I was fascinated by the visitor/resident analogy. The more I considered it, the more I realized that it was indeed a continuum as White and LeCornu propose in First Monday.
As far as I can objectively analyze my personal experience, my online presence is much more of a resident than visitor. In fact, I may have been overly generous in placing some digital elements on the visitor side. Am I a LinkedIn visitor if I rarely post, but have an up-to-date profile? Maybe not. Part of my choice criteria had to do with comfort; another part was online impact.
I realize that since much of our reading list was written (2008 – 15), we have all become much more residential in our digital world. Even Googling populates the internet with personalized algorithms which are like invisible digital fingerprints. The signs of our presence are everywhere, not just in our purposeful posts.
I think that we have gone beyond thinking about the question ‘What is our digital footprint?’. We are now thinking on a broader deeper scale.
Perhaps a more relevant way of looking at our digital presence is ‘What is our digital legacy?’.
White, D. S., & LeCornu, A. (2011). Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
Hi Jeff, you make a good point about our invisible digital fingerprints! I’ve never really put a lot of thought into it, but I guess we leave breadcrumbs with every search we do, dont we?
Hi Jeff, I agree that the explosion of digital technologies has made most of us frequent users of the digital tools, It is a bit scary that although your aim is to only visit the space, there is a potential that you are leaving your crumbs, like googling as you stated before. I like how you close your note by asking the question “What is your digital legacy?” I am currently reading Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, and one of the gaps that were addressed in the report is the ethical challenge. Part of the digital legacy should be asking ourselves, “How do we want the community to perceive us and how do I impact the community in a positive way?”
I particularly enjoyed that you brought in the idea of our unintentional traces in the internet (through search engines and other navigation). When one considers that this is the information that is bought and sold, that advertising capitalizes on, it would seem that this has to be a fundamental part of the conversation. We’re all digital residents, in that regard, just with some creating more deliberate content than others. Thanks for this, Jeff. Good food for thought.
Jeff, well said. I especially liked your reference to a digital legacy. This is such an important thing to consider as what we do now will exist long after we’re gone. This concept would be like adding another layer onto the traditional family tree, one that has the potential to reflect Poorly on the individual.
This point is one that I will often talk with my younger family members about, nieces, nephews, even students in my classes. I believe it is incumbent on us to ensure the youth of today understand the potential of their digital legacy.
Owen
Hi Jeff, I really like the way you described: “The signs of our presence are everywhere, not just in our purposeful posts”. I totally agree with you. With technology changes we don’t have a choice but to adapt and evolve and hopefully become better human beings.