How Big is Your Digital Footprint?
By: Christopher Robison
In this weeks class we discussed some topics like the APA writing style and what a digital footprint is and how to reduce it. We also watched a video on how easy it is to find information of anyone online. On top of that we each chose a mobile application that would help us in our respective majors and gave a presentation on it.
During this weeks class, we were told to watch the Stockton University made video above. The video is on the APA writing style for our own benefit in writing our Social Media Etiquette paper. The video talks about how the APA writing format is usually only used in the social sciences and is sometimes difficult for Freshman to use after writing in MLA for so many years. The formatting of a paper written in APA is as follows, in this order: Title Page, Abstract, Body, References. Within the abstract and body of the paper, the font must be 12 point in Times New Roman, double spaced, and must have 1 inch margins. The title page must have a running head and page number at the top, mid-page must include the title, your name, and the institution it was written for respectively, and at the bottom of the page is the author's note. Finally, the references page must have the word 'References' at the top center in 12 point Times New Roman Font. All references are to be alphabetized by the author's last name and must have a hanging indent. Also you should only capitalize the first titles and subtitles. This is how an APA written paper is formatted.
In order to understand what a digital footprint is, think of it as a giant storage container that stores anything and everything that you've ever done on the internet. This article by Lisa Neilsen might explain what your digital footprint means a bit better than I can. The article reminds you that what you do online no matter what, is no longer in your control and immediately loses its privacy. "Your digital footprint is all the stuff you leave behind as you use the Internet. Comments on social media, Skype calls, app use and email records- it’s part of your online history and can potentially be seen by other people, or tracked in a database." -InternetSociety. If you're looking to reduce your digital footprint there are some simple steps you can take to get yourself on the right track. First, you must protect your reputation by remembering that third-parties are always watching what you buy, post, and search, so try to keep these items appropriate or in good context. Next, be sure to decide where and how your personal information is shared and certainly limit how you share this information. Lastly, you should be wary when making purchases to prevent fraud and financial loss. Below is a perfect example video that shows just how easy it is to find information about people that they didn't know was part of their digital footprint.
During this weeks class, we were told to watch the Stockton University made video above. The video is on the APA writing style for our own benefit in writing our Social Media Etiquette paper. The video talks about how the APA writing format is usually only used in the social sciences and is sometimes difficult for Freshman to use after writing in MLA for so many years. The formatting of a paper written in APA is as follows, in this order: Title Page, Abstract, Body, References. Within the abstract and body of the paper, the font must be 12 point in Times New Roman, double spaced, and must have 1 inch margins. The title page must have a running head and page number at the top, mid-page must include the title, your name, and the institution it was written for respectively, and at the bottom of the page is the author's note. Finally, the references page must have the word 'References' at the top center in 12 point Times New Roman Font. All references are to be alphabetized by the author's last name and must have a hanging indent. Also you should only capitalize the first titles and subtitles. This is how an APA written paper is formatted.
In order to understand what a digital footprint is, think of it as a giant storage container that stores anything and everything that you've ever done on the internet. This article by Lisa Neilsen might explain what your digital footprint means a bit better than I can. The article reminds you that what you do online no matter what, is no longer in your control and immediately loses its privacy. "Your digital footprint is all the stuff you leave behind as you use the Internet. Comments on social media, Skype calls, app use and email records- it’s part of your online history and can potentially be seen by other people, or tracked in a database." -InternetSociety. If you're looking to reduce your digital footprint there are some simple steps you can take to get yourself on the right track. First, you must protect your reputation by remembering that third-parties are always watching what you buy, post, and search, so try to keep these items appropriate or in good context. Next, be sure to decide where and how your personal information is shared and certainly limit how you share this information. Lastly, you should be wary when making purchases to prevent fraud and financial loss. Below is a perfect example video that shows just how easy it is to find information about people that they didn't know was part of their digital footprint.
Going along with the idea in the video above about how private our lives actually are, this article by Derrick Harris is about a new tool called 'Ready or Not' that lets you stalk Twitter users to teach them a lesson about privacy. The tool uses geotagged twitter and instagram posts to pinpoint exactly where people are and collects the data overtime to calculate recurring locations or hotspots for that user. The big problem that arose from this tool is the fact that criminals could use it to locate people however this was disproved due to the fact that the same occurrences were already possible.
In an article by Stephanie Buck about things students should never do on social media, she explains how the smallest little mistake on your social media could have a huge impact on the rest of your life. One of the biggest mistakes Stephanie talks about is the posting of illegal activities which in my personal experience I've seen too much of throughout my years on all social media. This mistake followed by online bullying, posting of confidential information, threatening violence and of course unprofessional public profiles. After years of seeing virtually all of the red flags talked about in this article, I've lost hope for a huge portion of friends and acquaintances on my social media. There will come a day when they apply for college or a job or even a career and I can only hope that they're smart enough to remove all of the inappropriate content from their digital footprints.
After writing so much code in java as a computer science major, I wanted to expand my knowledge and learn other programming languages. I just couldn't seem to find any website or app that worked for me that was easy enough to comprehend and use but still gave a good lesson on the language. That is until I found 'Learn Programming' by Jan Tursky on the Google Play Store. Jan Tursky is a young, security-oriented android developer who offers about four years’ experience designing, implementing, integrating, testing and supporting applications for mobile and tablet devices on the Android platform. I can honestly say that this is the single greatest programming language app for a multitude of languages from the basic Java to the more advanced Ruby or Android languages and over 70 others. Not only does this app give you all the information to learn these languages but you can even take a quiz to test your knowledge of each language you are learning. There's also a sandbox mode to write your own code and display it in the browser. The app is fully customizable and an incredible tool for any level of coding skill and not to mention its completely free with an option to remove the ads and support the development of the app.
The last thing we talked about in class was chapter one of ‘Untangling the Web’. This passage explained how helpful it has been to be able to gather sources, share, and store them through a singular means, which is technology. One example is a site called Symbaloo which allows users to share information with one another. It can be customized, allowing people to add an address of a website, a title, and customization of the design of the title (color and icon). With this effortless site sharing data has never been easier.
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