This Is Me - Learning materials about Digital Identity

8/13/2019 This Is Me - Learning materials about Digital Identity

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Learning materials about Digital Identity produced by the This Is Me project

This project has been funded by Eduserv.

Acknowledgements

OdinLab would like to thank Eduserv for funding the project.

We thank all the staff and students at the University of Reading

for their contributions and willingness to talk about Digital

Identity issues. We would also like to thank the eLearning

community for their critical feedback on both materials and

theory.

We are also grateful to the projects steering group, Julia Horn, Mike Roch, David Gillham, Maria

Papaefthimiou, to our colleagues in the Centre for Career Management Skills, David Stanbury, and

Finbar Mulholland, and to Sarah Morey, for their invaluable input and guidance.

This Is Me Activities by This Is Me1is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike

2.0 UK: England & Wales License2.

You are free to copy, modify, and share them. Let us know of any modifications you make - and of

your experiences of using them. We are especially happy if you choose to translate them to other

languages, and would really appreciate it if you would license them under the same license scheme so

that the community can benefit. It would be great if you could let us have a copy of any translated

versions too!

1http://thisisme.reading.ac.uk

2http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/


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Contributors:

Pat Parslow

Shirley Williams

Sarah Fleming

Richard Hussey

This book is available in print, and online at http://stores.lulu.com/odinlab


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Digital Identity

We use the term Digital Identity (DI) to describe the persona an individual presents across all the

digital communities in which he or she is represented.

As you use more and more online services which allow user content and discussion, such as

Facebook3, Bebo

4, Hi5

5, LinkedIn

6, Delicious

7, Twitter

8, blogs and so on, you leave a digital

footprint. This footprint is what makes up your Digital Identity all those things which can be

found out about you from the content you post, the profiles you make, the conversations you have

with others and the things other people post about you.

A lot of this material remains accessible for an indefinite period unlike a conversation in a coffee

shop, what is put on the Web tends to stay on the Web. With the increasing processing power of

computers, it will become easier over time to aggregate this information to build a profile of someone.

Various Web sites are already starting to do this, with varying degrees of accuracy.

What would someone who searches the Web for you find? Does it reflect the image of yourself you

want to portray? If there is something about you on the Web, how would you find out about it? What

does it say about somebody if they have no Web presence in todays world? If you are responsible for

others, e.g. a parent, teacher, or carer, are there any extra precautions you should take? How will

ideas about Digital Identity change as the technology becomes ubiquitous?

Learning materials

We have produced these learning materials to help you explore the ideas and issues surrounding the

concept of Digital Identity. This book is designed as a workbook. Experience shows that a persons

view of Digital Identity changes as they become familiar with different online services, and when

issues are reported in the media. It can be useful to go back and revisit how you answered the

worksheets every now and then, to see how events change your view.

Where possible, learners seem to gain more from the worksheets when they have the opportunity to

discuss the issues they raise in pairs or small groups. Some learners may need to be told not to share

any issues which they feel sensitive about, unless with a trusted friend. The worksheet on DI and

Death may need to be handled with particular sensitivity.

3http://www.facebook.com4http://www.bebo.com

5http://hi5.com6http://www.linkedin.com

7http://www.delicious.com or http://del.icio.us8http://twitter.com


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Online

These worksheets are also available online at http://thisisme.reading.ac.uk. We plan to have

interactive versions available, which you can use as a personal record, or use in a classroom setting.


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Locking down your DI?

Abhaidev is a third year undergraduate who has been enjoying student life to the full. She has a

Facebook account with literally hundreds of photographs of her tagged at parties, trips to tourist

attractions, holidays with friends the usual! Abhaidev has also been studying hard, and is predictedto get a good upper second degree (2.1) and she is applying for fast track management positions in a

few companies.

As a teenager, she used various chat rooms, and found out a lot about the university she goes to from

people who were happy to talk about it online. She has always been careful to avoid heated

arguments online, but is aware that her cultural views have shifted since going to university. She does

not necessarily see everything she said in the past as being entirely representative of her today.

