The internet knows a lot about me, actually, it knows everything. Even in my limited social presence, my personal information like emails, phone number, address, login information, is all traceable, ugh. Tim Herrera’s article, How to See What the Internet Knows About You (And How to Stop It) , eases some tension because it offers ways to protect yourself from particular companies. I will definitely be rereading this post to use some of the suggested sites.
My digital identity, in terms of who I am, what I like, what I’m willing to buy, is valuable information, especially to capitalistic institutions vying for my attention, and money of course. It is all about money, Tim Chambers’, Who Owns the Digital You?, explores the creeping nature in which companies find access to our most personal information, and emphatically urges us to take ownership of our digital presence.
Digital identity has a lot to do with public appearance, and the best away to insure your best self is presented is to be in control of this public profile. Danah Boyd’s suggestions, in Controlling Your Public Appearance, make me think of how UMW has a Domain of Ones Own initiative, a platform I am using to write this post and build my digital presence. My only qualm with DoOO is that I wasn’t exposed to until half way through my college career.
Digital competency and presece ought to be part of k-12 curriculum. Gardner Campbell argues, in A Personal Cyberinfrastructure, higher education does a disservice to its students and world at large by not equipping its students with skills build on the already fantastical advancements of digital technology.
Web presence, and specifically a digital portfolio, can have many forms. It can be short bio with a list of your presence on internet. Or if your online presence is not so extensive as to require a list, you can have a long bio that mentions and links to the work you have done. If words are not a sufficient descriptor of you, link to your most recent work directly. The point is, have a presence and maintain it, don’t let it be a good idea and good information with a bad interface.
