November 10, 2022
https://www.cybsafe.com/blog/is-your-digital-footprint-making-you-prone-to-attacks/
When I was in grade school there wasn’t much talk about digital footprint because the internet and social media was still so new. We were told to be careful what we put on the internet because future employers could see it. These days there is a lot more emphasis around online safety, it’s important to be conscious of your digital footprint, what information you put on the internet, and how it might be used.
On average, parents will post more than 1,000 images of their children onlinebefore they’re old enough to have their own social media accounts, according to a new report on the digital lives of kids. And by 18, those kids will have created upward of 70,000 posts themselves.
Ramona Pringle, CBC News https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/kids-digital-footprint-personal-data-1.4826929
A lot of kids will have a digital footprint before they even get to kindergarten; being on the internet before they even know what the internet is. Since this is different to previous generations there is little known on how this will effect children and society long term. That is why it’s important to children about their digital footprint at a young age.
As younger generations continue to experience the trials and errors of life both publicly and permanently, how we assess digital footprint must evolve
Jules Terpak, Growing Digital ttps://julesterpak.substack.com/p/lifelong-digital-footprint
For me as a teacher it’s important that I help my students understand and protect their digital footprint. For this reason teachers have to be careful when posting students’ work online because, while it may be helpful for another educator to see, if you’re not careful it can cause a safety and privacy issue. Some things to considering before posting a student’s work online are:
- Copyright & Ownership: the student owns their work.
- Identifiability, content and risks: ensure work contains no identifiable information (ex. metadata, file name, location)
- Storage Location & Risks: consider risk of any online posting (ex. wider sharing, non-canadian housed servers, US patriot act implications, etc)
- Explicit informed consent & risks: legal & ethical responsibility to get informed consent (consider that word – informed… do parents/guardians understand the risks?)
- Safety and protection plan: is there a plan to respond to an e-safety incident?
- Media waiver (likely) non-coverage: consult with school Principal
These considerations and more were found at https://scarfedigitalsandbox.teach.educ.ubc.ca/privacy-protecting-your-students/
Digital footprints aren’t all bad, this blog is part of mine and with it I can interact with the teaching community, learn more, and strengthen connections. Digital presence can be powerful, it’s just a matter of making educated decisions about what is in your footprint.