The Digital Footprint

“The Industrial revolution of the twenty-first century in the wiring of the human intellect and the creation of a real-time network that fosters nonconformity and progress. We are building networks of prominence and with each node we add to our social and interest graph, we gain strength as individuals and eventually as a society” (Solis, 2011: 73)

The internet is a massive database of knowledge built up of billions of websites, users and tools that interact with each other continuously to create what can be called a digital culture. For the broad communities of people online, there are billions of different cultural and belief spaces available for individuals to pick and choose what to take part in. In the new age of media there is an emphasis on social networking sites as a way to express individuality through profiles, tags, pictures etc.

Leisure and communication sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Tumblr, Flickr or Photobucket are examples of digital media sites that have become amongst the most popular within global digital footprints. But perhaps the core example of all is Google, a search engine that has taken the new digital age by storm. As Woodward (2003) points out, identity is associated very closely with community, but there is also a need to distinguish ourselves as individuals (2003: 19-20).

So What is a Digital Footprint?

The digital footprint is the accumulation of internet history, data and every digital mark that has been left behind by an individual (Camenisch, Fischer-Hubner and Rannenberg, 2011: 91). The connection that can be made between these is a computer Internet Provider (IP) address and information systems which acts as a marker of an identity on the internet (2011: 91). Marking your individual identity online through tagging, images, videos, likes and dislikes allows one to shape their own identity and be potentially who they want to be.

“As technology advances, we strive to master the services and the trends of the moment to stay connected. The connected consumer is constantly evolving this network to stay relevant within these defining digital societies” (Solis, 2011: 73).

[Creating Your Digital Footprint]

References:

Camenisch, J. Fischer-Hubner, S. and Rannenberg, K. 2011. Privacy and Identity Management for Life, Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht: New York

Solis, B. 2011. The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution, John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey

Woodward, K. 2003. Social Sciences: The Big Issues, Routledge: New York

Virtual Identity

“As we continue to fill our profiles, add pictures, quotes, and favourite music, we are creating an identity that is closer to the “real” us and yet still not truly us” (Dyer, 2011: 168)

With a major emphasis on identity and individualization in today’s society, social networking sites (SNS’s) have become a major phenomenon not only for communication and networking as their initial purpose, bus also used to make representations of people within reality. Social networking sites are one of the major sources for linking a digital footprint to an information system with personal information and details such as a name, age, gender, location and interests.

Profile pictures, avatars or display pictures are the key ornament to a profile in which it is used to represent a person and can also say a lot about someone. The speculation of online identities is that they don’t portray exact representations of people in reality (Dyer, 2011: 168; Van Kokswijik, 2007: 94); instead a profile is a creation to ‘market’ you to other potential friends, networks and communities.

“The Avatar bodies consumers and researchers create and use in virtual worlds are inseparable from the performance of the self and are crucial to engagement in in-world social life. They are the facilitators of interaction and the locus for virtual identity” (Wood and Solomon, 2009: 13)

These profile pictures are what appears when you search your name on a search engine looking for pictures. Through profile pictures you are giving your digital footprint or your traceable history a face. This isn’t all the information you are giving however, you can also link yourself to certain people, sites and communities. If you try searching your own name through Google images, your name you can also bring up pictures of your friends and family which delves into personal network connections.



SNS profiles seem to corner your digital footprint to particular networks of people. As mentioned in the first post, identity is a creation of the community first and upon this individuality is sort after. By connecting to these communities our digital identities can be categorised and gain a personality, and this is all through images on a profile. Tagging can be considered as another alternative for creating personal data in the creation of a digital footprint. Tagging allows you to shape your identity how you wish to be identified, through likes, dislikes and hobbies, who you are friends with and what your weekly activities are.

So why have an online profile?

An online profile has benefits that allow you to contact and find people you used to be close friends with back in school, university or even old neighbours. In fact finding people has never been easier as Facebook identification can even be used in identifying criminals. According to Dyer, since the industrial revolution keeping in contact became difficult for people, so the modern digital age has acted to restore those connections through social networking sites (Dyer, 2011: 168). They are also good for sharing files such as photos, links, videos and events with contacts that you might not see very often.


References:

Dyer, J. 2011. From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology, Kregel Publications: Grand Rapids, MI

Wood, N.T. and Solomon, M.R. 2009. Virtual Social Identity and Consumer Behaviour, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.: New York

Van Kokswijik, J. 2007. Digital Ego: Social and Legal Aspects of Virtual Identity, Eburon Academic Publishers

Weblogs and Vlogs

“You are where you post. The layers of our virtual identity are complex these days: Myspace for socializing, Flickr for pictures, YouTube for movies, Netscape for news, ThisNext for products. Our Blogs are for anything and everything and, increasingly, we’re letting it all hang out for anyone to see” (Gould cited in Van Kokswijik, 2007: 94-95)

As the previous two entries have noted, individuality is a major part of the shaping of our online identities. For many people sites such as Facebook and Myspace where they can manage a private profile is enough to build their online identities, for others however there is much appeal in weblogging or ‘blogging’ (Van Kokswijik, 2007: 97). According to Stefanone and Jang (2008) Weblogs or ‘blogs’ are based off a similar idea of a journal or a diary, however with the use of its digital format and internet tools it is similar to a website, the difference being blogs are updated frequently (2008: 123).

Blogs are common forms of media, particularly with aspiring journalists and writers. They allow for knowledge sharing (Hsu and Lin, 2008: 66) and encourage readers to give their input, opinion and constructive criticism. Being able to manage and construct their own blog (Van Koswijik, 2007: 97) designs and codes gives people who blog a stronger sense of identity as they can exercise their control. This would be a major appeal to people trying to establish a strong digital footprint online, as the entire point of a blog is to produce knowledge and appeal to potential ‘followers’.

