If I Googled You, What Would I Find? Managing your digital footprint - Nicola Osborne

If I Googled you, what would I find?
Managing your digital footprint
Nicola Osborne
Digital Education Manager, EDINA
Nicola.Osborne@ed.ac.uk
@suchprettyeyes
#dfmooc #UoEDF

My own (mostly digital) footprint…
• Digital Education Manager at EDINA, University of Edinburgh.
• Social Media expert advising academic and professional colleagues on
communicating their work for over 8 years. Former EDINA Social Media
Officer (2009-2015) and long-term blogger, twitterer, etc.
• Co-I on PTAS-funded Managing Your Digital Footprints (2014-15) research
team, and associated ongoing social media research, including PTAS-funded
“A Live Pulse”: Yik Yak for understanding teaching, learning and assessment at
Edinburgh project.
• Work on EDINA’s educational technology, innovation, digital and data projects
for audiences across Scotland, UK and further afield.
• Passionate about social media, new technology, communication, and public
engagement in all forms – so lots of tracks and traces old and new…
http://edina.ac.uk/

What about your Digital Footprint?
• When did you last Google yourself?
• Or search on Bing?
• Or DuckDuckGo?
Digital loop, digital footprint by Seth Eckert

Overview
• What is a Digital Footprint?
• Introduction to University of Edinburgh’s Digital Footprint
research.
• What contributes to your digital footprint and why does it
matter?
• Taking ownership of your tracks and traces.
• The Digital Footprint MOOC (#DFMOOC) Course.
• Resources to share, adapt and re-use.
• Questions & Discussion.

What is a Digital Footprint?
Your Digital Footprint is the data you leave behind when
you go online.
It's what you've said, what others have said about you,
where you've been, images you're tagged in, personal
information, social media profiles, and much more.

University of Edinburgh Managing Your Digital
Footprint Research
• PTAS-funded project (2014-15) investigated students’ understanding of
their Digital Footprint through surveys (n=1457), focus groups and
interviews. Led by Dr Louise Connelly (IAD and Royal (Dick) School of
Veterinary Science) and IAD.
• Outputs from research included best practice guidance, resources for
educators, eprofessionalism guide and academic publications.
• Further research is ongoing, including a
PTAS-funded Yik Yak project (2016-17)
looking at students use of this and similar
anonymous and/or semi-private spaces. Led by
Prof. Sian Bayne, Moray House School of Education.
(Including a third survey, analysis underway)

Accompanying Digital Footprint Campaign (2014-
15)
• Address a digital skills gap & consolidate existing ad-hoc work
• Aim: To raise student awareness of digital footprints (online presence),
social media, online tracks and traces
• Collaborative University-wide campaign to ~32,000 students (UG, PGT,
online distance, PhD)
• Students involved: Digital Footprint Assistant, EUSA Class Representatives
• Activities included: workshops, presentations, competitions, surveys,
outreach & engagement (staff), best practice sharing, promotional video,
podcast, resources, etc.
Research-informed campaign activities resulted in:
• IAD-led Digital Footprint service.
• External-facing training and consultancy service around digital footprint
and social media, led by EDINA.

But, why do we think this matters… ?
• Students increasingly enter University with an established digital
footprint, presences on social media, a long term relationship with
the internet.
• Social media and online presence are how many of our academic
and professional staff build recognition and visibility.
• Conduct online has implications for academic, professional and
personal life, along with duty of care and HR considerations.
• Practice, expectations and etiquette change all the time (even across
our 3 surveys – 2014, 2015, 2016)…
• But footprints may be out there for years, even for (or beyond) a
lifetime...
• And can have serious impacts on your online identity, professional
presence, reputation, security, and relationships to others…

Oh Fudge!*
*Recommended viewing: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (S3, ep 11):
“Kimmy Googles the Internet”, https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80025384

Social Media create a lot of tracks and traces…
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/dont-post-
about-me-on-social-media-children-say/

This time it’s personal…
• Social media are about people, personality and
quirkiness.
• They allow use of links, images, video, audio,
and other multimedia to bring a topic to life.
• They are designed to nurture communities,
networks, peer support, sharing, participation
and collaboration.
• They are often updated and engaged with via
mobile phones – crossing personal and
professional spaces, places and times.
• And that means they can be challengingly
personal spaces to engage and maintain
boundaries in.
“Username: LauraGil4 on
Snapchat (Education
Storytelling)” by Flickr user Laura
Gilchrist (CC-BY).

