Digital Tattoos

Digital Tattoos

Image Source: news.hamlethub.com

I never thought of our internet presence as a tattoo, but it really is! What we do on the internet stays with us and reflects upon who we are as an individual. I have never been one to want to have a large digital footprint. This class has gotten me out of my digital comfort zone by blogging, creating a Twitter, and engaging with other educators on the internet. Before I watched this week's class videos, I was content and comfortable with the progress I have made. Now, I am overwhelmed with the amount of information you can find out about an individual. Yes, much of it is public knowledge, but it is still scary to know that people can find so much information on one individual. 

Data Mining

I was both eager and hesitant to complete a data mining on myself. I was not so sure what I was going to find and how far back the information would go. I chose to start with Google. There, I entered my full name without my middle initial. Right away I learned that there is a video game character named Katherine McBride as well. I continued to search through the 9 pages, but I did not pull any results for myself. I then tried searching my usual username, kamcbri. The first hit was my Pinterest account. It even pulled up my profile image.

Image Source: Google Images via Pinterest

The next find was my Quizziz account. It listed my username, full name, and my school with the town it is located in. I was surprised to see this wasn't found when I entered my full name since my name was listed in the heading.

ZabaSearch pulled up my current address and age. When I searched myself on Nuwber and Spokeo, they listed Elk Grove and Chicago as towns as I had lived in, but did not provide me with addresses. It did however list my mom, dad, and brothers as relatives. Radaris listed the same as the above sites, but it was the only site to provide my birth month and year. It was interesting to see the differences between these sites.

I have owned my own home for the past 5 years, so I was interested in searching on BlockShopper. However, I did not yield any results. I was unable to locate my home or myself as a homeowner. This was very surprising to me. 

When I searched myself with the link for Illinois Teacher Salaries, it provided me with my salary in 2018. It also listed my position as a special education teacher and the district I currently work in. I also provided me with information about the salary of other teachers within my district. 

Reflection:

I was not surprised by the limited amount of information I was able to find about myself on the internet. As I said earlier, I knew I did not want to have a large digital footprint. I was happy that I was unable to find an address linked to me as well. I am sure that it is out there somewhere and that someone with more sophisticated data mining skills could find it if they really searched for it. 

I do think the internet can be used for good. I want to encourage my students to be mindful of what they post. I think it is important for our middle school aged students to be educated in this area. They need to know how things can carry with them throughout the years and how it can reflect on them as an individual. I do think that I will continue to use digital platforms to engage with other educators. I find that very valuable. I think Twitter is a great place for me to start.