Digital Tattoos and Data Mines
Image source: Interac
What is a digital tattoo? According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, a digital footprint (or digital tattoo) is the information that is online about you and your activity. This may include public records, such as phone numbers, addresses, education, and work history. It can be surprising what one can find on the internet about anyone these days.
My Data Mine
I took the time to explore different platforms to see what my online presence looked like. I avoided platforms like Facebook and Twitter knowing that I would have to log in to the website to search. PeopleFinders, PeekYou, Intelius, Radaris, ZabaSearch, and Nuwber were among the platforms that I searched for myself. Through the five platforms, the results were fairly similar. Most of the search engines connected me to my current town, if not my exact address. If it didn't show my information, it suggested the possible connection to one of my sisters and my mom. Although most of the platforms came up with similar results and connections to people, Radaris was the online site that connected my former stepdad to me. I have no connection whatsoever to my former stepdad online, so I found the connection interesting.
I must confess, I have Googled my name long before this assignment just to see what would show up on the results. When I tried searching my different aliases (Beatrix Franco, Beatrix Rose V. Franco, and Trixie Franco), I found results more closely tied with my nickname (Trixie), more specifically, my Pinterest profile. When I searched my formal name on Google, it wasn't until the third page of results that I found me. It was a newsletter from Lewis University sharing the names of the students who were inducted in the Delta Epsilon Sigma Honor Society in December 2016.
I found Google to be the most precise when it came to searching for things like my phone number and personal social media account usernames. Although, majority of the search results that arose were of my mom and sisters, but were still connected to me. Most of the search results that brought up my sister were connected to two of the three sisters that I live with, seeing that we share the same address and it is on public records. But when I searched for my social media username, out of the four search results that were revealed, two of the results were from my sister who lives at a separate address and is also married, connecting her most recent posts that I was tagged in on Instagram. Another result was from a tweet that I retweeted last year, although my personal Twitter account is on private most of the time.
Reflection
I thought my name was unique enough that most search results would lead to me, but after my data mining, I found that my name was more common than I thought. I was aware of at least one more person who shared my name, only because my family has sent this person emails thinking they were sending it to my email address. Interestingly, I did not find any images connected to my name. Most image results that came up were tied to other individuals with the same (or similar) name and shoes.
As Professor Zumpano mentioned in Digital Tattoos Part 2, future employers' decision may or may not affect ones' online presence. After data mining, it seems that my name might not be easily connected to my profiles or my education and works. Will my future employers think that I have little to no knowledge with technology because I don't have a strong online presence? Part of me feels like I should turn my privacy settings on social media to public. Part of me also feels that I should just include a link to my professional web presence or educational blog.
But that raises the question of who will have access? My profiles are private for a reason. I feel that I should be able to choose/control who gets to see what I share in my personal life. As I mentioned in my Flipgrid side chat response, I believe that as professionals, we should be able to choose who we share what with. I don't think that the parents of my students or my colleauges should have access to my personal life, should I choose to not share it with them. If I were to publicize my profiles, there won't be any posts that I feel I need to hide, but I would still like to keep my personal and professional life separate.
That being said, we should take the time to teach our students and children, young and old, about digital citizenship and digital tattoos. Technology is constantly evolving, and it is essential to teach students that posts can be deleted, but they can also be saved forever, whether it be through a screenshot or Google search results, etc. International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) provides great resources to guide educating students about digital tattoos and digital citizenship.
Thanks for the reminder about how we can be diligent about our accounts but others (such as your sister's Instagram post tagging you) can develop a digital presence for us both with and without our consent. That's why it's so important to to yearly "check ups" on what's out there.
ReplyDelete"But that raises the question of who will have access? My profiles are private for a reason. I feel that I should be able to choose/control who gets to see what I share in my personal life." This is an excellent point! There's a lot of stuff about us that's public, from directory listings to social media posts we share with other. But private is private! Did you know that Illinois outlawed the practice of employers (or potential employers) demanding the passwords to your social media accounts? So, in Illinois anyway, you get to keep that to yourself. You can get more info about the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act at https://content.next.westlaw.com/0-538-5785?__lrTS=20210109183340734&transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true
ReplyDeleteHi Beatrix!
ReplyDeleteI really liked what you said about keeping your personal and professional life private. Most people don't have to think too deeply about how their personal and professional lives intertwine. I have a tendency to get a little too philosophical on that aspect of this job to the point where I can start tripping myself up. Our job is so much more than the classroom. Sometimes it feels like when you're a teacher, that's who you have to be outside the classroom, and I don't think that's necessarily fair. There's more to life than your profession. We have our families, our interests, our passions. The internet is another place to partially live out our lives, much like the classroom.. but it's not the whole picture.