EDU 776 Blog post #7: Digital Tattoos

 The Internet is Forever

Recently, I’ve been thinking about my presence online in a whole new way.  I’ve tried to be someone who is NOT all over Google, and keep my social media pretty private for the most part, depending on the platform.  I wanted to be low key and not have future employers find a bunch of information about me.  However, lately, my eyes have been opened through my professional course work that a strong and positive online presence can be a great thing, and make you stand out and be marketable.  It’s basically impossible to not have some sort of digital tattoo, so might as well make it one you’re proud of!

Data Mining

Whether you’re someone who likes to keep a low profile, or you enjoy putting it all out there, I think it’s really important for everyone to at least be aware about what exists about them online, and how accessible it is to others.  This process of research through different search engines to create somewhat of an at-a-glance online portfolio on someone is called Data Mining. Admittedly, I’m someone who likes to do this on others, but I’ve never really done a full search of myself, and it was a really interesting process.

Image Source: giphy.com 

I first did a basic Google search of myself, but in a few different ways.  I searched different account names I have, and I also searched myself using my maiden name, and my somewhat new married name.  It was interesting to see the differences in searching myself using my maiden name vs. my married name.  My full maiden name, Katherine Yircott, is pretty uncommon, so the hits on Google were mostly all me.  I found really old things like high school sports articles, my grandparent’s obituaries, and different, old social media accounts I don’t even use anymore - which was a nice reminder to clean those up and/or delete them.  

My married name, Katherine Schuler, is a really common name, so it was fascinating how I had to change the search a bit or add more words to find myself.  Although it was harder, the hits were obviously newer and more relevant, such as my wedding announcement, baby registry, more recent course work, etc.  Something that was really wild to me was to see my salary (and my entire staff’s  in descending order) online so easily.  I knew it was a public record so it’s not that I was surprised, but rather, something I never really looked at before, and felt a bit strange to view.

I also used other search engines for public records, and I’ve never done this before, on myself or anyone else.  I actually never was able to find myself on Pipl Records, which was interesting to me. Other websites I used are Instant Checkmate and True People Search .  From a combination of these websites, I didn’t find much on myself besides my address, phone number, and possible relatives - which is probably a good thing.

A Learning Experience for Everyone

I’m always telling my students to be careful of what they say and post online, but I feel like I have an even deeper perspective on that after doing a Data Mine on myself. I want to do some more concrete lessons with my students about the lasting impacts of what they post, instead of just giving them empty words that they probably hear often, but don’t fully understand the weight of.  It also definitely makes me think of my own daughter that will be born soon.  I know I’ll want to (and will) share lots of photos and videos of her, but it is also complex to think about it being something she’ll have no control over or consent of for a long time.

My mindset continues to shift about what I want my online presence and digital tattoo to be like.  I think it will be a change and a work in progress over time!  During that time period, I think awareness of what the status of my digital footprint is currently is so important to be mindful of, so I am grateful it’s something I looked into for myself - literally!