Identity

Abstract

Identity often comes up in discussions of information experience, just as it is an increasingly salient concept in today's political landscape. What does identity mean? Oftentimes identity is assumed to mean social identity, or membership in a social group. We can also discern personal identity, emphasizing a person's uniqueness. Compare a ∈ A (social identity) and a = a (personal identity). In essence, identity is a relationship of equivalence. Of course, no two entities are exactly equal, if only because they occupy different points in space. Identification then requires abstraction, or discerning what particular aspects of a thing matter for the purposes at hand. Two industrially produced products can be said to be identical if we ignore differences in space and accidents of production. Likewise, a person can identify with a social group if the only features of that person that matter (for the moment) are those which characterize the social group. When a person says they identify with X or as Y, they are making a claim about what matters to them in defining their self right now – because experience itself is pointing out some aspects of existence that matter to a person (that are attended to by that person) at a particular time. Information can contribute to a person's identity in that it helps a person discover what aspects of their self matter to them; this mattering in turn influences one's future information seeking and use.

Citation

Gorichanaz, T. (2020), "Identity", Information Experience in Theory and Design (Studies in Information, Vol. 14), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-537720200000014010