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I noticed that there was an ad on my facebook page to make an avatar. It seems like by using a picture of Angelina Joli juxtaposed to an avatar, Zwinky is trying to send the message "look like whoever you want" while simultaneously implying "be whoever you want."

Initial Thoughts on the Multimodality of Identity

Readings for this week's class on the intersections of technology and identity as a multimodal process were taken from:

--Philip Levine & Ron Scollon (Eds). (2004) Discourse & Technology: Multimodal Discourse Analysis. (Specifically, their introductory chapter and the chapter by Theo Van Leeuwen entitled "Ten Reasons Why Linguists Should Pay Attention to Visual Communication")
--Angela Thomas (2007) Youth Online: Identity and Literacy in the Digital Age.
--Anna de Fina, Deborah Schiffrin, & Michael Bamber (2006) Discourse and Identity.

In reading the selections for this week's class, and in reading your comments, the questions that emerged (for me) seemed to be grouped into three categories:

Identity
How are our identities shaped by different kinds of social spaces/practices?
How is this process in online interactions similar to or different from our identity-shaping face-to-face interactions?
How often do we engage in critical reflection regarding who we are--when do we engage in this reflection, and why?
What role does critical reflection on identity have to do with crafting an agentive self?

Identity as Multimodal
How does multimodal discourse analysis help us explore the concept of identity?
How does it shape our thinking and practice in helpful ways?
How can what we are learning about the multimodal fashioning of identity assist us in constructing a philosophical stance toward how to "take up" identity in our thinking? In relating research to the practice of education?

Identities On and Offline…Identities In and Out of School
How can we apply what's learned about identity in out-of-school contexts to our goals as educators working with teachers and students in school?
Does the identity work done in different technological/social spaces have bearing on the creation of selves that are agentive, active learners? If yes…how and in what contexts?

Epistemologically and methodologically, these questions--and the readings-- highlight how articulating one's understanding of identity is a critical foundation for any research that investigates identity as a multimodal discursive performance process. The importance of unearthing the specific understandings we have of what identity is and how it functions is undeniable. In our explorations of how identities are enacted in and out-of-school, our footprints reveal how heavily we have been pressed by various theories of identity and self. Erik Erikson. Kenneth Gergen. George Herbert Mead. Michel Foucault. Judith Butler...And since we are concerning ourselves with teaching and learning, what comes to mind immediately in considering how each of these individuals characterizes identity?

Agency.