Digital Footprint

By: Angela Dela Cruz

In this day and age it is important to be wary of the digital footprint we leave behind. As technology further advances, it becomes our main source of communication, information, and expression. This progression in technology makes it easy to broadcast oneself to the entire world, and now people can search for a name on google and see all their social media. It is important to be cautious about what we post on the internet in order to protect our self-image and our reputation.

In this week's class, we learn about how easy it is for people to see our personal lives as we forget that our social media may be on display for the world to see. The video below shows a social experiment about a man who is able to get specific information from people, just by looking at Instagram pages near his location. Many are panicked that a random stranger (Jack Vale) knows such personal details, such as birthdays, family members, and even name of pets, and one individual even threatens to call the police on him. What people fail to understand is that by putting their information online they are choosing to lose its privacy, and they are giving up control of what they post.

                                          


David Nield's article on how to prevent oversharing on social media shows ways you can increase privacy. One of his tips was to stay off the map since many apps such as Snapchat and Facebook allows people to share their location. By going on ghost mode on Snapchat or changing your settings on Facebook, people are no longer able to see your whereabouts. In addition he encourages people to change their privacy settings, and it can get as selective as choosing specific friends who get to see your Facebook status.


Being cautious about social media will help prevent people from posting things that could get them in trouble. An article by Stephanie Buck speaks about the things that people should never post on the internet, especially for professional purposes. One of the things not to post is unprofessional public profiles which include questionable photos, especially from college days which might have proof of drugs and alcohol. It is also essential to think with a clear mind before posting, because angry tweets or statuses could create some potential harm.

Being attentive with our social media is also imperative for our professional lives. When searching for a job, it is now effortless for companies or businesses to see one's digital baggage through a simple search on Facebook or even google. A video we viewed in class showed an individual's opportunity diminish during an interview as the interviewer saw his rambunctious nights out and lazy work ethic. Simple by searching up his name, the interviewer saw the man's night life and statuses of him skipping work on Facebook. By being selective about our posts and keeping some privacy, we protect our reputations and create professional impressions.           

In an article by The Online Recruitment Resource, they talk about ways social media can ruin job searching. A big thing to avoid on social media is putting provocative posts, which are not only posts about alcohol but can also include things such as politics. It is better to be safe and keep a neutral profile in order to prevent upsetting interviewers. Furthermore the article stresses not to post any discriminatory behavior which can be seen in even the smallest traces, such as comments on someone's status or likes on someone's page. Maintaining a clean slate on your social media gives you a formal digital reputation that can strengthen first impressions. 

                                   

In addition to learning about digital footprints we also presented applications that we found relevant to our future careers. The app I found is called 'Physera', and it includes workouts created by physical therapists to improve strength and flexibility. Users have a sizable selection of workouts targeting specific areas of the body, such as the back, shoulders, neck and more. The CEO and cofounder of the app is Dan Rubinstein. Before Physera Rubinstein was the head of product of Palantir Technologies, a private American software and services company which specializes in big data analysis, and he was also the Direct of Product Management at Facebook and Google. Rubinstein graduated from Princeton with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and has a Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford.

We also learned how to write in APA format from a video by Tom Kluxen. APA stands for the American Psychological Association, and the school of social and behavioral sciences tends to use this format.  The two key components of APA is to cite references properly to prevent plagiarism, and to have a specific format for the cover page. A general template of this format consists of the title page, abstract, body, then references. The overall guideline includes a size 12 font usually in Times New Roman, double spaced with a one inch margin, and a running head on the upper left with the page numbers on the upper right. The running head is a short version of the title in all capital letters, and on the title page it will say "Running Head: _EXAMPLE_"but on the rest of the pages it is just "_EXAMPLE_". The title page also includes the title with the writer's name underneath, and then the  name of the university underneath that, and this is all centered. The abstract is a little summary of the paper and has phrases such as "This paper examines ___", giving readers a brief synopsis without giving data or information. The body of the paper must include all the facts and data, but writers should make sure they do not plagiarize.  A good source of data for statistics can come from peer-reviewed sources and academic articles as well as the Stockton database, which is a good source of information. 

Lastly, we read chapter one of 'Untangling the Web' by Stephen Dembo and and Adam Bellow. It talks about the great advancement in finding resources, from having to photocopy articles or information as a means of sharing to being able to do it effortlessly with technology. Symbaloo is a dashboard that is perfect and easy to use, helpful for students who need to organize their research group or for a principal who may want to share inspiring videos. Sharing information is a significant part of the modern world but so is storing information, and a site called Diigo serves as a place to keep an individual's favorites (bookmarks) online. You can install a browser toolbar to add your bookmarks, or add their bookmarklet to your browser's favorites bar, there are tags users can put on websites for easy organization. Through these two sites, sharing and storing information has been made easier and uncomplicated.