She has been quite lucky in getting interviews, probably because of her dynamic and lively approach,

which is reflected in her online persona. However, she rates one of the jobs she has applied for as

being her favourite, and has recently heard that the company screens peoples online presenceduring the application process.

Abhaidev is not sure whether to clean up her Facebook profile, to make it look more professional, or

whether to acknowledge that she enjoys a party as much as the next person, and that this shows she

has a character as well as those all important skills she has learned at university.

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9Image by nicubunu in public domain from http://openclipart.org/media/files/nicubunu/11335


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Worksheet 1

Context:

You are a third year student on the cusp of graduating. You have been using the Internet socially

since you were a teenager via chatrooms, gaming and more recently Facebook. You have alreadysecured first interviews for graduate training schemes with two large corporations (A & B), but are

still waiting to hear from the one you are most interested in (C).

A friend tells you they have heard this company routinely screens potential and existing employees on

the Web, but the two firms you have interviews with both have a policy to not screen them. In this

worksheet, if you do not have a profile yourself, imagine you have one.

1) What might your existing Facebook profile say about you if firm C looks at it?__________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) Are there any things that can be seen on your wall, or in notes you have posted which mighthelp encourage firm C to employ you?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3) Conversely, is there anything on your profile that might put an employer off?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) If you were in the position of shortlisting people for interview and your company had a policyof checking candidates' DIs, how would you interpret it if it was obvious someone had just cleanedup their profile?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

5) How would you feel if the company you wanted to work for banned use of social networkingsites such as Facebook during work hours?__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

6) How, on the other hand, would you feel if the company you worked for decided its staff hadto use a social networking site, and to build customer relationships through it?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Twittering

In the old days people used forums and bulletin boards to have conversations amongst communities.

Email can also be used for one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many communications, but quickly

becomes hard to follow different threads of conversation. Social networking sites opened up ways ofhaving a many-to-many communication via peoples walls (in Facebook) and through use of groups

but Twitter popularised the idea of micro-blogging what you are doing or thinking to the whole world.

People who use it (Tweeple) were quick to come up with ways of holding semi-private

conversations (addressing a remark @someone) which anyone can see. It also has a means of sending

Direct (or private) messages to others.

Chas started using Twitter to communicate with some of his friends. Because he liked to chat about

books, he occasionally gained a few other followers people who were interested in his status

updates. Although Chas still feels that it is a little odd that people from around the world are

interested in what he has to say, he continues to update the Twitterverse with comments on books hehas read, interspersed with occasional conversations with friends, total strangers, and the odd Tweet

about his day to day life.

Chas was a little surprised when his Mum signed up to Twitter, and spent a little time wondering

whether he should protect his updates. Protecting them means that people cant read what he writes

unless he gives them permission. However, in the end, he decided that although he had made some

comments about books that he would have phrased differently if he had intended his Mum to read

them, she is a tolerant sort of person and probably wouldnt be bothered to read through his entire

history of Tweets. Chas partner, Sam, however was little concerned that some of their Twitter

conversation could be seen by the mother-in-law and decided to protect their updates.

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Image by Johnny_automatic in public domain from http://openclipart.org/media/files/johnny_automatic/3253


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Worksheet 2

Context:

You are an undergraduate student and you start using Twitter over a summer vacation as it was used

by staff at the small company at which you had an internship. When you are back at university, youfind that a number of others are also using it.

1) Thinking about these peopleAli - who takes the same modules as you

Bob - who takes one module with youCat - doing the same degree course as you but in a different name

Doug - a postgrad who helps with one of your tutorialsEd - a lecturer on one of your moduleFi - your personal tutorGreg - your student union presidentHiya - your student radio's twitter id

Mum - your motherVC - your university's senior managerX - your ex-lover

a)Which would you choose to follow and why?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b)What would be your reaction if any of the above started following you?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c)Would you expect the above to follow you if you followed them?_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) How would you feel when a stranger from the other side of the world follows youa)If they seem to have similar interests?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b)If they appear to Tweet about completely different things?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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3) Now would you Tweet abouta)Your social life?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b)Your love life?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c)Your academic life?_______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

4) Where will you Tweet froma)The pub?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b)The classroom?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c)The supermarket queue?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

d)The library?_______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

e)Your room?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Worksheet 3

Context:

Only try this worksheet when you are feeling good about yourself, as it explores the Digital Identity

that will be left after you have died.

