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.
