identity project

how do you define who you are?
how do you convey who you are?

introduction

Each of us see ourselves in a multitude of ways. When we feel comfortable around our friends, we may embody one identity and with our family we may embody another identity. These identities may not necessarily be completely separate but they are noticably distinct. Other identities may carry over social and professional situations. For example, I consider myself a kind of tech geek. I study technology as part of my scholarly interests but I’m also a fan of website designers, software programs and video games. However, I am a novice when it comes to programming languages and am not familiar with all video games or software. Depending on the group of people I am with at the time, my “tech geek” identity might be stronger or weaker in comparison.

The way that we see ourselves may not match with the way that others see us. When we list our “favorites” (film, books, TV shows, music) on a Facebook or MySpace or other kind of profile page we are not only asserting our personal “taste” we are making a choice about how we present ourselves to the world. Others will make assumptions about you based on your claim to a favorite film or your taste in music.

Each year my friends and I do a book exchange. We anonymously wrap a book or book(s) that have impacted us in some way and want one another to read. Then we play an exchange game, unwrap the books and start bartering for the ones we want. At the end, we find out who brought what book. Each year I spend weeks searching for the books I will take. I must choose carefully because in some way, what I offer for exchange says something about who I am, even among friends or perhaps especially among friends.

To select a “favorite” anything suggests that the thing in question has some level of influence. It may change the way we speak or behave, and it absolutely inspires some level of positive reaction from us. When you offer a list of favorites to others, you offer them a number of ways to read you.

project

This assignment asks you to explore how you negotiate the spaces between personal choice and larger cultural forces, both of which help shape our identities. Your project will examine the assumptions about identity we discussed earlier in class: 1) Identity is what we’re born with. 2) Identity is shaped by culture. 3) Identity is shaped by personal choices. How you address these assumptions and what you have to say about them is up to you. You will explore the various ways you convey your identity(ies) through digital and multimedia means.

Choose an identity or identities you want to represent. This might be a personal, familial or professional identity or some hybrid or combination of identities. Consider ways you might convey the identity(ies) or ways you already convey this identity. Create a representation of an identity(ies); choose a media through which you can represent yourself to construct your representation. The banner above is a small example of how images work together to help me make a statement about who I am. You might create a series of banners or a large collage of text and images. You could create a kind of scrapbook or a professional portfolio. This website I created as part of a course in hypertext is another example of what is possible for this project.