1) Consider one social networking site you are represented on. If you were never able to updateit after today, what changes would you now make?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) Thinking of all the digital places you are on, which ones would really need to know if youhave died? Consider the impact on your loved ones if a service was not told.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3) Estimate how many years it will be before there are more than 50% of blog accountsbelonging to people who are dead?__________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) It is possible to arrange for someone to update your personal sites after you have died. Doyou know anyone you would trust to do this properly, and/or anyone who would want to do it foryou? If you would consider this, why does the idea appeal?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Name that penguin

Greg is a recent graduate, now enjoying the London lifestyle since securing a job with a large City-

based company thanks to a good degree and dazzling Web profile, painstakingly crafted to sell his

talents to a decent employer. In addition to the usual bright lights big city stuff of touring bars andclubs, Greg spends quite a bit of his down time gaming on the Internet, playing a wide range of

browser games and Second Life.

Now that hes a respectable working man with a (rented) flat all of his own, Gregs older sister

decides hes responsible enough to take charge of his 10-year-old nephew Sam for a couple of days

during the school holidays. Though fond of the lad, Greg finds himself at a bit of a loss to know how

to entertain him for any length of time, and is relieved when Sam turns to him one evening and asks

Do you know any cool computer games Uncle Greg?.

Mindful of the fact that a lot of the stuff he plays online is not, well, child-friendly, Greg does a quick

search for something more appropriate coming up trumps with Disneys Club Penguin. The pair sitdown to register on the site, which requires the user to register not only a user name, but create a

name for the penguin avatar through which Sam will be playing. This is cool, says Sam, Mum

doesnt let me play stuff on the Internet.

Not really wanting an earful from his sister for encouraging Sam to do things hes not allowed to at

home, but also not really knowing what else to do with him, Greg decides theyll go ahead and

register anyway particularly as the site seems well moderated with all the right sort of security

measures in place.

So, he says to Sam, what are we going to call this penguin?

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Image by chovynz in public domain available at http://openclipart.org/media/files/chovynz/11921


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Worksheet 4

Context:

This scenario describes the dilemma of creating a Digital Identity on behalf of someone else in this

case a minor, who may not be able to make informed choices about that identity.

Greg is clearly a technologically literate individual. He not only spends a lot of time playing online

games, but has also used the Web to manage his own reputation both as a student and as a potential

employee. This shows he understands the implications of having a Web presence, and the fact that

Web presence is viewed and interpreted by others.

In this situation, he chooses to take on the responsibility for creating a Web presence for his young

nephew, whose parent has already expressed misgivings about their child interacting on the Internet.

How he approaches the registration process for this site, and helps Sam choose a name for his persona

on it in this case a cuddly cartoon penguin could have consequences not only for Sam as an

individual, but for his family relationships as well.

Thinking about this scenario:

1) What issues are there you should think about when helping someone else to create a facet oftheir Digital Identity?__________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) Does the creation of an avatar form a link to the user? If so, who can join the dots to seewho the person behind the avatar is?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3) Thinking back to any accounts you may have had when you were a child, does anyone stillknow you in terms of the identity you projected then?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) 4. Recent research has shown that the pattern of people you connect to, and the ways youconnect, are as unique as a fingerprint. If looking at the connections Sams penguin makes can

identify him when related to, say the friends he has on Facebook later in life, does that change any ofyour previous answers?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Smile please

When I was a child, we had a Brownie camera and we could take eight photos on each film; I now

have a digital camera and can take thousands of pictures. As a child I stuck my photos in an album

and showed them to family and friends, now I can post my pictures on the Internet and share themwith the whole world. The photographs in which I appear that are posted somewhere on the internet

certainly contribute to my Digital Identity.

