My digital landscape, depicted through this tension pairs map, reveals a collage of my online activities across, visitor, resident, personal and institutional domains. In my portrayal, personal and institutional email providers anchor the outer corners of my visitor spectrum, while Google Search, also to the far left, is equally divided across both personal and institutional realms, symbolizing its ubiquitous utility.
AI occupies a niche slightly to the right of Google Search but predominantly within the visitor domain, the teardrop graphic reflecting its dual role in personal and institutional contexts indicating slightly more work use of this tool. Spotify, nestled left of the midpoint but heavily positioned at the top of the personal side, embodies my individualized music consumption devoid of social engagement. I listen, I chill, I leave.
Converging near my map’s center is a cluster comprising Amazon, YouTube, and Snapchat. Amazon heavily straddles personal and institutional spaces, while my YouTube primarily occupies institutional use as this is where I house instructional videos I have made and source specific content for the classes I teach. Snapchat skews towards personal interactions, albeit with a hint of institutional relevance, as I have recently started using this for student groups. Additionally, platforms that are new to me like Feedly, LinkedIn and WordPress anchor the institutional landscape, serving predominantly professional purposes.
Finally, Facebook emerges as predominantly personal, albeit with sporadic professional interactions. This mapping encapsulates the complexity of my digital engagement, showcasing the interplay between personal, professional, and hybrid online realms and was an enjoyable and enlightening activity.
Good thoughts, Darren. I am interested in an aspect of online presence that you mention – the potential mixing of institutional and personal roles and personas in a single online space.
A question for everyone: Have you become more or less comfortable with the intermingling of personal and institutional/professional roles online over time? I think that I have become less comfortable in most cases, and tend to have online spaces where I am exclusively one or the other. This was not a purposeful decision so much as a natural outgrowth of my usually cautious nature.
Hi Russ,
Great comment, thank you!
I completely resonate with your perspective. Over time, I’ve also come to recognize the necessity for a clearer differentiation between my personal persona and my professional persona as a student-facing professional. As I increase my utilization of EdTech to connect with my students on their level, I’m increasingly becoming aware of the importance of maintaining this distinction.