Exploring physical and digital identity with a teenage cohort

Abstract

The way we develop, use and visualize identity is rapidly evolving as research moves towards the capability to accurately link our digital and physical identities. With teenagers at the forefront of this hyperconnected world, this paper uses a systematic approach to contribute an indepth understanding of teenagers' attitudes, values and concerns on privacy and identity information when considering both online and offline spaces. Using participatory design methods, we present three interactive workshops examining participant's perception of how their own online identities translated to the physical world, and the values and social considerations they hold around new or nearfuture identification techniques. We discuss how our deeper understanding of this age group's attitudes, values and concerns can be applied to designing socially acceptable identification technology and effective education on privacy and identity management among teens.