On holiday with family and friends, large numbers of photos are taken throughout the trip, from the

drowsy morning shots of pyjamaed individuals grasping a cup of tea, through sightseeing and

lounging by the pool, to boozy evenings. I can control which of these I post, but I have less control

over the ones other select to post.

A number of academic events I have attended recently have asked me to fill in a form that gives my

permission for pictures to be taken and used. One had professional photographers who, it seemed,

were almost everywhere capturing not only the presentations but also the coffee breaks and lunch.

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Image by rg1024 in public domain available at http://openclipart.org/media/files/rg1024/10384


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Worksheet 5

Context:

Select someone who is your Facebook friend and look at photos in which they are are tagged, then

below write comments you imagine the following might add to a small selection of these:1) Their partner__________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) Their father__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3) Their cousin____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) A prospective employer____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5) A co-worker__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6) Someone they study with__________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Having tried this with someone else, now try it on photos posted featuring yourself.


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Creating a SNS profile for an internship?

Maisy is a hard working student, who is involved in campus volunteering initiatives such as

mentoring local school children. She has been very involved with her sports club, and does shifts at

Nightline, the student run telephone support service. As a second year, she is looking to do a year inindustry to top up the funds and add extra weight to her CV.

Maisy has never had time to get involved with social networks on the Internet, preferring the

immediacy and dynamic nature of face-to-face conversations. She uses email and, occasionally, gets

distracted by her instant messenger program when she is trying to study, but apart from that, the

Internet is chiefly a resource for researching things whether they are academic or about fashion.

One of the companies Maisy would like to work for, though, has a strong presence in one of the social

networks, and has been contacting people though this medium about their plans for a year in industry.

Maisy is not sure whether she wants to get involved in this on the one hand, she could sit down and

write a profile to provide an online presence, but on the other hand, she has plenty to do, with a busysecond year at university.

What is worse is that she cannot work out whether a plain and straightforward profile would actually

help her in this case. It may be that it would look just a bit too engineered and put a potential

employer off. Some people expect to see a back story behind an online persona, and it may just be

too late to create one now.

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Image by Johnny_automatic in public domain available athttp://openclipart.org/media/files/johnny_automatic/3883


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Worksheet 6

Context:

You are a second year student interested in an industrial placement. You have avoided being drawn

in to social networking sites, preferring to spend time with your friends. You have three companiesthat offer interesting opportunities for a year out, and you discover from one of your friends that two

of them have been getting in touch with potential interns through Facebook. While you were chatting

with friends over coffee, you heard that there are 20 people applying for each position within the

companies, so it is going to be quite competitive.

1) What basic research would you do to try to determine whether you are more likely to besuccessful in your application if you have a Facebook profile?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) If you choose to create a profile, for the purposes of enabling the companies to find you, whatsort of information would you make available?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

3) What do you think it says about you, if you just create the profile with your academicachievements and areas of professional interests?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) If you were interacting with potential employees via a social networking site, how would yousee someone who had created a profile just to interact with you, or to get your attention?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Closed communities

David belongs to a secret society. Well, that isnt quite true, but he plays a game in which he is a

spy and the game organisers have forums and social networks set up which can only be accessed by

paying players. David gets a lot of fun out of the game, even if some of his friends think he is a bitgeeky. In fact, so enjoyable is the game that around 30 of his friends in the local area also play it on a

regular basis.

Many of the players are also on other, publically available, social networking sites. The game rules

forbid them to mention anything about the game in public (after all, they are spies!), and generally

people manage to abide by the rules.

After one of his friends was treated a bit harshly by one of the referees, who judged that their

character had been wounded whilst trying to escape from foreign agents, there was a bit of an

incident on the games forums. The friend saw red and let the powers-that-be know about their

shortcomings, occasionally in some colourful language.

Whilst David sympathised with his friend because the judgement had been unjust, the outburst made

(game-related) life quite tricky for a while. Some people decided they couldnt trust David anymore

because of his friendship, and because he had defended the guy in the online forum. David had

remained calm and polite throughout, but was now in a position where his friends reaction had had a

negative impact on his own reputation. In a real life situation, this would probably have blown over,

as memories started to fade, and people gradually left the game and were replaced with new blood.

