REFLECTION: 1.2 PROFESSIONALISM AND DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS
I believe that I had a fairly good understanding of most of my professional responsibilities in regard to social networking. Most of the issues I read in the readings confirmed what I already knew. However, there were a few issues/information that I was not aware of and also of which deepened my understanding.
I was quite aware of my content being “out there” for everyone to see, even when I had “safety” measures in place. What I was not aware of was about “The Deep Web” (Bergman, 2001). I liked Bergman’s (2001) analogy of the fishing boats where the one boat just drags a net across the surface, but the other boats have many lines delving into the depths to retrieve the deeper fish. It is a little unnerving to know that there is so much detailed information about me that can be accessed by anyone as Julia Hengstler’s (2011:) list of aggregation services, such as: “CVgaget and Pipl. I went on CVgaget
(http://www.cvgadget.com ) and found 2480 Google results, 4200 Images by Google, 240 documents by Google, 884 blogs by Google, and 2 news results by Google. What I found interesting is that there were no Twitter or Myspace results. After taking a peek at some of the information listed, as mentioned by Julia Hengstler (2011: Managing Your Digital Footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles) that there are others with the same name which could cause some confusion and misunderstanding, especially if they are of the unsavory nature.
Julia Hengstler (2011:) says to ask yourself, “’Would the content pass muster with my mother, my boss, and my professional standards/ethics?’”. It is interesting how I have used a similar question with my own students. I usually ask, “If your parents would not approve then don’t do it.” I now realize that it is not only something to ask my students, but myself as well in regards to my profession, my boss, and my students and parents.
Another thought that followed me as I was reading Julia Hengstler’s “Managing Your Digital Footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles” (2011) was the idea around making sure we keep being aware of our own and our students’ privacy and safety in regard to Web 2.0. I was thinking that really it is not much different than other things we put in place to safeguard everyone outside of the Web. The problem is that what we do within our physical school community is somewhat more containable than the Web. (Hengstler. 2011). I think that it is difficult enough to be consistent and diligent about face to face bullying, for example, that the idea of trying to be diligent and consistent about cyber-bullying is, for me, overwhelming. You can put all the safeguards and rules you want in anything you do, whether face to face or online, but unfortunately, they will not always be upheld. Even when there are consequences in place, you will always have those to whom they will not be effective. My concern, as a parent and a teacher, is that it is one thing for the issues to take place in a physical community, such as a brick and mortar school, but it is a whole other world when it involves Web 2.0. How and can we make a plan that is stringent enough to reduce the possible dangers out there? I guess it comes down to the control. We have a better ability to control what happens when it is right in front of us, such as at school. We don’t have the same control when it comes to Web 2.0.
I had a look at the handbook “Safer Practice with Technology: For adults working in schools” (2009) of which Julia Hengstler (2011) mentions in her article, “Managing your digital footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles”. I was particularly interested in the question around ensuring safer activities for primary aged students. I was particularly interested in the sites such as; SchoolsTube (http://www.teachertube.com) and TeacherTube (http://www.teachertube.com) as safer sites for young children to have safer access to the Web. I read the privacy policy and noticed that there is a warning that others using the site could access personal information. It is food for thought and even though these kinds of sites are more secure than others, care should still be taken to educate students and parents of the privacy policies of even the “safer” kids sites.
While reading Julia Hengstler’s “Digital Professionalism and Digital Footprints” (April 2012) I was drawn particularly to the part about making sure you don’t keep your personal “life” on school computers. I use my personal computer at school, and have never thought that there might be personal information that could be seen by my students, not that there is anything that would be inappropriate, but just the fact that they could see pictures of my family and know things about my personal life, is unnerving. I will be cleaning up the computer my students use before they use it this year.
I think that the biggest piece of information that I have come away with is the fact that there are so many seemingly “little” things that I wouldn’t normally think would be a part of my “professional footprint”, such as, leaving my personal content on a computer that my students are using, and that even a picture of me having a glass of wine in Las Vegas that a friend posts on Facebook, could have negative ramifications. A lot of food for thought.
References:
Bergman, M. (2001). White paper: The deep web: Surfacing hidden value. The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 7(1). Doi:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3336451.0007.104
Hengstler, J. (2011). Managing your digital footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles. In S. Hirtz & K. Kelly (Eds.), Education for a Digital World 2.0 (2nd ed.) (Vol. 1, Part One: Emerging technologies and practices). Open School/Crown Publications: Queen's Printer for British Columbia, Canada. http://www.viu.ca/education/faculty_publications/hengstler/EducationforDigitalWorld2.0_1_jh89.pdf
Hengstler, J. (April 2012). “digital professionalism and digital footprints”. Document prepared for training session with Vancouver Island University’s Administrative Assistants, Apri 2012. https://d2l.viu.ca/d2l/le/content/37848/viewContent/435719/View
Kent County Council. (2009). Safer Practice with Technology for Adults Working in Schools. Retrieved from: http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Advisory_Service_ICT/E-Safety/SaferPracticeWithTechnology-260509.pdf
Picture: http://www.weebly.com (picture search within weekly. No url for picture)
I believe that I had a fairly good understanding of most of my professional responsibilities in regard to social networking. Most of the issues I read in the readings confirmed what I already knew. However, there were a few issues/information that I was not aware of and also of which deepened my understanding.
