Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship

Digital footprint. Electronic footprint. Digital shadow. Digital tattoo. So many names for the same thing - the trail of data left when using the internet. Over the years, terminology of this phenomena has shifted from a more temporary phrase like 'footprint' to a more permanent version of 'digital tattoo' to symbolize the lasting imprint of the digital presence. I have added a funny but powerful video of how easy it can be to find other's information online.

Most information found online is 'active' where the user is deliberately sharing information about themselves. This could be by means of posting on social media, subscribing to a streaming service, leaving an online review, or online banking. However, there is also 'passive' digital content that has been collected of the user from outside sources like friends/family submitted content through social media; a website tracking how many times a user visits; and advertisers using likes, shares, and comments to target the user with specific content. Moral of the story, we are all findable on the internet whether we have tried to make a digital presence or not.

My Digital Imprint

Learning all of this new information only made me interested in seeing what my digital tattoo is! To start, I searched my name on multiple web engines like Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. Although, I soon came to realize how common the name Erin Foley is. Incase anyone is wondering, there is a very popular comedian/actress named Erin Foley and she was the main attraction for the first few pages in my search for all web platforms. To problem solve, I added my middle name Kay and went through the same process again. Again, I learned that there are many favored girls with my name that are musicians, photographers, and authors. Truth be told, I did not come up at all on any of the search engines I used (at least for the first five pages I browsed through). Finally, when I moved from web searches to image searches, my Twitter picture was the second image. When I clicked the image it went to the conductor of the #UDLchat Twitter chat I recently participated in. Overall, it was an anticlimactic experience thus far.

Image Source

Moving on to more reliable search tools, I was hopeful to see my online imprint. To start, I searched Erin Foley on Nuwber and came up with a detailed report on me. The basics of my name, age, and marital status were all correct; as well as the extended list of relatives and neighbors. And although there was information in connection to me, it was all out of date; the address and landline number are from my childhood and the email was from high school. 

Image Source

Image Source

Image Source

The only other search tools that I was able to find myself (with the name Erin Foley and Erin Kay Foley) was Xlek and TruePeopleSearch. These were both less detailed but had adjacent information as Nuwber. However, TruePeopleSearch had a long list of possible relatives and associates and it was so intriguing to see who made those lists like my late grandfather, sister-in-law, and distant cousin. Overall, the search was long and tedious but so fun seeing what the internet has on me - which turns out is not much!

Image Source

Image Source

Where to go from here?

Image Source

Remember how I said a lot of the information found on me was outdated? It was all from the year 2015, which just so happens to be the year I graduated undergrad and became a teacher. This is because I did intentionally try to be un-finable once I became a teacher; making sure I could live my life but also not have to worry about parents of students, former students, or middle/high school students finding me. With that being said, I am still shocked with how little information I was able to find on myself - especially since I am a millennial with multiple social media platforms. 

After this digital experiment, I have come to the conclusion that my digital tattoo is yet to be drafted. I still have time to sketch and plan the online imprint I want the world to see of me. The internet is my digital oyster!

Resources

Brooklynn Nine-Nine. Nbc Tattoo GIF [IMAGE]. 2021. Retrieved by https://giphy.com/gifs/brooklynninenine-nbc-brooklyn-nine-99-lQOOFNEBXgcpYmF40X.

Guillaume, Duval. Amazing mind reader reveals his 'gift' [VIDEO]. Youtube. September 24, 2012. Retrieved by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7pYHN9iC9I&t=123s.