The ID Question: Introduction
What is the ID Question?
Today’s identity issues are often framed in binary terms — but reality isn’t so black and white
Identity isn’t a binary, though it’s often discussed that way. You hear people singling out one interpretation and vociferously arguing for or against it — but it’s important to recognize that identity is a multi-hued subject. Our online data shouldn’t be cast in black-and-white terms of just, for example, security versus privacy: nationality, gender, health, education, and employment all factor in. There are many pieces to the jigsaw.
Towards the end of 2016, we began working with Caribou Digital and the Omidyar Network on a project about identity in the modern age. The Identities Project was based on original fieldwork that the Caribou team conducted in rural and urban parts of India in 2017.
Over the past decade, India has been implementing Aadhaar, the largest biometric identity program in the world. The Identities Project explored how people across the country are dealing with this new system, and how they experience its life-changing benefits — or problems — day-to-day. Their stories exposed identity issues that we thought deserved a platform of their own — particularly how the most vulnerable people fall through gaps in the system.
We wanted to explore this topic in greater depth and give it the attention it deserves, so we’re now launching The ID Question. This is a globalized world where events in one country can easily impact those in others: think about Estonia, and the number of people who have rushed to become e-citizens, or how 20 countries are lining up to learn from India’s Aadhaar experience. We’d like to encourage a broader and deeper exploration of the issues.
So, over the next few months, we’ll travel around the world with writer Padmaparna Ghosh, examining identity in the modern age from India to Ireland to Japan to our global digital networks. Follow along as we release new articles, videos, and more each week, and join us to keep the discussion going on Facebook. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
— Anjali
The ID Question is a How We Get To Next and Storythings production.
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