(Wikipedia entry)

I’m most interested in psychological identity, of the individual’s conception of his or her “self”. In Untangling the Web and in my academic research, I lean on theories of social identity, particularly those of John Turner and Henri Tajfel (Social Identity Theory), Glynis Breakwell (Identity Process Theory), and Markus & Nurius’s Possible Selves theory of identity development.

Technologist and search engineer Stephen Wolfram analysed the substantial data (some might even call it “Big Data”) he’s collected about his online behaviour - email, keystrokes, calendar activity, phone calls etc - over the last decade (and change).

It’s amazing how much it’s possible to figure out by analyzing the various kinds of data I’ve kept.

I propose that this is one example of one slice of his online self. Wolfram’s personal analysis offers useful insights - the colour to the play by play. I wonder what someone who looks at this with no knowledge of him sees, and what assumptions the disinterested party would draw about who he is.

I don’t know if we will all routinely collect personal data like this in the future, as Wolfram contends, but I already do use many of my online expressions as personal archives.

What’s more interesting about this than the explicit plug for Wolfram Alpha’s data analysis capabilities is that it’s an eyeball into the kinds of datasets that companies, governments and other data collectors use to define us and predict our behaviours.

via Roo Reynolds’ Tinyletter (which directs the HT to @diemkay)

an O’Reilly joint, published in Sept 2011. A good primer on the issues about privacy as they currently stand with relation to the data-driven digital world we currently occupy.

Currently chewing over Chapter 2: The Right To Privacy in the Digital Age, which covers the cultural and contextual variations on privacy interpretations (case studies: US and Europe) - and how these conflict when trying to regulate the digital space.

Two quotes on this:

“In general, the American view of privacy is focused on the home and on the person,” and the right to be “left alone” and free from intrusion.

“The European concept of a right to privacy is centered round preserving the individual’s honor and dignity in the public sphere,” which translates into a greater right over personal information and how it’s presented in the public sphere.

To summarise, the authors say:

How we view and value privacy is dependent on a host of influences that include our history, culture, and social norms. Added to that, age, ethnicity, and sex may influence our expectation of privacy.

makes things complicated, no?

HT @kaythaney

data professionals need shorthand ways to easily think about the societal impact of their work

Coverage of Strata 2012 from Jim Adler, who sat on the panel, ‘If Data Wants to Be Free, is Privacy a Prison?’

Good list of recent gaffes, interesting frameworks, outlines of privacy perils.

HT @kaythaney

LOOK AT ME, say our tweets, photos, tumbls, videos and blogposts. But is our online activity reputation-management, identity play or a reflection of a cultural trend towards an increase in self-reflective, digitally encouraged narcissism?

There’s a great overview of the research on generational shifts in narcissism called Reflecting on narcissism: are young people more self-obsessed than ever before? from Sadie F Dingfelder in the Monitor on Psychology (American Psychological Association publication), Feb 2011. Vol 42(2).

read more on my blog.