I was quite aware of my content being “out there” for everyone to see, even when I had “safety” measures in place. What I was not aware of was about “The Deep Web” (Bergman, 2001). I liked Bergman’s (2001) analogy of the fishing boats where the one boat just drags a net across the surface, but the other boats have many lines delving into the depths to retrieve the deeper fish. It is a little unnerving to know that there is so much detailed information about me that can be accessed by anyone as Julia Hengstler’s (2011:) list of aggregation services, such as: “CVgaget and Pipl. I went on CVgaget
(http://www.cvgadget.com ) and found 2480 Google results, 4200 Images by Google, 240 documents by Google, 884 blogs by Google, and 2 news results by Google. What I found interesting is that there were no Twitter or Myspace results. After taking a peek at some of the information listed, as mentioned by Julia Hengstler (2011: Managing Your Digital Footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles) that there are others with the same name which could cause some confusion and misunderstanding, especially if they are of the unsavory nature.
Julia Hengstler (2011:) says to ask yourself, “’Would the content pass muster with my mother, my boss, and my professional standards/ethics?’”. It is interesting how I have used a similar question with my own students. I usually ask, “If your parents would not approve then don’t do it.” I now realize that it is not only something to ask my students, but myself as well in regards to my profession, my boss, and my students and parents.
Another thought that followed me as I was reading Julia Hengstler’s “Managing Your Digital Footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles” (2011) was the idea around making sure we keep being aware of our own and our students’ privacy and safety in regard to Web 2.0. I was thinking that really it is not much different than other things we put in place to safeguard everyone outside of the Web. The problem is that what we do within our physical school community is somewhat more containable than the Web. (Hengstler. 2011). I think that it is difficult enough to be consistent and diligent about face to face bullying, for example, that the idea of trying to be diligent and consistent about cyber-bullying is, for me, overwhelming. You can put all the safeguards and rules you want in anything you do, whether face to face or online, but unfortunately, they will not always be upheld. Even when there are consequences in place, you will always have those to whom they will not be effective. My concern, as a parent and a teacher, is that it is one thing for the issues to take place in a physical community, such as a brick and mortar school, but it is a whole other world when it involves Web 2.0. How and can we make a plan that is stringent enough to reduce the possible dangers out there? I guess it comes down to the control. We have a better ability to control what happens when it is right in front of us, such as at school. We don’t have the same control when it comes to Web 2.0.
I had a look at the handbook “Safer Practice with Technology: For adults working in schools” (2009) of which Julia Hengstler (2011) mentions in her article, “Managing your digital footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles”. I was particularly interested in the question around ensuring safer activities for primary aged students. I was particularly interested in the sites such as; SchoolsTube (http://www.teachertube.com) and TeacherTube (http://www.teachertube.com) as safer sites for young children to have safer access to the Web. I read the privacy policy and noticed that there is a warning that others using the site could access personal information. It is food for thought and even though these kinds of sites are more secure than others, care should still be taken to educate students and parents of the privacy policies of even the “safer” kids sites.
While reading Julia Hengstler’s “Digital Professionalism and Digital Footprints” (April 2012) I was drawn particularly to the part about making sure you don’t keep your personal “life” on school computers. I use my personal computer at school, and have never thought that there might be personal information that could be seen by my students, not that there is anything that would be inappropriate, but just the fact that they could see pictures of my family and know things about my personal life, is unnerving. I will be cleaning up the computer my students use before they use it this year.
I think that the biggest piece of information that I have come away with is the fact that there are so many seemingly “little” things that I wouldn’t normally think would be a part of my “professional footprint”, such as, leaving my personal content on a computer that my students are using, and that even a picture of me having a glass of wine in Las Vegas that a friend posts on Facebook, could have negative ramifications. A lot of food for thought.
References:
Bergman, M. (2001). White paper: The deep web: Surfacing hidden value. The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 7(1). Doi:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3336451.0007.104
Hengstler, J. (2011). Managing your digital footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles. In S. Hirtz & K. Kelly (Eds.), Education for a Digital World 2.0 (2nd ed.) (Vol. 1, Part One: Emerging technologies and practices). Open School/Crown Publications: Queen's Printer for British Columbia, Canada. http://www.viu.ca/education/faculty_publications/hengstler/EducationforDigitalWorld2.0_1_jh89.pdf
Hengstler, J. (April 2012). “digital professionalism and digital footprints”. Document prepared for training session with Vancouver Island University’s Administrative Assistants, Apri 2012. https://d2l.viu.ca/d2l/le/content/37848/viewContent/435719/View
Kent County Council. (2009). Safer Practice with Technology for Adults Working in Schools. Retrieved from: http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Advisory_Service_ICT/E-Safety/SaferPracticeWithTechnology-260509.pdf
Picture: http://www.weebly.com (picture search within weekly. No url for picture)