Our Next Identities

Our Next Identities

The Identity & Social Web Futures Fiction Contest

We are hosting this contest to stimulate thinking about where identity and social web trends in technology and society might lead us in the coming quarter century, and to present that thinking to the audience of technologists and policymakers working on identity and social web issues today.

Submissions may be in any narrative fiction genre and should be set after the "impending end of the world" in the year 2012.

Genera's to consider: mock proposed law, etc...
 * mystery
 * horror
 * sci-fi
 * mock interoffice memo
 * mock news story
 * mock press release
 * mock product recall notice
 * mock corporate annual report

We are convening a panel of independent judges who will consider all entries.

These are the criteria for judging:
 * Does the entry stretch conventional thinking while remaining plausible? (It does not have to be probable, just not impossible under the currently understood laws of physics, biology, and computer science).
 * Is it interesting? Does it provoke an emotional response in the reader?
 * Does the entry make some novel, unforeseen, or poorly understood implications of identity technology or policy more striking and apparent to both technical and non-technical readers?

Submissions should be written in English and should be no shorter than 250 words and no longer than 2,000 words.

The contest is open for submissions now and the final deadline is September 21st.

Entry is open to anyone (except the organizers and the judges), young or old, who has something to say about where identity is going. Submissions must be received by 21 September 2009; awards will be presented at the Internet Identity Workshop 2009b on 4 November, 2009 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. You do not have to be present to win.

Please email your submission to mynextidentity@gmail.com

Early submissions will be considered for publication on our blog.

One submission per author, please.

Submissions should be text files or Adobe Acrobat .pdf files, and should bear a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license. Identity Commons and the Internet Identity Workshop may publish winning entries on the Web, and may use entries to promote IIW 2009b and the Identity Futures Fiction Contest.

We have not determined what the winner and runner-ups will receive as prizes. Of course an e-book reader would be cool. We are seeking sponsors for this contest.