Kevin recently posted about a new book that looks good, entitled Digital Ego.
We have talked a lot to teachers for the past two years on Internet safety, cyber-based copyright, etc., and there is a genuine concern for student safety. Are we careful to warn against using too-revealing information about ourselves?
This topic interests me because you do gain a reputation through search. I chose some time ago to use my real name for this website. I wanted to build a reputation, a type of “digital identity.” I figured if someone knew my name, they ought to find me in my own place online.
In college, we never used our real names, we used handles. And I use handles too, for non-professional activity online.
There’s some saying I seem to recall… “You’re only as good as your reputation” or something like that. It’s a reminder that in this emerging stage of electronic culture, our identities are very vulnerable.