How do I navigate online spaces, how do I interact with both individuals and the content I consume, and what digital footprint do I leave behind? I considered these three questions and the concept of digital visitors and residents proposed by David S. White and Alison Lecornu (“Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement”, 2011) when creating my own technology mind map below:
Have you noticed how much real estate I’ve granted to Google services as a whole? I don’t only use this service as a search engine, but our household has four google home devices and pixel phones. While I’m aware of the privacy implications these devices bring, for me it is outweighed by the benefits. I use these services and devices to send reminders, control our lights, play music, navigate while driving, leave reviews, make conversions while cooking, and control our thermostat. I know that Google collects a lot of information on me for their algorithm, so I’ve extended its influence to all four quadrants.
As mapped here, almost all of my social media use is private. Historically I have kept my professional and personal online personas separate, with the exception of LinkedIn where I am relatively active and do occasionally post personal content (eg. promoting charity events and social justice causes). I have barely used Facebook and Twitter in the past five years, so I added skull icons to denote they are essentially dead profiles.
What do you think of my mind map? Are there any items you would challenge or want additional context about? And, how does this differ from your own map?
References
White, D. S., & LeCornu, A. (2011). Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
Skull icon attributed to:
Freepik. (2017, November 29). Poison Free Icons designed by Freepik. Flaticon. https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/poison_620824?term=dead&page=1&position=3&origin=search&related_id=620824
Andrea,
I appreciate the thought you put into your map! It really made me stop and think as I hadn’t even considered the ‘google home’ device I have and how that plays in to my digital presence – or potential privacy issues that go along with it. It makes me have to ask myself what other devices or platforms I may be overlooking simply because they are part of the everyday landscape, or because I am not using them to their full potential and see them as toys vs. technology. That can be dangerous considering the amount of information these devices can gather, as you noted above.
I know a lot of people, Jessica, who don’t see the benefits of Google accounts as outweighing the negatives. One thing I try to remember is that there’s a reason why Google services are free – because my data has value to them, and in trading that I get a lot of convenience in return. I know that I make them money, but as long as I can ask my smart speaker to remind me every day at 2pm to give my dog her mid-day pill, and I can ask a question at any time to settle a bet during a heated game of scrabble, for me at least that exchange is worth it.
If I were to re-create this map using Cormier’s alternative where the axis is instead Digital to Analogue and Collaborative to Independent (Digital practices mapping – intro activity for digital literacies course, 2018) I think I would need to start from scratch and would probably be a lot more single focused than I am above. Instead I believe at least half of my items would be in the Collaborative and Digital space. Most of the tools in my daily life – with the exception of a weekly grocery list and my small-town newspaper which is only available in hard copy – is done in the digital space. Even my reading habits – one of the last strong-holds to physical books and magazines – shifted to digital over the pandemic when I discovered my library’s eBook collection. I get annoyed if I’m looking for something physically and cannot find it while it could have been digitized.
In my professional career, too, I tend to look for projects where a team effort can mean collaborative goals are met instead of personal ones. I don’t like being in the spotlight, so sharing recognition gives me a sense of accomplishment while knowing that I am sharing recognition with others I’ve worked hard with. As a full-time work from home employee for more than five years, collaborative tools like Teams, Slack, and WebEx are key to getting things done effectively and clearning up confusion quickly. Even personally, group chats with my friends and family on WhatsApp are far more common communication tools than individual chats or phone calls.
References
Cormier, D. (2018, March 31). Digital practices mapping – intro activity for digital literacies course. Dave’s Educational Blog. http://davecormier.com/edblog/2018/03/31/digital-practices-mapping-intro-activity-for-digital-literacies-course/
Hi Andrea. So smart to include Google in all the quadrants! That aspect of data collection and personalizing services based on data is really prevalent. I work in a setting where people might be using Facebook less in their personal lives, but they are interested in using it more patient engagement, especially in smaller, rural communities where people may not have good data plans and texting plans, but Facebook is a site they will check. So, I know of health care providers who are trying to use these tools to meet people where they are at, but not interested in using social media personally.
Great map, Andrea!
Looking across the quadrants and the distribution of tools/spaces, I started to wonder about the relationship between “working online” and “living online.” The more my work has shifted to online spaces over the past several years, the less involved I have become in non-work online activity. The more I work online, the more I live offline.
I’m curious if others have experienced the same – or perhaps opposite – trend?
I can definitely relate to this Russ. I work in a position where I’ve been full-time work from home for almost six years, but up until three years almost all of my team was in the office and I was the only one to be collaborating with them remotely (we found a really good cadence for this too). Now that everyone is working from home and more of our collaboration is online, I find myself associating online socialization more and more with work. In the past year I’m finding joy in discovering more offline activies. I feel like if I’m online all the time I don’t feel like there is any division between professional/school and my off-work self.
Andrea, this is far too good looking! I’m curious that you don’t add anything on Facebook, we’re polar opposites on that it seems.