My current digital presence reflects a tendency that I have identified during the creation of my map of technology use; I present my online self in a very controlled and selective manner that only leaves small traces in the publicly accessible web. Having gradually withdrawn any personal content from publicly accessible platforms over the last decade, if you Google me today, you will only find a few results work related, a LinkedIn profile which I barely use and the remnants of a stripped-down version of a Vimeo page I used to curate to expose my work as an independent filmmaker.
Finding a Voice and Workflow
Before setting any goals, reflecting on what digital identity means in my own context was essential. Rowland and Estevens (2025) identify three distinct understandings of digital identity among users: digital identification, self-presentation, and the datafied self. My approach aligns most closely with self-presentation — the conscious choice of what one shares and how, driven by a desire to keep a tight control over one’s image and privacy. From there, my digital presence simply becomes the where and the how of that sharing.
Approach and Gaps
From this, two goals emerge. First, finding a voice suitable in a professional or academic context while keeping a genuine and personal take in my future blog posts. Second, finding a workflow that allows me to create these blog posts faster. I will approach this blog as a delimited and intentional space to define my online self, keeping in mind my knowledge and skills gaps. The most prominent one being that I am a non-native English speaker. While some of my peers may already have a writing voice prior to this program, I have yet to find mine. For the first posts, I have often felt my sentences fragmented and clumsy, probably from the fact that I process information and construct sentences first in my native language—French—before translating them in writing. In addition, each reading and post has proven to be very time consuming to me, a common frustration among non-native English speakers according to a study by Curry & Lillis (2004).
Immersion as a tool
As a solution to these gaps, I will rely on the immersion into the network this program has offered me, mostly by analyzing my peers’ voices through their posts and notice how mine differs from theirs. In addition, I will consider my instructor’s feedback and browse the writing centre resources.
Measures of Success
If applied thoroughly, the success of this plan will be measured through my ability to go through related readings faster, integrate references from the research more easily and to become comfortable with posting my thoughts while showing consistency in my voice. Beyond the program itself, I also hope that the reflective habits and critical thinking skills developed along the way will find their way into my daily work at UNIFR, where digital learning environments are becoming an increasingly central part of how medicine is taught and practiced.
Transparency statement : AI assistance was used for grammar checking, phrasing, and final language polish.
References
Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. (2004). Multilingual Scholars and the Imperative to Publish in English: Negotiating Interests, Demands, and Rewards. TESOL Quarterly, 38(4), 663. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588284
Rowland, J., & Estevens, J. (2025). “What is your digital identity?” Unpacking users’ understandings of an evolving concept in datafied societies. Media, Culture & Society, 47(2), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241282240