Like most people in my generation
who have access to the internet (I’m assuming), I have Googled myself and other
people in my life, more out of curiosity and boredom than anything else. Since
my Facebook is private, I have no criminal record, and I’m not a homeowner, I
have found that there is not much information on me online outside of my
LinkedIn and two Twitter accounts. Since they generally cost money, I have
never searched for myself through one of the more elaborate services available
online, but I’m willing to bet that the results wouldn’t be too much different.
That said, my Googling of myself and
a few others has always been cursory at best. Having to data mine a stranger,
as we each had to do during class this past week, was much more in-depth than I
am used to. Frankly, data mining a person I had never heard of, including looking
through her Instagram account to figure out her kid’s name, was creepy and made
me feel gross. I wasn’t surprised that I was able to find that bit of
information, as well as her current and former addresses, parents’ addresses,
salary, and home value online, but I was surprised at just how easy it was to
do so. My partner and I found a tremendous amount of information on our subject
in just fifteen minutes. On the other hand, I didn’t find much more on myself
while doing a more in-depth search during class.
Considering the cultural and
technological environment in which we live, it is imperative that we teach
students about digital tattoos as part of a comprehensive curriculum that
promotes technological literacy. As time passes, more and more information about
us is being stored online and access to this information is only getting
easier. It is crucial that children and teenagers are aware of the digital
tattoos that they leave behind so that they can better control and manage their
online web presences in the face of mountains of information available online
that they cannot control.
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