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Digital Idenitiy
I believe that digital identity is the persona that you present online. How you present yourself and the information that you portray, all has to do with who you are and the “persona” that you present online.
What surprises about the statistics, is finding out how much people spend their time online,
if you post inappropriate content online and if an employer or customer looks you up online that can make the company look bad.
You can create a positive online persona by thinking carefully about what you post online.
My Digital Identity
To me, having a digital identity means having some sort of presence online. In general, I think there are two different components to identity: how you identify yourself and how others identify you. I believe that digital identity is special because it doesn’t matter how you identify yourself on the internet, it only matters how others see you. Because of that, you have to put yourself in the identifiers’ shoes when participating in the digital world. Who the identifier is is completely up to you, but these articles suggest that you should think of these identifiers as your future employers, because statistically they are.
I was surprised to find that there were programs out there that could wipe clean your digital presence and how much money it costs, but I think I was more surprised that I was surprised. OF COURSE there are companies who figured out a way to remove people’s scandals from the internet. (Since there is an annual fee, does that mean that your scandalous video of you that someone leaked ever truly gone? Just a thought…)
One of the rules for my leadership position on campus is that we aren’t allowed to add our students on social media until the end of that academic year so that we may maintain professional boundaries. As an adult hoping to enter the workforce (me being a student leader being besides the point) it’s important to be extremely aware and conscious of what I post on the internet and that even if I do have a slip of judgement, and then go back to delete whatever it is, it’ll never truly go away. People say think before you speak, but I would argue it’s much more important to think before you type.
As far as creating a positive digital identity, I currently believe that I am. I personally don’t do or post anything that I wouldn’t show either of my grandmothers, but that’s mostly because between my two grandmothers, they’ve got tabs on my Facebook and Instagram. Honestly, it’s mostly for my peace of mind that there isn’t anything out there that I wouldn’t say out loud or show someone where as I know there are a lot of people my age who may worry about the wrong things falling into the wrong hands. I would like to make a LinkedIn page, after reading the article from the company that made the video, I saw a tip that said something about how a LinkedIn page is usually the first thing that pops up when you search your name on Google. There isn’t anything I have to hide on my Facebook, but I was 14 when I got my Facebook and there are some pretty angst-y song lyric statues and I would rather employers find my resume instead of my emo phase.
One World… Two Identities…
With technology becoming more and more prominent each day, it is nearly impossible for individuals to stray away from developing a digital identity. What is a digital identity? A digital identity is an identity constructed from information that is put forth on the internet about yourself. This digital identity can be viewed by anyone. Just because this identity exists in cyberspace does not mean it is not important. In today’s world, a digital identity can make or break your career.
While reading through the assigned articles, I came across an interesting statement. In the article titled Protecting Your Online Reputation: 4 Things You Need to Know [INFOGRAPHIC], it was mentioned that being digitally non-existent can actually affect you in a negative way. I always believed that it was the other way around. I thought that those individuals who had managed to not develop a digital identity were better off than those of us who had. My reason for thinking this was that those with no digital identity do not have to worry about negative information coming back to haunt them.
Being in a leadership position means that you have a spotlight on you at all times. You can no longer act carelessly; you have to lead by example if you truly want to fulfill this position correctly. One’s digital identity should be thought of in the same manner. One must watch what they post on social media (as well as what is posted about them). One must be able to talk the talk and walk the walk for others to truly respect them as a leader and take their advice seriously. Individuals in leadership positions can not be engaging in cyber bullying, nor can they be posting about drinking, drugs, partying, or anything of the like. They must act in a mature and professional manner.
Currently, I am active on a few social media cites. I believe that up to now, I have done a good job at creating a positive digital identity for myself. I plan to maintain this good identity and make it stronger. In this class, I will be creating my own website. There is were I plan to truly solidify my identity. I plan to use the techniques that I will learn throughout this semester to build a website that truly represents me, my achievements, and my goals. I hope that through my website, I will be able to create a positive digital presence that will assist in my hiring with future employers.
The Digital Frontier
Historians seem to have a practice where they give monikers to different periods throughout time. There was the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Gilded Age and the Industrial Age to name a few. Today, most of the world is in the Digital Age and in this new age there are new rules. New technology, like computers have no doubt changed the landscape. It could be called a new frontier. Yet, now we are having to come up with new rules to meet our new realties.
