14-05-2014

I’m not sure exactly what my goal is in joining this mooc. I really enjoyed #etmooc, so I couldn’t resist signing up for #dcmooc. As a mother, employee, and student, face-to-face time takes up most of my time, so I have a hard time maintaining online communities. However, having heard Alec speak on this topic before, I can appreciate the importance of one’s digital footprint, and of having some influence over what appears on a google search under my name. I used to have a domain with a host that published my name, address, phone number, which they had to have for the credit card needed to pay for the domain name. When I emailed, asking to keep that information private, they told me that I would have to pay extra for that. I ended the relationship with them.

I am uncomfortable with the lack of privacy in the digital world today. And one way to protect one’s privacy is to ensure that one is actively shaping the information that is out there. When I google my own name, my professional information comes up first, then this website, then other professional networking sites, and comments on blogs. I’m pretty happy with what comes up when I search, but I have no idea how to know what comes up when others search my name (because search algorithms are based on the kind of sites one visits–no two searches are identical; rather, they are based on your own Internet history). Not that many would or will be searching my name. I’m not famous or anything. But, if I were to apply for a job and a potential employer did a search, I would like to know that what they find meets with my own approval.

But digital citizenship is more than digital footprints, and managing one’s public information. It is about being a productive, sharing, creating citizen–basically, being a good citizen means pretty much the same thing online as it does in the face-to-face communities of which one is a part.  DC is about participating in a community (or multiple communities) and caring for self and others within those contexts. I look forward to learning and discovering from the PLNs I develop in #dcmooc.

These are my initial thoughts on this topic. I’m sure I will have more.