Full text searchable personal histories of
everything we’ve ever thought to share…
Social media are sometimes long lasting,
sometimes ephemeral.
And you don’t always get to choose…
We can forget that a post is still live…
Or may not know it has been screen-
capped…
Or it may now be out of our control due
to forgotten passwords, a change of site
ownership, an app is spamming on our
behalf.
5% of our students (from 1457) found
information online about themselves
that they did not think was public. https://www.indy100.com/article/we-enjoyed-reading-mhairi-
blacks-nsfw-tweets-as-a-teenager--xyvV8th3lb

Data from our quantified selves…
https://bust.com/living/16150-which-period-
tracking-app-is-right-for-you.html
http://www.ellieharrison.com/work/broadcasts/
http://www.mapmyrun.com/gb/edinburgh-sct/
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/

Information we don’t expect to be online…
http://www.whitepages.co.uk/electoral-roll-
search-and-electoral-register-voters.html
http://mashable.com/2013/06/10/google-street-view-embarrassing/

Have you experienced the
following online?
• Bullying
• Harassment
• Unwanted comments/tags
• Identity theft
• Being hacked
• Information which is public
• Disciplinary
• Revenge porn
• Surveillance & monitoring
• Feelings of inadequacy
• Public relationship breakdown
And remnants of our life in all of its
complexities and challenges…

Also… Automated traces…
Automatic tags, locations,
face recognition are
useful. And invasive. And
some are legally iffy in the
EU…

Not to mention… automation built by people
and/or training sets that lack diversity…
https://arstechnica.com/business/2015/06/google-dev-apologizes-after-
photos-app-tags-black-people-as-gorillas/
http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2015/05/here-s-why-you-
shouldn-t-take-microsoft-s-how-old-do-i-look-app-too-seriously

Malicious material…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-
comments
http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2016/09/t
heres-trolls-and-trolls.html

Plus doppelgangers, pseudonyms, erroneous
mistaken identities…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2017/apr/03/identity-theft-racial-justice
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-changes-real-
name-policy-after-uproar-from-drag-queens-1412223040
http://www.davegorman.com/projects
_are_you_dave_gorman.html

And human liabilities friends…
In our 2014 & 2015 surveys of University
of Edinburgh undergraduates[1]:
11% (survey 1) and 10.7% (survey 2) of
our students had experienced unwanted
tagging on photographs
When did you last review your privacy
and tagging settings?
Do you ever review your friends/follows
lists?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb
/21/internet-shaming-lindsey-stone-jon-ronson

Your digital footprint can impact on…
• Professional reputation based on your current and historical
tracks and traces.
– Whether you create them or others do it for you as in Barbour &
Marshall (2012) concept of the “Uncontainable Self”.
• Legal ramifications for employment, copyright, defamation,
etc.
• Personal reputation and presentation of self in the appropriate
way for the appropriate audience(s). (Goffman 1959)
• And, how you are perceived and profiled in the future…

Data analytics already include personal and
behavioural data…
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604035/ube
r-is-engaged-in-psychological-warfare-with-its-
drivers/
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/
how-our-likes-helped-trump-win
http://www.nature.com/article
s/s41562-017-0086.epdf

And then there’s the near future…
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/28/congress_
approves_sale_of_internet_histories/
http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id
=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005399
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5497778/
https://blog.agilebits.com/2017/05/18/introducing-travel-mode-
protect-your-data-when-crossing-borders/

The Future is not evenly distributed…*
“…social data tells us not just something about society, but also
about the forces that can come to shape society in future, in that
predictive technologies demonstrate a desire to anticipate the
market, and the consumer, in advance.
Academia needs to be aware of these discussions, in order to
provide a critical response to them, and to assist in developing
ethical and sustainable forms of practice. ”
(Burns, 2015)
*To misquote William Gibson

Privacy and Curation As a Tactic
"I think I'm a private person...I take a lot of care and time over my
close friends...I'm not of the age where it's like ooh I've got 250
friends on Facebook...It's like I don't really care about that kind of
stuff.“
"...my boundaries are more set about who I allow to be my
friend...if you're my friend I'll trust that you don't put anything
stupid [up]" (participant 5)
"I suppose it's different I think when I was a teenager it tended to
be you were friends with every single person you knew" (participant 1)

Going Underground As a Tactic
Students and younger
internet users seem to
be moving away from
public spaces…
• Direct messaging
tools and WhatsApp
• SnapChat
• YikYak
• Facebook Live,
Instagram Live, etc.Nuclear Submarine Base by Flickr user Lukasz Kryger