However, the persistent nature of the incident, recorded in the archives, meant that it never quite

seemed to go away.

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Image by Gerald_G in public domain available from http://openclipart.org/media/files/Gerald_G/216


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Worksheet 7

Context:

Imagine you are a member of a national society, which has an online presence for its members in the

form of email lists. Only members of the society are allowed to join the lists, read emails coming

from the list, and send emails to it. You know:

Andrew - via the email list only

Bill - via the email list at first but he lives close by, so youve met up in the pub a couple of times

Cassandra - you knew before, and she was the one who encouraged you to join the society

Derek - you know from University, before you joined the society

Ericka - you met in the society, and then later elsewhere

Frederick - you know through the society, and he lives in the same town as you

Gerald - holds a position of authority in the society, although he isnt in charge

Harriet - someone you dislike

You read your mail one afternoon, and one of the emails is an angry diatribe, targeting those currentlyin charge of the society. For each of the above people in turn, assume they were the person who sent

the email.

1) How does sending the e-mail change the DI of the sender?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

2) How does it change the DI of the target?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

3) How does it change the DI of the society internally?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) What impact does it have on relationships outside of the society?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

5) How do you respond to it?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6) What can be done to mitigate the effects?__________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Kevin Warwick on academics and Digital Identity

As a man with a high media profile and strong online presence Professor Kevin Warwick, Chair of

Cybernetics at Reading University, has strong views about the need for academics to maintain a

digital identity.

Im not sure how great the awareness among old-school academics is about the importance of having

a Web presence for themselves or their university, he says.

Seeing how influential these can be for students and potential students now the days of the

traditional prospectus are numbered senior academics need to be aware of the significance of the

information thats available. Students do search on particular members of staff to try to find out about

whos teaching on what, and this can influence their choices.

For academics, a well-managed digital identity is not just an essential tool for enhancing the

reputation of their institution, adds Professor Warwick, but also for enhancing their individualstanding.

If you compare two academics, one with a strong Web presence and one with their DI locked down,

my impression of the latter would be that what theyve actually done is not of any interest because if

it were, there would be more comment from other people, and they would put their work and their

arguments out there for people to see. It can give you a perspective on the value of someones

contribution.

Erica and the aggregator

Erica maintains a simple but effective online profile, which shows her professional achievements.She updates as often as is appropriate, and makes sure it links properly to other information about her

on the Web.

When checking recently to see if there were any new mentions of her work which she should create

links to, she was surprised to find a site which claimed to be about her. It had her email address,

employer, and most of the content from her profile, but t also had links that related to somebody quite

different. Moreover, as Erica never had worked as a masseuse, she was rather surprised to see a Web

page that appeared to claim she had!

The problem was that the site in question trawled through countless pages, trying to find everything it

could about a person, and the rules it used for deciding whether information was about her were not

quite right. The company that ran the site said the easiest option was to sign up with them an edit her

profile. Although this would get rid of the errors, Erica could not see any reason why she should

effectively be blackmailed into joining someones online service (even though there was no cost).


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DI and tags

Nowadays we are often offered the opportunity to tag resources. In Facebook I can tag the people in a

photo, on my blog I can tag a post, and on del.icio.us I can tag pages I have bookmarked.

There are a number of reasons why we choose to tag:

For ourselves, so that we can find resources later. For example Andy may tag an articletoread to remind himself that he intends to read the article later;

For others, so that others know what the resource is about. For example Bo may tag a picturepig so that others know that it is a picture of a pig;

For automation, so that other systems know that this resource is meant to be aggregated bythem.

Recently we have worked on a project called Muvenation that involves working with teachers and

virtual worlds. As the project was starting when I wrote blog posts about it I would use the tag

Muvenation so I and others would know it was about that project. When I saw Web pages that were

relevant to the project I would tag them on del.icio.us and when I took relevant inworld screenshots I

would post them on flickr and tag them. Thus, this Muvenation tag became part of my Digital

Identity, and the resources they were linked to reflect on my Digital Identity.