A digital identity is basically who you are if someone was only looking online. It is the perception that what kind of person you are in the digital zone, and it has a very real effects in the physical world. It is the combination of social media accounts, websites, google searches, and image results. The troubling part that I learned the more I read about digital identities was that not having a digital space can hurt you as well. I already knew that having inappropriate things posted about you could hurt an individual, but I was surprised that not having a presence could have real effects too. I was honestly, a little concerned because I am far from active on social media. For me a facebook, that is not under my full name and a Pinterest was practically the sum total on my online presence., both of which have strong privacy settings and can not be found easily. (The only picture that was me on google images is one of the first that came up-which is me at work.) Neither of which have anything more controversial than the fact that I like books, comic books, anime and do crafts.
While those are my interests, they are not strictly professional. As a peer leader I want to be connected to people. I am also looking at graduating soon and hopefully finding a job. I know now that I need to create a strong and positive online digital presence. Part of that will be making this site functional and professional looking. I want it to be positive so I will put my leadership skills and some of the projects that I am doing in the introduction graphic design class. It could prove my compendancy in both Photoshop and adobe Illustrator. These posts can also serve as a writing sample of sorts for any employer. One other things I will do is make a linked-in. I could use some help with that, but I am sure I can find resources. I will also update all of my Facebook information. I could create a official me Facebook page-none of the Facebook pages that appear are mine. I am still deciding if I should take further steps other than those three.
Week 4 Discussion: ICU Delirium
Hello all!
I think that topics related to ICU such as ventilators, sedation, safety, and ICU delirium are all very interesting. I wanted to explore the effects of sedation medications on patients in the ICU. The question I had is if there was a reduction of sedation medication administered to ICU patient would there be a decrease in ICU delirium overall?
There were a couple articles I found that related to the about my subject of interest about effects of sedation medications on patients in the ICU. In the article, Fluctuations in sedation levels may contribute to delirium in ICU patients, the authors, Svenningsen, Egerod, Videbech, Christensen, Frydenberg, and Tønnesen (2013), conducted a prospective study of adult patients at three multidisciplinary ICU with an aim to investigate the impact of fluctuating sedation levels on the occurrence of delirium in the ICU, (p.228). The authors addressed that delirium is a serious complication for patient in the ICU and could possibly increase mortality and morbidity, (Svenningsen, Egerod, Videbech, Christensen, Frydenberg, and Tønnesen, 2013, p.228). Svenningsen et al. (2013), went onto emphasis orthodox treatment of ventilated ICU patient involves deep sedation with the goal to reduce anxiety, pain, and stress but in the past decade treatments have shifted and more focus is now on moving away from deep sedation because it has been proven “…daily interruption of continuous intravenous infusions of sedatives decreased the duration of mechanical ventilation, length of ICU stay, and length of hospital stay”, (p.228). In the study, Svenningsen et al. (2013) used the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU) which is a tool used to assess presence of delirium among patients in the ICU and the authors used the CAM-ICU which they detected results of hypoactive, hyperactive, and mixed-type delirium, (p.228 & 292). Additionally, the authors concluded that, “…dosage, administration, timing, and choice of sedative agent may potentially influence delirium status in ICU patients”, (Svenningsen et al., 2013, p.292). Overall there are a lot of factors that can cause ICU delirium in patients, which can increase the length of stay and possibly the mortality rate for ICU patients but by utilizing the new treatmentss of reducing sedation levels in ICU patient or even stopping sedative agents the risk of developing delirium can be greatly reduced and better outcomes for patients can be achieved.
Furthermore, another example of new treatment for ICU patient was seen in the video, Patients and Aging Brain Problems, where Dr. Wes Ely discussed about how a team of physicians, which including himself got funding for a study so they could do a multicenter investigation where they called it the “ABC” approach or the awakening, breathing, control trial. What they were essentially doing is waking patients up, seeing if they can breath, and then liberating them from the life support. Dr. Wes Ely explained, in the study half the patients got a standard approach where their drugs were targeted to the exact level the doctors and nurses thought they should be and the other half of the patients got that targeted drugs regimen but on top of that they overlaid a mandatory rule that as long as some safety criteria were met they stop the drugs cold everyday. At first staff was a little hesitate to stop the drugs cold everyday but it turned out that they cut the drugs by 50% and there was no increase in pain or bad dreams or awareness of bad memories and despite non of those problems the physicians found a huge difference in length of stay and death rates. Dr. Wes Ely was excited to reveal that the results of the study was the length of stay was four days less in the ICU and the patients were 15% less likely to die.
