The Surveillance State vs Connectivism

We live in a time when use of a cell phone, email, and social networking accounts are simply part of life. It is possible to opt out of these tools, but the impact that would have on our ability to navigate this world is difficult to imagine for most.

About five years ago I happened across a radio interview with Bruce Schneier. Schneier is a cryptographer and cyber security expert that currently work with IBM, teaches at the Harvard Law School, and serves on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It was early in the morning and I would typically not have been predisposed to heavy content that early in the day. I was sucked in right away though. I was surprised how relevant it was to my work on technology in education. You can get a sense of the discussion I listened to by listening to a similar presentation recently made to the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (minutes 27-58).

In the presentation I listened to (and in the conclusion of the video linked above) he described the way we use data today as comparable to the manner in which we treated garbage in the Industrial Age. That mental image has made me paranoid of oversharing. I do not want to be the guy that has his grandkids look back on my digital footprint to wonder why I was throwing virtual beer cans all over a beautiful community park. In researching my own name on a number of search engines I am not surprised to find little. Considering the nature of the work that I have done in technology and education over the last decade, I view that as a success.

In light of our current discussion around social networking and the curation of our online reputations, however, I am beginning to rethink my reticence to share. With a focus on positive interactions I will have more opportunities to leverage connectivist principles that will benefit myself and my work. By undersharing I am missing opportunities to refine. I can do better.

Ten Strategies for a Positive Professional Online Presence

The creation of an online digital footprint has become unavoidable. Here are ten strategies one can use to help manage your online presence to ensure it conveys a positive message.

1. Use your real name to take an online inventory of yourself (Richardson, 2008). Understand what is out there about yourself. Are those things positive or negative? Search several pages deep on Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
2. Utilize privacy settings on the social networks you use (Boyle, 2014). For example, Facebook's privacy settings are evolving regularly. Understand what is being shared and tune settings to give you the best chance of controlling it.
3. Keep software up-to-date (Davidson, 2016). If your computer becomes infected with a virus and someone steals your personal information, you could easily lose control it. Up-to-date antivirus and operating system software are key.
4. Check the cookies in your browser (Davidson, 2016). Ensure that there are no sites that are sending you cookies that you do not recognize. Use of an extension that allows you to better manage cookies can be helpful in this regard.
5. Develop good online habits that help you keep separation between different parts of your online life (Wilton, 2014). Consider using different email addresses for work and personal communications. Use different credit cards for online purchases than you do for everything else.
6. Use a password management tool (Boyle, 2014). This type of tool keeps each of your accounts more secure by helping you generate a unique password for each site you use. It is also useful because it will help keep inventory of those sites. If you have an account on a site that you do not use, you should delete it.
7. Optimize existing positive content about yourself (McGinnis, 2012). Use search engine optimization strategies on sites you control to ensure you are highlighting positive work to anyone searching for you.
8. Link to existing positive content about yourself (McGinnis, 2012). Further highlight you positive content by creating links to those items. This can be done on your blog, on an AboutMe page, or LinkedIn.
9. Find positive communities and participate (Richardson, 2008). Find bloggers with interesting or relevant work. Find Twitter hashtags. Share your interests and perspective on the issues being discussed.
10. Create positive content (Taub, 2012). Create a Twitter account. Add details you are comfortable sharing you an AboutMe page. Acquire domain names. Blog.

References

Boyle, J. (2014, March 8) 11 Tips for Helping Students Manage Their Digital Footprints. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/digital-citizenship-the-future-of-learning/11-tips-for-students-tomanage-their-digital-footprints/

Davidson, P. (2016, May 9) 8 Tips to Effectively Manage Your Digital Footprint. Retrieved from http://justcreative.com/2016/05/09/8-tips-to-effectively-manage-your-digital-footprint/

McGinnis, S. (2012, August 23) Online Reputation Management: A How To Guide. Retrieved from http://spinsucks.com/communication/online-reputation-management-a-how-to-guide/

Richardson, W. (2008, November) Footprints in the Digital Age. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Footprints-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx

Taub, A. (2012, June 7) 5 Key Things To Improve Your Digital Identity. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alextaub/2012/06/07/5-key-things-needed-to-improve-your-digital-identity/#61c2a76b932b

Wilton, R. (2014, December 23) Ten Tips To Manage Your Digital Footprint. Retrieved from https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/tech-matters/2014/12/ten-tips-manage-your-digital-footprint-0

Twitter Hashtags as Personal Professional Development

I have found Twitter to be a valuable tool for connecting and collaborating with other educators. I am frequently customizing my Tweetdeck client to follow hashtags that are relevant to projects I am working on.

