Data Mine--Digital Tattoos

What's out there?

This week we were tasked with uncovering our digital history. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how little I found about myself online.  I have consciously tried to keep my digital presence small up to this point in my life, and I am quite happy with that decision. If I decide to pursue the goal of creating a dedicated professional web presence I am happy that it will not be competing with my personal web presence. 

What I found

Personal Screenshot
of Google search result

I tried almost all the different sites that were offered. A simple Google search of my name is a shockingly ineffective way to find me. The first two and half pages of search results are devoted to an Entertainment Tonight host named Leeza Gibbons. (Who by the way, doesn't actually share my name).

Even on pages three and four, though you won't really find me. There are several other successful doctors who pop up instead.  When I googled my username, I also didn't appear on the first two pages. On the third page was a link to RateMyTeachers which knew my name and where I was employed, but there were no ratings posted. I searched through five pages of results without finding much of anything. Even the facebook candidates listed by that name weren't me. 

What Was Correct?

As I moved into more data searching sites, Nuwber was the most accurate source of information probably because it didn't have much listed. They knew my age rage and current address and phone number. Pipl definitely had the most information about me, and it was largely accurate. This site was able to tie my username to my pintrest board, my Google photo, and my husband. When I searched by my name, they knew my current address, former addresses, family associations (both immediate and my in-laws). Pipl was the only site that knew I was a teacher, where I taught and how long I have been there. They also had my Master's degree information listed.  The only inaccuracy was an incorrect phone number that I didn't recognize at all.

Where Did Things Go Wrong?

Intelius and Radaris seemed to have the most inaccuracies. Both listed my correct age, current town, and hometown, my husband and my immediate family. Intelius had my correct high school listed as well. However, Intelius listed many inaccurate family members who shared my married name, but are not known relations of my in-laws. Surprisingly, both sites listed me as related to one of my sister's friends from high school, plus another person who shares the high school friend's last name. These two sites also have me employed at Boeing. Radaris actually has me employed at five places I have never been affiliated with, and none of them are in the field of education.  

Spokeo found me by my maiden name and seemed to be one of the few sites that listed that as an alias for me. They also connected my username to an old Facebook photo I had posted, but there wasn't any information available unless you paid for results. I could not find myself on PeekYou, but at the bottom of the PeekYou page was an ad for BeenVerified, and I was listed there and correctly tied to most of my in-laws. BlockShopper also couldn't find me which I thought was strange because I know I'm listed as the owner of our home. So I searched my husband's name there and our property popped. I'm listed with him but there's a spelling error in my name so it doesn't show up on a search. 

Reflection

Overall, I am actually quite surprised at how little information was available about me. The name, address, and phone number information is too be expected and likely would have been public before the internet, although there was an option to keep it unlisted. I was a little surprised to see my old Facebook photo tied to my name. I deleted all my photos from Facebook but clearly they got to it before I took it down. A good reminder that the internet is forever. 

I have been giving serious thought to the idea of building an intentional professional web presence. While it's not something that I believe I need to do at this point in my life, I can understand the argument to be made for it and will continue to weigh it as an option. 

How Does This Apply to Schools?

I think this is definitely something that students will need to be taught explicitly. I think that it's a part of digital citizenship and schools can help students to recognize some of the long term implications of their social media presence. I think that most schools are at least starting to do this especially in middle and high schools. The difficulty is that for many kids (and adults) the reward of being active online is far greater than the risk of being active online. Teaching kids to change their behavior and plan for a long-term, hypothetical, potentially negative scenario far in the future is difficult especially if there's an immediate risk of negative social implications. Parents and teachers have to continuously reinforce to students that it's all being recorded.