“Tools that are designed to make intelligible something alive, the life of the network.” Interview of Hugues AUBIN, ICT Project Manager, City of Rennes (France)
IdentiscoopManaging and visualizing your spoors on the Internet by Edouard Durand
Tags settings in Identiscoop
With personal data being massively spread on the Internet, and increasingly so as web 2.0 is developing, new questions are popping up about how individual and collective identities can be constructed from these digital spoors. Edouard Durand has tackled the notion of individual identity as a construct whose grip seems to be on a gradual slippery slope as more and more spoors linger on the web. In parallel with the massive amount of information shared by Internet users, specific tools have been brought to life, including marketing 2.0, people-tracking websites, digital identity management systems, etc. Satisfaction surveys carried out by the young designer highlight that though many Internet users are aware of the situation, they are still at a loss for how to monitor the information they leave behind on the Internet, and are, for the most part, quite pessimistic on the matter.
Thinking ahead rather than censoring
Most “digital identity” management tools currently on the market are designed to seek information on other people. Edouard Durand has focused on developing fully individual uses all the while striving to educate users, which means explaining how individual identity is perceived on the web, how to visualize it and contribute to its growth so as to, ultimately, master one’s own identity.
Regaining control over personal data
The aim is for users to visualize the information they’ve scattered all over the web, and to understand the why and how behind the information available online; all this with a view to triggering useful thinking about our behaviors and intentions.
Though it is technically impossible to erase all data published, one can modify it, post rights of reply, delete old accounts that continue to disseminate information, contact webmasters to ask them to remove certain content, etc.
Identiscoop, a personal “consulting” tool for Internet-based communication
Identiscoop is a Smartphone-supported service that diagnoses and provides solutions to a wide range of consumers, including those less Internet-savvy. In no time, users can get a glimpse of their “digital identity”, and modify its content if necessary.
In this project, issues revolving around Internet-related ethics are prompted by uncontrolled personal data disclosure. The spoors left behind by Internet users carve stilted identities that have been built over time in contexts where users intervene. The designer’s know-how paves the way toward solutions enabling users to regain a sense of control over what is, in fact, ultimately in perpetual motion.
J. Le Bœuf, Head of Studies, L’École de design Nantes Atlantique
E. Durand has followed the double degree curriculum Virtual Reality, leading to a Master’s Degree in Design and a Master of Science in Virtual Reality & Innovation from Arts et Métiers ParisTech Angers
See also
Master’s program Virtual Reality
The Presence & Innovation lab in Laval (France)
About Hughes Aubin
Hughes Aubin
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