Sunday, November 28, 2010

November 29 - Transparency in education includes the Internet?



gwynethjonesgwynethjones @gntlinto Go at your own pace, but realize the idea of Internet privacy as educators is pretty much over now- school webpages? gwynethjones gwynethjones @gntlinto I respect privacy but Transparency for educators is so KEY right now! Creating that positive digital footprint for ourselves :-)

These were some immediate reply tweets I received from another teacher-librarian after I commented on her blog post. She had written a thoughtful piece on how she determines whom to follow on Twitter. I read them and was slightly dismayed to see item #3 (Twitter name = use your real one) and item #7 (location = mention where you Tweet from). I try to be pretty cautious about my online presence, after I once wrote a tongue-in-cheek mini-biography for a publication that made it online and gave too much information. I also know that many of my students use Google to search for evidence of me online. That's why I tend to use certain monikers or online aliases. My husband uses his real name for all his Internet activities but I think he has a thicker skin than I do and can better handle the challenges and insults sometimes thrown his way. Gwyneth's words itched at me like a mosquito bite, so I changed my Twitter handle to be something a little closer than my original Twitter name. I'm not ready to go whole-hog yet (my Facebook account is still pretty untraceable to most people), but I've made baby steps in the direction of being more transparent.

Positive digital footprint. How's yours?

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