Identity in Abstraction

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The caricatures presented on this website, created by stylizing some images through algorithmic transformation, are used in deliberate preference to an actual photograph. This choice demonstrates how Jaderick actively manages his digital identity in an era where images function not only as static representations but also as data inputs for algorithmic manipulation.

Why Caricatures Instead of Photographs?

Minimizing the Digital Footprint
Jaderick limits the publication of high-fidelity images in order to avoid unnecessary accumulation of personal identifiers, which otherwise become part of a permanent digital trace (Madden et al., 2007).
Reducing Exposure to Synthetic Media Risks
With the rise of machine learning techniques that generate realistic synthetic media from small sets of photographs, he adopts abstract caricatures as a protective measure to mitigate such vulnerabilities (Chesney & Citron, 2019).
Maintaining Professional Boundaries
In academic settings, credibility derives from intellectual contributions rather than visual likeness. By employing caricatures, Jaderick maintains a professional presence while avoiding oversharing of sensitive personal data (boyd, 2014).
Symbolic Representation of Intellectual Identity
The stylized caricatures embody a shift from physical appearance to symbolic representation, emphasizing thought, creativity, and academic focus (Turkle, 1995).
Modeling Critical Digital Literacy
Through this deliberate choice, he illustrates the principles of digital literacy and intentional identity stewardship, balancing openness with caution and exemplifying responsible use of technology in scholarship (Livingstone, 2004).

The caricatures serve both protective and pedagogical purposes. They reduce risks associated with digital imagery while demonstrating responsible digital practice and academic integrity. In this way, it reflects a view of professional identity that privileges intellectual output over visual representation.

Eventually, this reflection on how one appears online grew into a realization about how one exists online — that authenticity sometimes requires not just abstraction, but absence.

Digital Quietude: Choosing When Not to Post

The realization that one’s digital reflection can be abstract yet authentic eventually led to a quieter kind of presence.

Ever since recognizing the complexities behind online self-representation — the way pixels, filters, and algorithms can reshape one’s identity — Jaderick stopped updating (though he still maintains) his social media accounts sometime before the pandemic. Whatever traces remain there now are remnants of a time when posting felt more personal and less performative.

To friends and colleagues who continue to send requests or wonder why he seems “socially missing in action,” please know it’s not from disinterest but from deliberate restraint. Between deepfakes, data mining, and digital noise, he has simply chosen to step back. His accounts remain — more like preserved fossils than active feeds — while he continues to engage more genuinely through his university email and website.

This is not disconnection; it’s redefinition.

Not a ghost, just digitally retired — intentionally so.

He shares the following message to his social media friends:

Not a Ghost — Just Digitally Retired

Dear friends and colleagues,

If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t accepted your social media request or reacted to your post since, well, sometime before the pandemic — it’s not you, it’s me (and the algorithms).

A few years ago, I decided to stop updating my social media accounts — not out of mystery or rebellion, but out of digital self-defense. Between deepfakes, data mining, and AI systems that can make us dance or declare things we never said, I chose to minimize my digital footprint and keep my sanity intact.

I still maintain my accounts (so the bots won’t impersonate me), but they now serve as quiet digital fossils of a more naïve, pre-deepfake internet. If you’d like to connect, collaborate, or just say hi — I’m much more real (and responsive) through my university email or website.

Think of this not as “unfriending,” but as “upgrading our connection — offline or academically online.”

Warm regards,

(Digitally retired, but still 100% human.)

This personal emblem serves as a minimalist mark of Jaderick's identity and philosophy. Shown throughout this website, the emblem integrates the initials J and P into a cohesive geometric design rendered in jade green—a color associated with renewal, growth, and intellectual vitality. The form, when viewed at an angle, evokes a tilted infinity symbol, signifying the pursuit of continuity, discovery, and enduring curiosity. The symmetry and modularity of the design reflect the precision and structure characteristic of computational thinking, while its subtle asymmetry suggests creativity and adaptability. Together, these elements represent the synthesis of logic and imagination—core values that define both Jaderick’s academic and professional practice.

In the end, identity—whether drawn in lines or left between silences—is not diminished by abstraction nor absence. It simply takes a different form. In choosing what to reveal and what to withhold, one remains present in principle, if not always in pixels. The caricature, the quiet, and the unseen all point to the same truth: that meaning endures, even when the medium pauses.

Silence, after all, is the most honest form of presence.

References

boyd, d. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.
Chesney, R., & Citron, D. K. (2019). Deep fakes: A looming challenge for privacy, democracy, and national security. California Law Review, 107(6), 1753–1819.
Livingstone, S. (2004). Media literacy and the challenge of new information and communication technologies. The Communication Review, 7(1), 3–14. DOI: 10.1080/10714420490280152.
Madden, M., Fox, S., Smith, A., & Vitak, J. (2007). Digital footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency. Pew Research Center.
Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet. London: Simon & Schuster Trade, 347pp.

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