaning to their lives. Persons who are unable to form a consistent identity or to identify themselves in a consistent manner are unable to function within modern society, its legal system, or its traditional educational environments.

Identity in the Digital World

When considering digital environments and comparing them to traditional nondigital environments, the most distinct differences are the increase in the speed of communication and the volume of information presented to entities (human or software) in the digital world.

More fundamentally the very structures that give reference and meaning to support digital environments, for example e-mail addresses, user identification names, and even the websites themselves, often are of shortlived duration.

The Importance of Digital Identity

The transient nature of structures in the digital environment creates a constant state of flux and uncertainty that is quite new to human experience. In previous generations, the basic structures within an environment changed relatively slowly. Buildings and physical structures provided a source of fixed reference for an individual’s life. Even identities were often expressed as “son of” (e.g., Ericks son or bin) or based on an occupation (Archer, Cooper, or Smith).

[Page 207]These basic environmental structures often add substantially to individuals’ ability to understand not only the world around them but also to understand themselves and their role in existence. When we change the nature of structure in the environment, we fundamentally alter the way in which individuals understands themselves.

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