Week 9: Digital Shadow

 When conducting the activity Google “ego search” I found a facebook profile (not mine), a Flickr profile (also not mine but a professional photography business “Erin Butler Photography” who interestingly enough shares a birthday in the same month as mine), my twitter profile, a LinkedIn profile (not mine but the Manager of Operations of NAB – impressive), many images of Erin Butler (but none of me), and the official Erin Butler Photography website. I decided to narrow my search by including my middle name and nothing interesting came up so I tried my maiden name which resulted in 6 different LinkedIn profiles for different Erin Gilchrists, a facebook page (not mine), a blogger profile (not mine) and some images (not of me). I narrowed it down again to include my middle name and nada – this ego search was not very successful in bumping up my ego that's for sure. Having said that I was happy with the results, I was a little nervous about what I might find. I am pleased to see that there are no inappropriate images or websites containing information about me – this gives me comfort. Completing this activity left me comfortable with the idea that a future employer (or my Mum or Grandmother)  could attempt to find incriminating information about me without success (because there is none). I found it very interesting that no links for the “web prescence” I have created for myself came up.

Week 8: Internet Footprints

Before taking this unit I did not put to much thought into what I posted online. I never considered my internet footprint , although I had considered the digital footprint left by others. I never asked myself questions such as “Would I want my mum of future employers to see this post?” before making a facebook status update about being hung-over after a night out with friends BUT I had been using facebook from a young age and to be honest, did not consider the consequences of an internet footprint. In the past few years I have been more careful about what I posted, but this was due to my grandparents adding me as a friend so I was conscious of what they thought of me. I often wondered if my children or grandchildren in future generations would look back on my facebook account when looking into family history and this left me anxious about what they would think of me. These thoughts took over and I became very conscious of not only my own posts and internet footprint but also of the posts made by others (digital shadow). I remember a friend posted some pictures of a night out at the pub in which I appeared to be (and probably was) a little worse for wear. I was horrified and asked them to take the photo down immediately, they did not comply and I still cringe every time I think about that photo. It is defiantly not something that I want my children or grandchildren to see, and yet they possibly will. This is something I cannot control and it worries me.