"Think before you post" is the recurrent theme I saw in all three articles. We have to ask ourselves and teach our students to think: What are the potential consequences that this post/comment can have on my future relationships, job opportunities, professionalism, etc. every time they post. It is not surprising that colleges and employers use what people willingly make public to assist in gaining a better understanding of who you are and if they want to be affiliated with you. Yet, on the other side of the issue, I think that there should be transparency on the part of the university or interviewer so that applicants know that they are subject to being searched for online and that anything found can be used against them.
I think that Colgate University's policy in the NY Times article is fair. The Dean of the University, Gary L. Ross, said that they contacted applicants in an attempt to verify with the student on incidents of question before they make their final admissions decisions. This gives the applicant a chance to explain the situation or defend themselves so that is not completely based on judging profiles. The graph on the Mashable article suggests that employers do in fact judge profiles and that they have a significant negative effect on a person's ability to be hired. The Lifehacker article gave more evidence as to just how much information about you an employer can retrieve. It is concerning that they can access amazon wish lists, credit reports, certain medical records (that I thought were confidential)at the press of a button. This is information that wasn't necessarily posted by the individual voluntarily, but that just happens to be public information. i think that employers should adopt similar principles of transparency.
Since I don't use social websites and I have a common name, when I did the searches in class I couldn't find anything on myself. But that is not necessarily a good thing, as mentioned in class. It probably seems suspicious, but the reason behind this is I was always cautious of social media and used a different name when I did have Facebook about 9 years ago. As of right now, I have the ability to create a positive digital tattoo and I would like to build an online presence based on education as it has become more appealing to me to use social media to connect to resources and other educators. Like the high school counselors in the NY Times article, I would constantly remind students of keeping their digital images clean as it is increasingly important. I wouldn't recommend two profiles because it just seems like too much work; like maintaining two personalities. That involves more time in front of the screen and takes time away from actually living. I think that the best thing is to be honest with your students, to point out the positives and negatives associated with having an online profile, and to bring awareness to the fact that what is posted is permanent in the online world. Even when teaching the primary grades, I think it's important to bring awareness to the fact that they may already have a digital image without them even knowing. I know a parent wouldn't intend on hurting their child while posting thousands of pictures and blogging about them, but it could be potentially damaging to a developing child's self-esteem. It's still too early to know the outcomes of this emerging trend, but it will be interesting to observe as it unfolds.
I agree with your comment about taking away from actual living. Without getting too much off topic I find it horrendous that people are on their phones instead of enjoying each other's company face to face. We've all been at that family event or at a friends house for dinner where everyone has their face in their phone. I am glad you squeezed in that little comment there.
ReplyDeleteMore to the topic though, I personally have been adopting a be honest with your students philosophy about education and I like what you say about that here as well. I will be teaching high school students and I feel that they are old enough to understand responsibility and that needs to be taught not just for in person experience, but online as well. I really liked the idea of a student creating an interest/achievement portfolio to combat whatever they had put out there as a teen and preteen. I don't feel that students should be held accountable for "back in the day" as this whole new type of digital identity check. However, with teachers like you teaching the younger kids about responsibility and discretion on the internet, I can hope to come across some older students with a clean(er) digital tattoo one day. On the other hand, teenagers are notorious for making bad decisions and I'm hoping companies and colleges take that into account.
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI think you have some great feedback from the articles here! I thought it was crazy how much employers could find out as well, and I assumed medical records would be private as well. It definitely sounds concerning.
I, like you, have an extremely common name and couldn't find myself when looking as well. I was pretty happy about this, but you're right, perhaps it isn't a good thing, what with the prevalence and importance of technology. I think it's a good idea to look into building your online digital tattoo for educational purposes. It shows that you are wanting to become a professional educator who cares about her career and presence with the learning community.