What is a Digital Footprint?

Common Sense Media: Digital Footprint Intro from Joaquin E. Jutt on Vimeo.

A digital footprint is the collection of all the traces you leave in electronic environments as you use or move through them. Some is content you actively volunteer—like your Facebook profile. Other material is passive—the cookies a site stores in your browser, the content your district collects about your use of their equipment, etc. All this data can be aggregated to build a profile of you and your behavior.

(Courtesy of http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/a-great-guide-on-teaching-students.html)

True Story

Read: One Stupid Tweet…

Task #1

After watching both of the video’s above and reading the article, leave a comment on the blog post about something you found interesting or something you learned. Did you prefer one video over the other? Do you agree or disagree with the information provided? What are your initial thoughts and feelings about what has been presented?

Before you COMMENT take time to THINK about what you POST

Task #2

You are going to write your first post. Your first post is about your digital footprint. Think about the following:

  • If we were to look you up online what would we learn about you ?
  • What things make up your digital footprint?
  • Is your digital footprint positive or negative?
  • Is there anything you would change with your digital footprint?

– Give your post a great title (Something related to digital footprints)

– Make sure you use categories and tags! (Categorise this post in Portfolio, Tag this post with a least 3 tags, embed a video about digital footprints

(Courtesy of http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/a-great-guide-on-teaching-students.html)

Task #3

In groups of 2-3, you are going to comment on 2-3 other students blog posts about their digital footprints. You already know how to comment, remember to THINK before you comment. In order to access other students blogs, all you need is their username, simply type in the students username at the end of the URL, and it will take you directly to their blog. See the example below, student usernames consist of their first name, last initial -2013 (e.g. gracef-2103)

Tips for Managing Your Footprint

(Courtesy of http://www.teachthought.com/technology/a-simple-acronym-for-encouraging-digital-citizenship/)

Some Other Things to Think About

  • Never post anything that you might find embarrassing later.
  • Be careful with the pictures you post on your public profiles. Remember others will see them and judge you based on their content.
  • Change the privacy settings on your social networking sites so that only your Friends can see your information
  • Do not disclose your personal address, phone number, passwords. Bank card numbers…etc even in private messages. There is always the possibility of somebody hacking into your account and finding them.
  • Do not post things to bully, hurt, blackmail, insult, or afflict any kind of harm on others
  • Always keep in mind that once information has been posted online, it can be almost impossible to remove because of archiving and file sharing. Even though you deactivate your accounts, the information may still be retrieved by others.

Additional Resources

Riverside Safety and Appropriate Use of Technology Poster: Tech Appropriate Poster

Digital Citizenship for Teens: Click Here

Cybraryman Digital Footprints: Click Here

Your Digital Presence: Click Here