In the last blog, I looked at the technologies I used. They were mapped out using White and Le Cornu’s typology for online engagement (2011). Through my mapping, I realized that I have an extremely active “visitor” presence on the internet (Logan, 2022). Now after this reflection, it’s time for me to plan out how my digital identity/presence to be going forward.
Since I have a strong digital presence/identity, I have decided I want to focus on ensuring that it is more open and inclusive. In an article, George Veletsianos found that the social media is a place where scholars can be more open. They have the ability to come together and share their work and ideas (2013). In this context, each individual can learn and grow.
Please review my plan between below and I welcome your comments/feedback.
Overall goal and purpose for cultivating my digital presence and identity
- To be more open and inclusive in my digital presence and identity on Social Media
- To reach broader audience on Social Media to learn from
Approach for achieving this goal
- Research articles on Digital Presence/Identity
- Research articles on Open/inclusive Resources
- Research articles on open/inclusive sharing between academics via digital platforms
Identification of skills, knowledge gaps
- Ways to make my digital presence more open to others to use
- creative commons licenses
- resources to make open documents and other type resources
- challenges to making to my digital presence/identity open and more inclusive
- Ways to make my digital presence inclusive and accessible to others
- Alternative text for photos and videos
- Transcription
- ways of sharing my work and making available to others to use
Strategies and approaches to address the identified gaps
- Research ways to be more open and inclusive
- Follow more individuals on different digital platforms that are leaders in this area
- Contact Centres such as BC Campus, E Campus Ontario, Centre for Teaching & Learning to gather more information in this area
Measure of success
- More engagement with individuals on my digital platforms
- Comments received from individuals about my digital presence/identity
- more sharing of my work and ideas with other academics
White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First monday. http://firstmonday.org/article/view/3171/3049
Logan, E. (April 24, 2022). My Use of Technology. Edward Logan’s Blog. https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0253/my-use-of-technology/
Veletsianos, G. (2013). Open practices and identity: evidence from researchers and educators’ social media participation. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(4), 639–651.
Interesting post, Edward. I really like your plan to be more open and inclusive. I was going to ask you what you meant by “inclusive”, but then you went on to describe including more accessibility features in your content, which is awesome. This is so important, isn’t it? It can sometimes be a little time consuming to do well. In order to provide a transcript for a video, or accurate closed captioning, can be quite a task… but time well spent. The whole idea behind the internet in the first place was to support the democratization of information, and we support that goal by providing as much access as possible.
Have you given much thought yet as to what your digital identity will look like? Another article by Kimmons and Veletsianos (2014) that I think you might like discusses a concept they labeled an acceptable identity fragment. Basically, that portion of yourself you choose to share in a specific online context. Definitely worth a read.
Kimmons, R., & Veletsianos, G. (2014). The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites, acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation. Computers & Education, 72, 292–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.12.001
Hello Edward,
I enjoyed reading your post! You made some excellent points about the importance of having a more open and inclusive digital presence. As I expand my digital presence, I’ll keep these great strategies in mind, such as using alternative text for photos and videos, ensuring that video messages have a transcription, and using other website accessibility features like text contrast. As we move toward a more digital world, it will become increasingly important to adhere to accessibility standards as our digital identities grow.
Thank you for sharing your well-considered and thought-provoking digital presence strategy.