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Image by dniezby in public domain available at http://openclipart.org/media/files/dniezby/3894


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Worksheet 8

Context

A tag cloud is a list of tags, where the size of the tag indicates the popularity of the tag; you can often

find tag clouds for individuals and for whole sites.1) The public tag cloud can be found for delicious at http://del.icio.us/tag. Look at this cloudand select a tag that interests you, note down why you chose that tag.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) Clicking on the tag in the tag cloud will take you to a list of resources tagged with that tag.On the right in a blue box is a number indicating how many people have tagged that resource. Choosea resource that looks interesting to you, note down why you chose that one.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

3) Clicking on the blue box will take you to a list of users who have bookmarked that resource,you will see their delicious user names and any other tags they used with this resource, select one ofthese and note why.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

4) Click on their user name and then tags and you arrive at their tag cloud. Looking at this tagcloud, what do you think they are interested in?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You might like to look now at a tag cloud of your own or someone you know well and see if thatcloud really reflects interests.


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Check him out!

Worksheet 9

Imagine you are recruiting for a post. We are going to explore someones DI and see whether theypresent a good, bad, indifferent or rather variable image to a would be employer. In a fit of

(foolhardy) bravery, I am going to suggest you use my DI to explore, and see what issues it raises.

For the purposes of this worksheet, pick a job for which you are employing someone. It could be a

Programmer, Web Designer, an Educator, an Office Administrator, a Researcher, or any other role,

but obviously, my DI fits certain some types of job better than others do (and some on that list are not

well supported by my DI!)

1) Use a search engine to find out basic information about Pat Parslow. How does it differ tosearching for Patrick Parslow?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) If you have a specific set of skills in mind for the post, does including them as key words inthe search provide better insights into my suitability for the role?__________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3) Does a search for everything except those keywords, in conjunction with my name provideany insights or anything to worry about for you as a potential employer (e.g. if you exclude Academicby searching for Pat Parslow -Academic on Google)?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) What can you find on social networking sites about me? Do these create a good impression?How about photographs or absence of them?__________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5) Now do the same sort of searches for yourself, or for someone you care about. Is thereanything in the results which makes you want to change what you find?__________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________


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Activities

In addition to the worksheets, we have also found that the following games can help raise awareness

of Digital Identity issues for students and staff alike. All these games use cards to help focus

attention. We recommend printing and laminating these or other variations with which you come up.

Laminated cards not only last longer, but the players can write their own version of blog headlines on

them.

The games typically take about half an hour to run through five rounds more if people get into the

game and really start explaining what their blog posts are about.


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The Attention Game

Title: Theme: Target Audience Format

The Attention Game (pt 1) Recognising My DI 10yrs + Game

Learning outcomes

How headlines grab attention Whether matching content to role is important Mixed mode (synchronous/asynchronous) communications (including turn taking)

Outline

Based on Attention Economy: The Game20

, this simple card game focuses on obtaining the attention

of readers. There are variations covered below, but the basic format is that players are given a set of

laminated cards, some of which have pre-written blog post titles (these can also be considered to be

Facebook status messages or Tweets on Twitter).

Duration:

With 5 players and 5 turns, the game takes about 20 minutes in its basic form.

Resource links:

Sample Cards21

Description:

The game is played in turns. Each player, in turn, selects one of their headline cards to play, and lays

it on the table in front of them (keep them separate from each other). If desired, players can write

their own headline (using a dry marker pen so the cards are re-usable) or adds to the existing headline.

Once all the players have played a headline card, each player votes for the headline that has grabbed

their attention the most - it is probably best if they cannot vote for themselves! Keep a tally on a spare

blank card for each of the players.

In this form of the game there should be as many rounds as there are players - each round, a different

player plays their choice of card first. It is easiest to do this by starting each new round with the next

person round the table from the last starting player

Add up the points each player has earned and then award prizes for those who got the most.


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Questions to ask about the experience

What was most successful in grabbing your attention? If you did not get much attention, how did that make you feel? If someone else was getting attention, were you more likely to choose more extreme

headlines? What do you feel your choice of headlines says about you? Describe your impression of the other players, based on their headlines

Observations

There is a tendency for people to compete for attention, which can result in fairly high-risk strategies

in terms of headline wordings. Sometimes people grab attention by building on other peoples

previous posts.