Blogs are very different to social profile pages because they do not necessary require certain fields of information to either start or exist. An email address and password are the usual terms for creating a blog, the other details are optional. This gives bloggers the option to be whoever they want to be and create an identity through their blog. When considering blog writers it is often noticed that they write with personality. To succeed in blog writing personality is beneficial to gain and maintain interest. From what I have noticed in the past, blogs can be often very much critical of everyday events, norms, social structures and communities, etc.



Also we can consider the perhaps newer blogging phenomenon of ‘Vlogging’ which has particularly skyrocketed the likes of YouTube to fame in the digital world. Video Logs have been beneficial for people to get their voices out, particularly within the younger generations and has also given fame to small time comedians, musicians and writers for their underground talents. RayWilliamJohnson and Nigahiga are two of the most ‘subscribed’ artists on YouTube with millions of subscribers world wide. Vlogging appears to be the middle ground between both blogging and social profiling as the likes of YouTube have set profile structures for users, however the content of videos and profile design is up to the users.

Keeping a blog is a quick way to imprint your identity in the digital age as they are regularly updated, it also allows bloggers to assert their opinions and make connections and communicate with others who may share these opinions.

References:

Hsu, C.L. and Lin, J.C. 2008. Acceptance of Blog Usage: The Roles of technology Acceptance, Social Influence and Knowledge Sharing Motivation, Information and Management, vol. 4, pp. 65-74

Stefanone, M.A. andJang, C.Y. 2008. Writing for Friends and Family: The Interpersonal Nature of Blogs, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol . 13, pp. 123-140

Van Kokswijik, J. 2007. Digital Ego: Social and Legal Aspects of Virtual Identity, Eburon Academic Publishers

Security in the Digital World

Technology has become a questionable tool with the rise of questions regarding security and safety. So How far is too far? Google in particular now has the ability to pinpoint your address (online and offline), your face and what you are currently interested in, just as Facebook can now know where you are and what you are currently doing. Similarly Facebook has now become a major market for advertisers due to its extensive user base and access to personal information. Both Facebook and Google are at war for the social ‘graphs’ globally (Solis, 2011: 19).

So in the past few blogs I have discussed how one can build their digital footprints through different sites and forms of participation. Everything one may contribute to, look at and add to the internet all becomes a history that can be traced on the internet and this scares some people. But are people aware of how well there information is secured from the public eye? Who knows this information that we are securing?

Interestingly these aren’t questions considered all the time when we participate in different communities and often it has led to numerous major situations such as people being fired for slander on their profiles or even people going missing. Many people are perhaps careful about what they are now posting online and are careful to block certain information from certain people, but this does not change the fact that it existed.

One question that particularly comes to mind extends from the fact that over a great portion of information is found through various search engines and networks alike such as the one I came across most recently which was Profile Engine. So how much does Google know about you and everybody else? I wonder how often people have actually considered that each search they make gets added to a long history of searches they have personally made. Something so innocent, Google knows. Through this they know your interests and potential locations.

“Google knows more about what we know and want to know and what we do with that than any other institution” (Jarvis, 2009: 80)

Some of the sites owned and controlled by Google are:

- Google Chrome (Web Browser)
- Google +
- Youtube
- Blogger
- Buzz
- IGoogle
- Google Docs

If you have at least one of these Google accounts then chances are you have an extensive history that Google knows and is borrowing that information for profit through their target advertising schemes – these are the advertising to the individual based on the sites they regularly visit and the things they are ‘showing interest’ in (Jarvis, 2009: 80).

“Google, for instance, makes money because it harvests, copies, aggregates and ranks billions of Web contributions by millions of authors who tacitly grant Google the right to capitalize, or “free ride,” on their work.” (Vaidhyanathan, 2011: 83)

Facebook is another site known for its security of personal information. People feel secure knowing their information is hidden from outsiders, however every time Faceboook makes a large changeover to a new and updated profile design the default settings are restored and once again the information that has been kept hidden is once again available for anyone on the internet. Furthermore they don’t actually tell people what is going on, instead you would have to manually change your security settings which realistically might not be a long time before you realise they are no longer set.

Facebook in particular is constantly known as a tool for ‘tracking’ down people or in perhaps certain cases it can be considered ‘stalking’. Google Maps has already caught on numerous occasions’, illegal activity and embarrassing scenarios for people throughout the world with their ‘Streetview’. Google has the access to images of a great portion of small communities throughout the world and is sharing this information and visual online. With this information in mind, Google Maps also allows you to pinpoint very specific addresses, get directions and even find the best route to somewhere. This is a useful tool of course, but when using a Google tool or account, you are immediately giving Google the information to track you. The scary part is you don’t even need your name or nickname to be found, every computer has an IP Address which is used to track you, and similarly you can be tracked through phones and their signal.

Furthermore when uploading personal information such as video’s, pictures and music, sites such as Facebook or Myspace reserve the right to be able to use this information how they please. Many people sign up to things online without reading the ‘terms and conditions’, which may in fact be something they do not agree with at all. Overall every time when you access the internet, whether you leave a comment, browse, or do research for an assignment, you are leaving traces of where you have been and what you have done which makes up your personal identity online and furthermore your digital footprint.



References:

Jarvis, J. 2009. What Would Google Do?, HarperCollins: New York

Solis, B. 2011. The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution, John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey

Vaidhyanathan, S. 2011. The Googalization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry), University of California Press: California