Take Ownership of your data…
• Search for yourself online regularly – are you represented as you would like to be?
• Check privacy settings, permissions, tagging options across all active online presences.
• Delete old presences you want removed – or request removal if you’ve forgotten your login
info.
• Keep a note and update passwords of older presences you want to retain so you keep access.
• Read terms and conditions(!) and try to be aware of good information security practice.
• Disconnect old and unused phone apps, browser plugins etc.
• If something is significantly out of date or inaccurate, you have a right to be forgotten:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/individuals-rights/the-right-to-erasure/
• Don’t forget the boring offline stuff:
– Do you want your phone number to be public? Delist it:
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8307/~/how-do-i-sign-up-to-ex-directory-services%3F
– Are you on the open electoral roll? You Can opt out: https://www.gov.uk/electoral-register
– And don’t share pictures of envelopes with your address, paperwork with your date of
birth, etc.
• Just in case… Set up your digital legacy – available for Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

Formal policies and professional boundaries
(e.g. GMC Guidance)
“Using social media also creates risks, particularly where social and
professional boundaries become unclear. You must follow the guidance in
Maintaining a professional boundary between you and your patient.”
“If a patient contacts you about their care or other professional matters
through your private profile, you should indicate that you cannot mix social
and professional relationships and, where appropriate, direct them to your
professional profile.”
Full detailed guidance can be found here: http://www.gmc-
uk.org/guidance/ethical_guidance/21186.asp

The next time you search for yourself…
Think critically about the audience you want to reach, the goals you want to
achieve, and where your own boundaries and comfort lies:
• Think about what you want to present, communicate, who you want to
connect with. Be aware of any professional body, employer or other
guidance around use of social media and online spaces.
• Set personal goals, so that you have something clear to reflect on and frame
your experience. Use SMART Goals for projects, campaigns, collaborative
work.
• What kind of presences, content and activity will achieve your goals?
• Think about what success would look like, what you’d like to achieve, how
you will know you’ve achieved it.
• Use measuring and evaluation tools when appropriate – these might be
technical (e.g. Twitter Analytics, Google Analytics), or survey data, or
anecdotal feedback on your social media activity.
• Reflect and adapt your approach based on your experience and feedback.

More Digital Footprint Resources
http://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-
development/about-us/projects/digital-footprint
https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/SMFE/
http://edina.ac.uk/contact

Resources for Educators
• Presentations, videos, slides, worksheets, action plans,
activities for use in teaching, training, CPD etc.

Find out more about managing your
Digital Footprint on our #DFMOOC course
• Join now, #dfmooc: https://goo.gl/jgHLQs
• Free Course (optional certificate for £39) open to everyone
anywhere in the world.
• Open since April, runs every month.
• We welcome reuse and sharing more widely – we think it has
particular use for CPD, in digital and information literacy,
around transitions into and out of University.

12 Top Tips from our #DFMOOC course
1. Don’t post anything stupid
2. Check your privacy settings
3. Don’t Panic
4. Crowd out the bad stuff with the good
5. Remove content and untag
6. Avoid trolls (if you can)
7. Copyright – don’t use anything you don’t have permission to use
(open licenses are your friend)
8. Check your phone settings (apps, camera & mic access especially)
9. Think about your data
10. Consider legal issues and rights in social media
11. Respect others just as you’d want to be respected yourself
12. Know what your digital footprint looks like

Join the conversation and add your own
perspective at #DFMOOC

And finally, some shameless self promotion…
http://bit.ly/codi17df

Q&A
Over to you!
Further comments and
questions welcome:
nicola.osborne@ed.ac.uk

Additional References
• [1] Student identities in transition: social media experiences, curation and implications
for Higher Education. / Connelly, Louise; Osborne, Nicola. Sheffield Hallam University -
SocMedHE Blog: SocMedHE15 Proceedings. 2016.
• WNYC. Privacy, Data Survivalism and a New Tech Ethics. In Note to Self [podcast], 21 Feb
2017. http://www.wnyc.org/story/bonus-privacy-paradox/.
• Burns, A. 2015. Looking forward: Social data informs us about society, but also about the
forces that will come to shape the future. In LSE’s The Impact Blog, 16th October 2015.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/10/16/looking-forward-social-data-
and-prediction/.
Managing your Digital Footprint Resources
• Website and Resources for Educators: http://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-
development/about-us/projects/digital-footprint
• Publications:http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/projects/managing-your-digital-
footprint-research-strand(239b8e5b-c052-4681-9568-77aa02fa44fa).html
• Yik Yak project blog: http://yikyakresearch.blogs.edina.ac.uk/

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