Lastly, I wanted to share with everyone a video published on October 2, 2012 I found that I believe was informative and also touched on the different types for sedative agents to consider when sedating patient in the ICU. It also talks about how the new idea of sedating patients less has been proven to decrease ICU delirium in patients. The video is from the Expert Commentary Series on Medscape and Dr. Shoor discusses how researchers look at the safety and efficacy of dexmedetomidine vs midazolam or propofol for long-term sedation of mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU. Click on this link to watch the video: http://youtu.be/D27WW0ya-78
In conclusion, I am very interested in this subject of ICU delirium and effects of sedation on ICU patients. I believed I learned a great deal from the articles and video I found about the subject and I hope you too enjoy reading and watching them as much I did. I think that the new treatments of reducing time spent on sedative agents and the ventilator while really increase a patient’s quality of life after their hospitalization in the ICU. In the article, Informed Patient: Changing the Sedation Status Quo in ICU, from the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog, the author, Laura Landro, also discussed about the new treatments hospital are utilizing in the ICU that consist of decreasing the duration patients spend heavily sedated and on a ventilator. Landro (2011) expressed that this new treatment that includes waking patients from sedation, assessing their pain level, and aspiring to have patients breathe on their own sooner all show that heavily sedated ICU patients often suffer from prolonged delirium that can have devastating and long-lasting effects on cognitive function, (2nd paragraph). As all the articles and videos have answered my questioned and I have learned that the new treatment of reducing time the ICU patient is sedated and on a ventilator the less likely the will have ICU delirium and lasting cognitive dysfunction. I completely agree with this new treatment and am happy to see medicine go in a direction that has the patient’s quality of life post-ICU in mind.
Thank you for reading my post 
Take care, Emily
References
Ely, W. (2013, January 1). ABCDEFs of Prevention and Safety: Patient and Aging Brain Problems. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://www.icudelirium.org/
Landro, L. (2011, February 15). Informed Patient: Changing the Sedation Status Quo in the ICU. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/02/15/changing-the-sedation-status-quo-in-the-icu/
Sedation in the ICU: Comparing 3 Drugs for Safety, Efficacy. [Video]. (2013). USA: Georgetown University. http://youtu.be/D27WW0ya-78
Svenningsen, H., Egerod, I., Videbech, P., Christensen, D., Frydenberg, M., & Tønnesen, E. (2013). Fluctuations in sedation levels may contribute to delirium in ICU patients. International Journal of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Pain, and Emergency Medicine., 57(3), 288-93. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from CINAHL Plus with Full Text. DOI: http://dx.doi.org.summit.csuci.edu:2048/10.1111/aas.12048
Who Are You Online?
To have a digital identity is to have an online presence through social media.
I found it rather high that 8% of companies had fired an employee over abusing social media. I find this odd because I find it hard to believe that many people were in a position to abuse their power through means of social media
Because I am seeking a leadership role on campus and potentially in the political realm I need to hold myself to a higher standard and be very selective when it comes to the content I allow to become public.
I plan to create a positive online identity by being careful and vigilant of what I post and what I allow others to post that may affect me.
Looking forward to seeing your thoughts!
Hey Students!
Don’t forget to complete your work due tonight for our class. I’m looking forward to seeing your thoughts on creating a digital identity; I encourage you to think outside of the box here… don’t just think about how to post “appropriate” pictures and protect yourself. What can you do to make the MOST use of the web for establishing your digital identity?
CI Computer Girls volunteering at The Great Race of Agoura Hills on March 28!
CI Computer Girls were invited to volunteer in The Great Race of Agoura Hills, which in its 30th edition, is one of the largest running events in our area with the goal of raising money for elementary schools. If you would like to participate as a runner here is the registration information: http://greatraceofagoura.com/register/ – the registration closes on February 6th.
CI Computer Girls will have a table at the water station on Mile 8 (intersection of Paramount Ranch and Cornell) from 6:45 to 10:30 am.
Hello world!
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