Summary

The ‘Digital Identity and Life-Course Study’ (DIALCS) has a long term vision to conduct an ambitious and innovative longitudinal, life-course study. The study intends to measure changes in attitudes and behaviours with Digital Identity (DI).

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The Phase 1 of the study, entitled DIALCS, involves researching how people present themselves online. The team wants to understand how people present who they are, who they intend to be, and whom others think they are within an online environment. This project will map different theories of online presentation drawn from the domain of social psychology, to understand what they have in common with DI technological solutions. The project team understands that currently developing DI standards either help or hinder self-expression, with the potential impact on aspects of their ‘self’, especially with respect to trust, privacy, and anonymity over a person’s lifetime.

The analysis in phase 1 will provide the theoretical basis for the development of the methodology for a longer-term study (phase 2). This will seek to understand how people integrate DI technologies into their daily online experience, and more specifically how DI technologies support or suppress types of online behaviour. The DIALCS project will include stakeholder involvement to validate findings from the study, as well as to provide critical input into the development of the method for the long-term study in phase 2.