Ipseology

the study of human identity
using large datasets
and computational methods

Ipseology Glossary

Add (event): Events are tallied when a bio is observed at two time points. An Add event occurs when the token of interest is not present at the first moment and is present at the second moment.
Alloy: In ipseology, an alloy is the mixture of two elements of identity. If two tokens are present in a bio at the same time, they form an alloy.
Annual resolution: If we observe bios once per year (or sample to one-per-year) we can discuss year-over-year changes/trends in ipseity. Call this annual resolution. Compare to daily resolution.
Bio / Biography: A bio is short text, written by an individual to describe themselves.
Cross-sectional (sample): A collection of bios sampled over time in which the observed individuals are NOT guaranteed to be the same at each point in time. Cross-sectional samples are useful for describing the active or available population at each moment of observation. Contrast with longitudinal. Reference
Daily resolution: If we observe bios once per day (or sample to one-per-day) we can discuss day-to-day changes/trends in ipseity. Call this daily resolution. Compare to annual resolution.
Delete (event): Events are tallied when a bio is observed at two time points. A Delete event occurs when the token of interest is present at the first moment and not present at the second moment.
Ignore (event): Events are tallied when a bio is observed at two time points. An Ignore event occurs when the token of interest is not present at both points in time. Compare to Add, Delete and Keep events.
Incidence: Incidence is a raw count. In ipseology, we might count how many US Twitter users include "mom" or "dad" in their profile biography. It is useful to convert an incidence to a prevalence when comparing across time or location.
Ipseity: Ipseity refers to selfhood, individuality and the elements of identity. Ipseology is the study of ipseity. Ipseological research analyzes individuals' self-descriptive language.
Ipseology: Ipseology is the study of human identity using large datasets and computational methods. It is the investigation of ipseity: selfhood, individuality and the elements of identity. The object of study is personally expressed identity text. Signifiers in these texts are taken to be elements of identity.
Keep (event): Events are tallied when a bio is observed at two time points. A Keep event occurs when the token of interest is present at the first moment and is also present at the second moment.
Longitudinal (sample): A collection of bios sampled over time in which the exact same individuals are guaranteed to be present at each and every point in time. Longitudinal samples are useful for describing the changes within individuals across moments of observation. Contrast with cross-sectional. Reference
Ngram: An ngram is a sequence of tokens. See the definition of Token below.
An ngram may be a signifier, and thus, an element of identity.
Explore ngram usage within Twitter bios in the United States or multinationally.
Personally expressed identity: Personally expressed identity is what an individual says about who they are.
It is personal – the individual is describing themselves.
It is expressed – these are words the individual emits, where others might see them.
And it describes identity – the explicit purpose of the text is description of the author.
Personally expressed identity most often comes from self-authored, self-descriptive text, such as a social media bio.
Prevalence: Prevalence is a normalized count. It is the incidence (raw count) of an outcome divided by the potential occurrences. In ipseology, we might wish to contrast how many US Twitter users per 10,000 include "mother" with how many Mexican Twitter users per 10,000 include "madre" in their profile biography.
Token: A token is one linguistic unit. Bios consist of tokens, and we may split a bio into sequences or a set of tokens.
Tokens include words such as one would find in the dictionary, but also word-like things such as abbreviations, hashtags and emoji. Crucially, and happily for our purposes, a great many of these tokens describe aspects of identity – such as social roles, affiliations and personal traits.
A token may be a signifier, and thus, an element of identity.
Explore token usage within Twitter bios in the United States or multinationally.
Signifier: A signifier is a symbol used by an individual to describe themselves. In ipseology, tokens and ngrams used within personally expressed identity text are signifiers.
Social role signifier: A social role is a socially constructed set of expectations regarding behaviors, rights and obligations of a person when they occupy a particular position. A social role signifier is a token or ngram that represents a social role, i.e. a word that denotes a position that most members of a society would recognize and understand.
Transmutation: In ipseology, a transmutation is the change within an individual from one element of identity to another. If Token A is present in a bio at the first moment, and it is not present at the second moment, while Token B was not present at the first moment and present at the second, then the individual has signaled a transmutation from Token A to Token B.

Ipseology is the new study of identity. It is the investigation of ipseity: selfhood, individuality and the elements of identity.

This website is Ipseology Central - a place to explore ipseology data, methods, visualizations and publications. It is maintained by Dr. Jason Jeffrey Jones, director of the Computational Social Science of Emerging Realities Group.

The introductory book Ipseology - A New Science of the Self is now available.