may
2
2008

Digital Natives Forum Series: Identity and Privacy online

An interdisciplinary roundtable discussion:  Investigating young people’s use of digital and networked technologies:  what are the current and future impacts on identity development, reputation management, and privacy? The first forum featured researchers from Project Zero at HGSE.

Digital Natives Forum is a series of cross-discipline discussions hosted by the Digital Natives Project, led by John Palfrey, Executive Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, on topics related to young people and their use of technology in their daily lives.  Three forums will take place this spring and summer:  on May 2, 2008 we will explore the issues of identity and privacy online; June 25, 2008 will be devoted to themes of digital creativity and media literacy; and on September 3, 2008 the forum will tackle the question of the impact of digital technologies upon young people’s civic engagement.  Format will be informal moderated roundtable discussion.  The series aims to bring together scholars from across disciplines to share knowledge related to young people and their use of technologies from a number of vantage points, and to discuss what questions should be asked, architectures built, and skills taught in the future.

Digital Natives is an interdisciplinary academic collaboration of the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.  The Digital Natives project focuses on the key legal, social, and political implications of a generation "born digital" - those who grow up immersed in a networked world, for whom a life fully integrated with digital devices is the norm. Through qualitative research, legal analysis, and collaboration with educators, we investigate how the culture of digital natives – a culture of connectivity, of public display, of sharing, of feedback, of constant availability and of global citizenship – impacts and will continue to impact our world. In particular, we focus on the influence upon institutions of education and government, while also extending inquiry to impacts on business, relationships, and mental health.