Since I stepped into the fore of technology and its uses, one piece of advice that has stuck with me since my diploma years is on being aware of your presence online and how much you share and what you give out to the world wide web. Because once it’s online it’s very hard to remove it. The exercise of mapping the use of my typology, gave me a moment of pause, as I consider what I use consistently, how I interact with it and what I use infrequently and how my use differs there. I find that in a majority of the networks I use, I am a resident as I maintain certain personas different from my IRL self.
Up until now I mostly maintain a presence of anonymity of my existence by having personas. However, a select few networks showcase more of the real me, those networks are LinkedIn and my personal and work emails. Kelly Schryver’s (2013) blog asks the question “Will you be ‘Googled Well’? “ and I can confidently state that yes I can be googled well as I have maintained a high level of privacy when it comes to my keeping my digital footprint private
Up till now, I have maintained a quiet presence, after reflecting and seeing my map I find myself considering the questions asked in the conclusion of the article by White and Cronu, “‘What am I going there for?’, ‘What am I hoping to achieve?’, ‘Which place best serves my purpose?’, ‘How long do I intend to stay?’, ‘Have I got the skills that I need?’ and ‘Am I happy to be on my own, or would I prefer to be in company?’ (2011). “
I find that I fall short in maintaining connections virtually as it can become quite cumbersome and tiring to be consistently engaged once my query and purpose have been satisfied. I am mostly content on my own but I have had desires to do more creative things online which would open more opportunities to be seen and heard.
To overcome this hurdle one of the first steps that has been taken is this MALAT program and it being fully online. I am now engaging more in forums, virtual discussions, synchronous meetings, and the creation of an academic blog.
A few of the desires I have had are:
- To open a digital downloads store to start a passive income stream using my graphic design skills and start cultivating them more.
- To start a stream channel which showcases things of interest or guidance and maintain it consistently as the 1-2 attempts I made ended up with me falling off the map and never coming back.
However, to start with a more measurable goal I will:
- Maintain the MALAT blog frequently
- Learn more about WordPress as an add to my graphic design skill
- Connect more in discussions and join more guest speaker events
- Learn and play around more with creative digital environments such as Canva & mid-journey
I am excited to embrace the opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and challenge myself and my personal growth, and actively immerse myself in the learning process.
References
Schryver, K. (2013, February 5). Guest Post | Who Are You Online? Considering Issues of Web Identity. The Learning Network. https://archive.nytimes.com/learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/guest-post-who-are-you-online-considering-issues-of-web-identity/
White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i9.3171