Digital Footprint
For additional information – see Presentation
At first, a digital footprint sounds kinda ‘Tron’ish. In reality it is not that far from the truth though. Each of us leave footprints where we walk in the physical world. We also leave footprints or bread crumbs in our virtual world as well.
One quantifiable way to see our footprint is to list every account we have for every online activity we do.
Prior to 2004, my digital footprint was limited in scope and audience
As of 2004, I have been working in a district leadership position and web2.0 was exploding.
Some are now my ‘orphan’ footprints. My presence there is fading or disappeared. Some intentionally and some naturally. My First Class presence on the web was removed as of August 20, 2012 when our district shut down the web server.
I captured the website so that I can rebuild it, but as I started, I wasn’t sure how much still needed to be there. I will have to think about how much of that footprint should just fade away or be stored as an archive to dust off and look back on once in a while. At this point, I am letting it all fade away; however, I am extracting some information I had posted within that website, refreshing and reposting (on an as needed / requested basis.)
And now my digital footprint looks very different. I still have a trail that includes parts of my past but now looks like.
and surprisingly a reduced presence in August 2013 (I would hazard part of that being the FirstClass website being removed and all links from outside referencing into that site)
A positive statement I make about my Google Footprint is that the first 10 results are all about me. I have actively published my name, contributed to websites and communities; however, I haven’t tried to manipulate my rankings. We do need to think about how we manage our footprint. I am sure there are some negative things I have said or done in the 5000+ Google results; however, what people see first and most is what positively represents me.
What is your Google Footprint? (Try searching your name. If you have a common name, add a clarifier like Vancouver, Washington.)
Managing your Digital Footprint includes aspects of Internet Safety.
Even as an adult, I am careful about my personal identifying information that is freely available on the web. While I am easy to contact, my home address is not findable on Google. Managing your Digital Footprint requires being aware of the data you leave behind and sometimes choosing not to leave any. See also Internet Safety
References
Definition of Digital Footprint –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_footprint – Accessed February 5, 2013
AVG Survey of 2200 mothers of children under 2
http://mashable.com/2010/10/07/toddlers-online-presence/
Managing your Risks
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/internet-security/1287421/how-much-are-you-worth-to-a-cyber-criminal
NetSmartz – Revealing too much
http://www.netsmartz.org/RevealingTooMuch
Kaspersky – Cyber Identity Crime –
http://www.kaspersky.com/images/kaspersky-infographics-how-much-you-lose-antivirus-math-10-147143.png
http://www.netsmartz.org/RealLifeStories/YourPhotoFate
A Sincere Compliment – WestHigh –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2InkWRc1zww