I have found #EdChat and #EdTechChat as a useful catch all for many of the topics educators are discussing on Twitter. I can use this hashtag to quickly discover opportunities for learning as they are becoming available. Today there is quiet a bit of chatter about the coming ISTE conference on both channels. I also follow #CaEdChat and #IdEdChat to help keep my finger on the pulse of educational conversations in California (where I am new to that community) and Idaho (where many former colleagues are). I am happy to see today that Idaho folks are busy organizing for Edcamp Idaho (#edcampidaho) in three weeks. I helped get this annual event off the ground four years ago. To continue feeding my edcamp habit in my new location, I see on #CaEdChat that there is an Edcamp East Bay (#EdCampEB) on August 6. I am following #DTK12Chat as I am working this summer to help refine a project using design thinking. Here is an example of an inspiring project I found on that channel that brings together a number of elements I have an appreciation for: design thinking, social emotional learning and Minecraft.

Using Twitter in this way allows me to customize my professional development based on what is important to me at that moment. Customizing Tweetdeck columns allows me to tap into different streams of collective conscious that provide more information than I can digest. To the uninitiated, that can be overwhelming. Over time it becomes more acceptable as you fine tune the hashtags and make use of Twitter's list feature to identify thought leaders to help make sense of it all.

PLN - Connectivism - CoP

As I have reflected on the relationship between personal learning networks, connectivism, and communities of practice I have found that water can serve as a metaphor for learning.

Connectivism utilizes a social connected process of learning (Connectivism, 2014). Current technology only amplifies our ability to connect and collaborate. In a similar manner, an aerator provides oxygen and movement to a body of water that might otherwise become stagnant. In an age of information abundance, a personal learning network (funnel) provides individuals with the ability to use connections to coalesce information and build it into something coherent, something that will become more useful. A community of practice maintains the social aspects, however, they are more focussed (nozzle) on their "shared domain of interest" (Wenger, 2013) for addressing their issues.

[USC Blended Learning]. (2014, January 21). Overview of Connectivism - Dr. George Siemens [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx5VHpaW8sQ

Wenger, E (2013). What are Communities of Practice?. Retrieved from: http://www.ncddr.org/cop/whatiscop.html

Educational Technology Social Networking

Hello #EdTechSN. It is good to see you. I have been away from the MET program for a year and it feels good to be getting back into the swing of things. Focusing on social networking with Dr. Gerstein is an excellent way to do it.

I have been using my Twitter account for professional growth since 2011. I have had a Facebook account since before that, but only recently started using it for professional purposes. Diigo and blogger are tools I have used on and off for about five years.

The connections I have made on Twitter have added value to my career from the beginning. I once heard that 4% of the traffic on Twitter is education related. It has provided insight and context to problems that I initially understood little about. I have often described it feeling like cheating when describing the experience to other educators. I felt informed as I read along with people I admired. Over time, I have even gotten to know some of those folks well enough to call them friends.

Facebook troubles me. I am frequently weighing the pros and cons of staying connected to the platform. Its greatest value has been that I have re-connected with so many people that I once thought were lost. More recently I have made professional connections and that adds more value. I believe professional connections are happening more now simply because people are just assuming you have a presences there. On the other hand, it is an advertising company. Facebook is regularly pushing the limits of what I consider privacy invasion. I do not trust them. I am still unwilling to install their app on my phone.

Blogging and Diigo are easy and accessible tools that many more educators could use more effectively. I have worked with some who needed a nudge to start. Once they do, though, feedback is usually positive. It is not as scary as even the worst technophobe imagines. These are really great tools for sharing information and getting people to work together.

Social networking tools have been difficult to integrate in the school setting of the districts I have worked with. Despite working to update policy, there is a lack of clarity with regard to what is permissible. Our community sees social networking (and technology generally) as a distraction, as entertainment, rather than a tool for sharing and connection. Social networks blur the lines between personal and academic pursuits. Many educators choose to avoid the topic entirely with this much gray area. I hope through our work we can find strategies for that can enable us to develop the courage needed to accept this ambiguity because I do not believe it is going away. Although we often talk a good game about "college and career ready," I do not think we give enough thought to what that means today.