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The Attention Game (pt 2)


The Attention Game (pt 2) Recognising My DI 10yrs + Game

Learning outcomes

How headlines grab attention Whether matching content to role is important Mixed mode (synchronous/asynchronous) communications (including turn taking) Whether you can build a DI reflecting an aspect of your personality How other people may view your choices

Outline

Based on Attention Economy: The Game22, this simple card game focuses on obtaining the attention

of readers. This version includes an element of role-playing to explore the possibilities of building a

specific view of your personality for others to see.

Duration:

With 5 players and 5 turns, the game takes about 20 minutes in its basic form.

Resource links:

Sample Cards

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Description:

Before play starts, each player chooses a role to play. For instance, they could be a party animal, a

serious researcher, a dotty scientist (thanks to Steven Warburton for this role!), or any other role

which suits the target audience age group. One of our play testers chose Sex columnist, which was

fine in the context of a group of eLearning specialists, but may not be suitable for younger age groups,

whilst another chose CyberGran, which could work at all ages.

Play proceeds exactly as The Attention Game pt 1 but players try to play headlines that suit their

chosen role. This does not mean that all plays need to be focused solely on the specific stereotype -serious researchers have been known to go to a club and have some fun too!


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What was most successful in grabbing your attention? If you didn't get much attention, how did that make you feel? If someone else was getting attention, were you more likely to choose more extreme

headlines? What do you feel your choice of headlines says about you? Describe your impression of the other players, based on their headlines Does your choice of headlines reflect the role you chose? How do you interpret what the other players blogs say about them? Looking back at the way the game went, would you change your attention grabbing strategy?

Observations

Playing a role has a tendency to allow people to express opinions that are rather more radical - after

all, this is not them. It can also lead to people focusing narrowly on a specific aspect of the persona

they are trying to project - and there is a tendency for the result to look a little bit forced. You mayfind that players do not feel they can trust the DIs that have been projected by the other players as

much as with the basic version.


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The Attention Game (pt 3)


The Attention Game (pt 3) Managing My DI 10yrs + Game

Learning outcomes

How headlines grab attention Whether matching content to role is important Mixed mode (synchronous/asynchronous) communications (including turn taking) Whether you can 'build' a DI reflecting an aspect of your personality How other people may view your choices The effect of persistence of information on your DI

Outline

Based on Attention Economy: The Game24

, this simple card game focuses on obtaining the attention

of readers. This version adds a twist at the end.

Duration:

With 5 players and 5 turns, this game takes about 30 minutes in its basic form.

Resource links:

Sample Cards

25

Description:

This version works well combined with the role-playing option in pt 2.

Play proceeds exactly as The Attention Game pt 1. Once the total scores have been tallied, and

prizes given the tables are turned by asking Now look at your headlines from the perspective of an

employer, potential partner or family member looking back at the things you have written to see what

you are like - what sort of impression will your blog make on them?

You can even give a bit of a hint that things may be going to change by choosing to give a tacky

prize after the first part of the game. If you give one cheap prize to first place and two of the same to

second place, there is a slight hint that maybe winning the Attention Game is not the be-all and end-

all of the experience.


What was most successful in grabbing your attention? If you did not get much attention, how did that make you feel? If someone else was getting attention, were you more likely to choose more extreme


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headlines?

What do you feel your choice of headlines says about you? Describe your impression of the other players, based on their headlines Does your choice of headlines reflect the role you chose? How do you interpret what the other players blogs say about them?

Looking back at the way the game went, would you change your attention grabbing strategy?

Observations

The twist can run the risk with some types of people of leaving them feeling cheated - the only

defence against this is knowing your players and knowing whether it will be a problem. There seems

little point in advertising the twist beforehand, although this strategy may work and it is certainly

conceivable that people will still get caught up in the 'Attention grabbing' phase despite knowing that

they will be judged on the overall picture later.


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Documents

This Is Me - Learning materials about Digital Identity