Digital Footprints
As seen in the Oct./Nov. issue of ISPP's The Pulse magazine.
Unlike the impressions left in the rainy season mud, or packed in the sand along a recently explored beach, digital footprints aren’t so easily washed away.
When we explore the internet, read articles, watch videos, comment or “like” things, and publish about our work and learning, we leave behind a trail. This trail can be followed to create a map of our interests, habits, opinions and creations in a very public way, especially if we don’t take steps to obscure our path.
This map of our internet activity is often referred to as our “digital footprint”, our impression on the internet, and once made public it can be a very difficult thing to hide; records of its existence are replicated and backed up on computers around the world. And although there are many methods that can be used to cover our tracks, and much discussion about what things people want to hide, the real discussion that needs to happen in schools is about what we want to show.
The internet is now the go-to resource for finding out about stuff. What if the thing that someone wants to find out more about is you? The searcher could be anyone, true enough, potentially even someone who wants to harm you… but most likely that person searching for you on the internet has a vested interest: A job or school you’re applying to, a potential employer or client investigating your potential. These are parties that have influence on your life, and they’re going to make decisions based on what they find. So the discussion becomes not about what you don’t want people to know about you on the internet, but just exactly what do you want them to know?
You want them to know you exist. You want them to see examples of your best work, in a variety of fields. You want to demonstrate that you can grow, adapt, and change over time. You want to focus on your strengths, and show that you are working on your weaknesses.
Students at ISPP are not just building an internet presence, they’re building an internet portfolio. They are learning what sorts of information are okay to share online, and what types of things they should keep private. They are learning how websites track and use their information and then using that knowledge to promote their best work. With proactivity like this, those who go looking may find our students, but they will find a person with a history of learning and growth, not a one-time bad party photo or an anecdote meant only for close friends. Those things should remain private, but should they ever leak, they will be buried beneath years of authentic, principled, publicly visible learning.
-M
