Week 10 Board Discussions Pt 2

Author: Gwyneth Peaty
Date: Monday, November 2, 2009 1:19:09 PM WST
Subject: ‘Ego Surfing’ – How deep is your digital shadow?

 

This week Tama asked you to go ‘ego surfing’ using google, Blindsearch and Spezify.

- How did you go? Were you comfortable with the results, did you find information or images that surprised you?

 

- How were the search engines different? How might the presentation of information alter its impact or meaning?

- Would you be comfortable with an employer or employee searching for you? What about your family members?

- If you did not find much information on yourself, are you happy about this? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having little or no digital shadow?

Doing a quick Google search resulted in my first entry at number 20, and it is my Net11 Blog. I am not surprised this is my only entry since I am very careful what I post online. Back in 1997 I started building websites, I am still self-employed and continue to build sites and do SEO fulltime. Even back then when I knew that I would make a living from being online I was very careful what I would put online, everything I did was in my company name which I used as a brand, my personal name was never mentioned. So the lack of Google results is good for me, what I have hoped to achieve from the get go.

Assignment 4 for this course has given me some cause for concern since we have to create a Web Presence, something I have been trying to avoid for a long time. It took awhile for me to come up with a presence that I would have no issue with sharing with the world.

As far as wanting people to search for me, hopefully the only thing they see are the positive aspects of me and my company. I have nothing to hide I just choose not be out there.

Author: Gwyneth Peaty
Date: Monday, November 9, 2009 2:47:54 PM WST
Subject: RE: ‘Ego Surfing’ – How deep is your digital shadow?

Was it your experience with the technical side of things that caused you to be cautious in the early days? Do you remember online privacy being an important issue in the late nineties?

The technical side of the Web was never really an issue with privacy, I would say that the only reason I was especially private was to protect how I was building sites, developing networks and other SEO techniques.

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