Identi-scope: Multiple identities as a resource for understanding and impacting behaviours in the digital world

The recent student protests in London and the pro-democracy protests across the Arab world show the importance of understanding synchronised (political) actions driven by online interactions. Individuals with a range of different personal and social identities, distributed across a number of different social network or chat mediums, interact in both online and offline worlds in ways that transform self and society. This merging of the online and offline worlds into a digital world, requires a study of how online and offline identities relate.

Drawing on evidence from computer security, technology and privacy researchers about the importance of multiple identities in online environments, and research from social psychologists about the role of multiple identities for understanding and changing behaviour, in this 12-month scoping study we will address three interrelated questions:

1) The first question is the issue of identity salience: if people have multiple identities, how do we know what identity is salient for an individual at any given time?
2) The second question is the issue of identity continuity/ identity change: in a landscape of multiple identities, what allows particular identities to be sustained - and what leads to change?
3) The third question is the issue of identity as a resilience agent: does constraining or enhancing the number of identities available to an individual have effects on their ability to withstand stressful life events?

To explore the dynamic nature of identity salience, we will conduct a series of laboratory experiments which utilise online environments to explore dynamic shifts in the salience of personal and social identities. Given the rapid shifts that are possible between online identity environments (i.e. the click of a button) compared to offline identity interactions - or the fact that several online identities can be active at the same time (rather than sequentially) - we aim to use the properties (or possibilities) of online engagements to identify the key features in determining identity salience.

To examine the question of identity continuity/change we will conduct a series of experiments in which participants are required to act together (to become entrained) and to do so as group members or as isolated individuals. We will then test the degree to which actions undertaken in the group are more long-lasting when performed as members of a social group or as isolated individuals. To be able to conduct these experiments in online settings, we will develop an online collaborative platform that allows participants to contribute simultaneous behaviours (in order to entrain) rather than make sequential contributions. Synchronous behaviours are largely unexplored in online worlds (as entrainment is a key feature of interactions when individuals can be co-present, but much harder in virtual or distributed interactions on the internet). The establishment of such a platform to "entrain" specific identities has not only profound implications for future online social media but also for security strategies and mechanisms to counter threats emerging from specific groups or individuals.

To examine the impact of identity as a resilience agent, we will conduct a series of experiments using the cold-pressor task - a well-known psychological method for inducing physical discomfort. In the cold-pressor task participants are asked to submerge their hand, up to their wrist, into a bucket of ice water. The time (in seconds) that participants keep their hand in the water is recorded and serves as a measure of endurance/ resilience. By conducting identity manipulations in online worlds, but looking at resilience behaviour in offline worlds, we bridge the digital divide that is of particular interest in how online-engagement shapes offline action.

Who will benefit from the research?
The main beneficiary of knowledge arising from this research is anticipated to be the stakeholders from the Sandpit "Who do you think you are". They are particularly keen to hear how the social sciences, and in particular social psychology, theories on multiple identities can enhance and change understanding of behaviour in online and offline environments. Throughout the sandpit it became clear that the stakeholders are keen to develop an understanding away from identity as a problem towards identity as a resource.
Other potential beneficiaries include practitioners such as the Police Forces, Internet Watch Foundation, NSPCC, or CEOP, which also have an interest in identity in the online world and will be informed about regulatory practice. The generated knowledge is anticipated to benefit and interest the wider public as well. We will raise public awareness about identity in the digital world and how it impacts on public life. This will be done through media reports and online interaction media to generate discussion and encourage wider participation of the project.
The knowledge arising from this project is also likely to be of importance for researchers and the academics from different disciplines such as Psychology, Computer Science, and Security Science, who are interested in research on identity in the digital world. Thus, we aim to enhance scientific knowledge about identity in the digital world through publication in international peer review journal and presentations at relevant conferences (see Academic Beneficiaries for details).

How will they benefit from the research?
Throughout the period of the grant, stakeholders will be involved in the discussions within the project that aim at transforming perception from identity as a problem to identity as a resource. We will schedule early visits to stakeholder sites and relevant practitioners (such as Police Forces, Internet Watch Foundation) during the start-up phase of the project for discussions about the barriers they face on the topic of multiple identities and how to overcome them. The purpose of the exchange will be to maintain links with the stakeholders to understand their requirements if the data is to inform and regulate best practise. It further aims to define users' main questions and how to integrate them in the research. Later meetings are to formulate ways of monitoring the ecological validity of our research and to ensure the quality and applicability of research and its relevance for the stakeholders. An end-of-project workshop will bring the key stakeholders, practitioners and researches together to disseminate the final findings of the project. In addition, we will present stakeholders (and especially the government agencies) with white papers on the outcomes of the three working packages. The research outcomes are likely to bring about a paradigm shift in how identity is perceived and draw attention to the fact that multiple identities in any environment are inevitable and could be perceived as a resource rather than a problem. This has strong potential to have a major impact on policy and practice on identity establishment and identity tracing systems.