Narrative Digital Identity

Narrative Digital Identity
Introduction
       One of the most ancient aspects of a culture is storytelling - sharing pivotal moments, experiences, values, and lessons through narratives. Through narrative, some researchers argue is the form in which humans make meaning or understand the world around them. “Work within different disciplinary areas shows that narrative understanding is an important, if not the major, cognitive tool through which all human beings in all cultures make sense of the world.” [1] Now, as the majority of the world’s interaction shifts from a physical to digital space, educators must embrace the digital space to provide relevancy and purpose for their students, so they may feel, to an extent, in control of their digital identity.

Socio-Cultural Theory
Individuals’ identities are shaped by the social and cultural influences around them. These contexts lead individuals to create perceptions of themselves and others, make-meaning of the world, shape their values, guide their personal and professional goals, etc. “Socio-Cultural Theory emphasizes the roles of social, cultural, and historical factors in the human experience.” [2] It would be disingenuous to state that individuals’ identities exist beyond or without influence from those contexts. Although these factors are ever-present in an individual’s life, they may not necessarily be aware that these influences have shaped who they are. Furthermore, they also may not necessarily embrace aspects of their identity due to fear of marginalization, desire for social acceptance, or those aspects may not meet or reflect their values, which may, ultimately, lead to an identity struggle.
Cardenas (2004) describes her struggle with identity due to the institutional environments she found herself in throughout her public school education. [3] The marginalization and stereotypical expectations of Hispanic immigrants led her to encompass an identity that did not reflect her true potential and resulted in silencing her voice. It was not until her institutional environment included genuinely invested teachers did she encompass her true academic potential, which empowered her to continue her studies and pursue critical literacy with her own university students.

Digital Identity
As individuals participate in actions digitally (internet search history, participation in blogs, music profiles, social media profiles, etc.), they are creating a digital identity for themselves. The interactions that take place online create an image of the individual behind the keyboard. The digital identity that is created is influenced by a variety of factors such as the feasibility of access to technology, the purpose of the applications utilized (social media, political, to gather information, etc.), and as well as socio-cultural factors a part of an individual’s life.
This form of identity is dynamic and continuously evolving. It is an extension or interdependent branch of other self-identifying aspects such as language preference, culture, political affiliation, religious beliefs, socioenconomic status, sexual orientation, family life, etc. And those complex aspects of identity are shaped or influenced by society and life experiences, which may not be apparent online. These “traces” can be analyzed out of context, which may lead to an inaccurate perception of the individual.

Digital Identity Through Narrative
Audience
One notable difference between storytelling in the physical sense and in the digital sense is that the audience is drastically different. In the physical world, students’ audiences are limited to their peers, family, teachers, professionals, etc. in the social context they find themselves. In the digital world, students’ audience would be the world-wide web, which can include anyone from anywhere. Through this difference, students may feel much comfortable to interact with varying audiences within the comfort of their own home or behind a phone, tablet, or computer screen. As Sauceda (2009) stated, “it is this imagined space with real purpose for a familiar audience where student writing is affected positively.” [4]
The difference in the quality of student writing is observed in Sauceda’s English Language Arts classroom between in-class writing and writing within a digital social community such as MySpace. Sauceda attributes the gap in student performance to the audience perception her students shared. Referencing Steven Toulmin’s concepts of stranger vs. intimate audience, Sauceda, the classroom teacher, was viewed as a stranger, and MySpace was viewed as the intimate. MySpace was perceived as intimate because of the continuous accessibility and level of comfort students felt toward writing through this appilcation.

Netiquette
In the physical world, etiquette is defined as the customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group. These are societal expectations and norms that dictate correct or acceptable ways of communicating. For the most part, manners and courtesy are valued (“please” and “thank you”). These behaviors are observable through individuals’ courteous actions such as opening the door for one another, waiting for their turn to speak, etc. Educators embrace these social norms because it creates an advantageous environment for learning. In an ideal classroom, students would be respectful, open-minded, and engage in meaningful classroom talk with their peers. The narratives in which students utilize as the vehicle for analyzing character traits, plot development, author’s purpose, etc. would lead them in their own discovery of aspects of their identity.
In digital space, netiquette is defined as the correct or acceptable way of communicating on the internet. Unfortunately, many individuals take advantage of the fact that their “true” identity is hidden by a screen. For example, they may portray themselves on social media with “picture-perfect” lives by selectively choosing which aspects of their lives to share and which to withhold from the public. It is much more feasible to manipulate posts, photos, videos, etc. or to control what is left online than it is to manipulate real aspects of their life.
There are those who maliciously utilize the “anonymity” of digital spaces to contribute to the discrimination of groups or individuals, such as through cyber-bullying. As aforementioned, humans are social beings, which react to the social, cultural, and historical contexts around them, so if individuals are bullied via the internet, this will affect their perception of themselves and others. All too often, these heinous acts contribute to perceptions of body dysmorphia, eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide. Unfortunately, educators see these issues quite often, so they must pursue opportunities to educate their students about the digital identities they portray or educate them about the lack of validity or truth those malicious acts hold. Students must be aware of netiquette in order to portray their digital identities in a constructive and valuable way.

Classroom Applications
In classrooms, educators can tap into the funds of knowledge, their digital knowledge,  their students enter their classroom with. Luis Moll, author, argued “that teachers must begin to value the funds of knowledge that students bring to school and use them as vehicles for literacy learning.” [2] They can foster their students’ understanding of identity in the physical sense to aid their understanding of their digital identity. Multiliteracy Theory “describes the new kind of skills readers need to negotiate electronic environments.” [2] Through a digital space, students can utilize videos, music, images, etc. to reflect their identity to a wide-reaching audience. Educators can utilize this digital space that, utilize a “social learning perspective, Internet applications that facilitate social interaction are the technology to integrate into today’s classroom.” [2] The following classroom applications are provided to assist educators in embracing the 21st literacy skills our students need:
1) Create a MySpace page for a character the students just encountered in an assigned text. [4] Embedding social networking sites assists in bridging the gap between student engagement and relevancy. “With the rise of social networking sites came a change in the way people interact with the Internet.” [2]
2) Storybird.com utilizes digital media tools to empower students to create narratives that are reflective of their voice and highlights their purpose for writing.
3) E-Portfolios provide students with the abilities to “facilitate student identity formation as they engage in the process of reflection and self-authoring.” [5]


References
[1] Lyle, S. (2000). Narrative understanding: developing a theoretical context for understanding
how children make meaning in classroom settings. Curriculum Studies, (32)1, pp. 45-63.
[2] Tracey, D. H., & Morrow, L. M. (2017). Lenses on Reading: An Introduction to Theories and
Models. New York, NY. The Guilford Press.
[3] Cardenas, D. (2004) Creating an Identity: Personal, academic, and civic literacies. In M. H.
Kelly’s, V.M. Baluster & V. Villanueva (Eds.), Latino/a discourses: On language,
identity, and literacy education (pp. 114-125). Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook
Publishers; Heinemann.

[4] Sauceda, S. M. (2009). MySpace, Write Space: An Analysis of Student Achievement in
Texts for Digital Audiences.
[5] Jones, B., & Leverenz, C. (2017). Building Personal Brands with Digital Storytelling
ePortfolios. International Journal of ePortfolio, 7(1), pp. 67-91.

- Kimberly Ortega