What does your online identity say about you?

Eduserv has provided financial support for the University of Reading to produce a book helping people to manage their Digital Identity.

Eduserv funded an eight month research project into the way people present themselves online and how others may use and interpret that information.

There is an increasing number of ways to publish information about yourself on the internet. The growth in blogging and participation in social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, has also made it simple for other people to post information and photos about you. Your Digital Identity is what this information tells people about you.

The project team at Reading has produced a book entitled ‘This Is Me’, which contains a series of exercises and information to help people think about what sort of issues there are with Digital Identities. Including, what is being said about them, who is reading their information and how it might affect other people’s perception of them.

The research was originally designed to be used by UK undergraduate students but has proven so popular it has been repurposed and used in Spain, USA and schools in the UK.

Dr Shirley Williams, Senior Lecturer at the School of Systems Engineering at the University of Reading, who was the Principal Investigator, said: “I’m really proud of the book. We chose to use Creative Commons to license it so that others are free to copy, adapt and share its ideas. We’ve already seen this done by Nancy White at Full Circle Associates in the US, who repurposed the material for use by Non Government Organisations with an interest in social media.”

Pat Parslow, Technical Manager at the University of Reading, said: “I am very pleased that we are able to release these materials to the community for re-use, thanks to the project funding by Eduserv. We have plans to produce more learning materials focussed on different user groups; helping Freshers, graduates, researchers and others to discover, learn about and manage their Digital Identities.”

Ed Barker, Researcher and Grants Coordinator for Eduserv, added: “Eduserv’s mission is to realise the benefits of ICT for learning and research; funding projects such as ‘This Is Me’ raises students’ awareness of important issues associated with Digital Identity.”

The ‘This Is Me’ workbook is available free in print or online at http://stores.lulu.com/odinlab.

For more information about the project and to read and share stories about people’s Digital Identity experiences visit http://thisisme.reading.ac.uk/.

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Notes to Editors

1. This is Me is a joint project between the Centre for the Development of Teaching and Learning (CDoTL) and the School of Systems Engineering (SSE), University of Reading. The project is wholly funded by Eduserv.

2. Eduserv is a not-for-profit IT services group with a charitable mission to realise the benefits of ICT for learning and research. Eduserv achieves this mission through the provision of sustainable shared services and research and development initiatives.