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| image: http://hamletbatista.com/2007/07/17/our-digital-footprints-googles-and-microsoft%E2%80%99s-most-valuable-asset/ Watch this 4 minute video titled Digital Dossier (linked from youtube) which exposes the extent to which our digital footprint travels and follows us throughout our life. While it may be disconcerting to think about how much information about us and our families is available in the cloud...the reality is that there are only certain portions of that we can control. Read this blog post by Terry Freedman, well known and respected educator from the UK. In his post, he acknowledges that we can't avoid a digital identity but gives some ideas about how to manage it. Read through this blog post Controlling Your Digital Identity is as Easy as 1, 2, 3, where Lisa Nielsen summarizes some significant points she gleaned from a conference she attended where ed tech expert, Dean Shareski spoke. Also included at the bottom of the post is Shareski's Slideshare presentation if you are interested in paging through it. So....what are your thoughts? Is a digital footprint something you've thought about before now? What do you think about the points or strategies made in these posts? Under what circumstances do you see your own (or your students...or your family members, etc) digital footprint being something worth considering or managing? What, if any, signifigance does this have for us as educators and/or parents? |
5 comments:
A digital footprint? Never gave it a thought before NOW! I wonder what good and bad it could/will do to me and family. I like the idea of having a record of what is going on the web. But now we have one more thing to manage to help protect our families and reputations. My kids are always online playing, socializing, shopping or just looking at sites for information. There is no privacy any more.
You can’t control what other people do online so we need to teach our students/kids to protect themselves. The first step is to have people Google themselves and see what’s out there, most people don’t fully realize how much information about themselves is out there and available to be seen. If students/my kids understand about their digital footprint it will help them make better decisions when online and sending info through the web.
The more I use the web. The more it affects me. I should visit blogs post on them and my owe to help create my own identity and/or protect what I have already left behind. Create a profile so people see what I want them to see when they find me online “protecting myself as much as I can” This footprint stuff could all be very good or Very BAD we all should do what we can to keep it GOOD!
Teachers are easy targets and we need to protect ourselves and our careers. I feel I have nothing to hide BUT what other people put out there I can’t stop. We all “teachers “need to be proactive and protect ourselves/careers. Use the web. To promote teachers/students and hope for the best!
I have thought about my digital footprint and was very hesitant to join facebook, post pictures,etc because of it. I quickly realized that I am going to have a digital footprint no matter what. I was concerned when I heard that if you post pictures from your cellphone the address is attached because of the GPS system. I don't post pictures from my phone but then again, anyone can get a your address, picture of your house, etc. just by entering your name and/or address on the computer. Again, I knew that a digital footprint exists but I need to continue learning techniques of being safe online.
I have thought of Digital Footprints before and the thing that amazes me the most is the number of Roderick Hurleys that exist. So far, I don’t care what exists for me, but I like the concept of taking control. By making your own wiki’s or blogs, then you control the material that is out there from and about you.
I think it is important to manage your digital footprints. When Mrs. Zaums and I interviews several candidates for jobs that we hired during the summer of 2010, I googled the people that we did not know to learn about them. What I saw were positive things, plus I found connections to different employees in the district that I was then able to call them and ask about the applicants.
As educators at the middle school level I think it is important to educate the students and parents regarding digital tracks. Some of our students are not mature enough to know what to not put out there and it may put them at risk. I think it is important to teach students and parents to watch their d.f.’s and be aware of what they are creating. I have had many printouts of footprints brought to me in my office and I have had to deal with those issues frequently.
I read the comments from both posting areas, and here's what I have to say. Although a digital footprint seems to be nearly inevitable these days, I find the whole idea frightening. Just like Mike said (I think), I like to be under the radar, not because I have anything to hide, but because I feel that it's an invasion of my privacy and maybe worse. People who say they don't care that others can find out all this information are missing the point. This is just one more step in an effort to chip away at our personal freedoms. I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but when companies say they just want your information so they can serve you better, I say Hah. There is something more to it and anyone who says otherwise is being naive. In addition, we are becoming completely dependent on one single medium. When it crashes, no one will know what to do. Do I put my beliefs into action and stay away? That's another HAH. I'd have to find a cave in the mountains and go on the paleo diet before I could do that. Solution? I don't know but I think we're asking for trouble.
Personally, I never really gave much thought to digital footprinting before now. How naive I was. When I taught George Orwell's novel, 1984, to high school students in the 1970's, I found the idea of being watched/tracked by "Big Brother" to be quite eerie and chilling. I recall thinking that I would never have to worry about anything like that. After all, the world that I grew up in during the 1950's-1960's was so different. Enter technology. Digital footprinting is inevitable. Personally, I'm not comfortable with the idea, but it doesn't horrify me as it once did.
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