Digital Identity: Personal vs. Professional

This week's topics and resources have got me thinking more about my digital identity and how it may be separated in terms of personal and professional realms. I also saw a common theme in some of the resources around shaping online identities, authenticity or being constrained by platform designs and social implications. I can see how these intricate considerations and factors play a role in how I'm able to represent myself and how my community represents themselves online, but it’s fascinating to look into how exactly this works and the ways we can strengthen this awareness, especially professionally. As described in the article, “Dear Internet! Who am I?”, “The [digital professional identity] DPI is dynamic just like the identity itself, strongly influenced by how we see ourselves and the way others and the society perceives us, based on our online interactions” (Jawed et al., 2019, p. 34). This proves that our digital identity is very much co-constructed, even in the professional eye. It also reinforces the importance of intentionality when navigating online spaces, especially in professional contexts where things like credibility and ethics are at play. Understanding just how fluid my professional digital identity can be makes me able to better reflect on the different medias and platforms I use on a regular basis and how this use or interactions can contribute to lasting online impressions. For example, I like to share pictures of friends and family or share funny reels online, but these don't need to be a part of my professional identity as they are intended for those close to me. This also contributes to understanding how our information is being monitored, tracked, and shared by the majority of platforms. This is highlighted in White and Le Cornu (2011), stating that, “we need to recognize that our online engagements leave traces that can define us.”

As a future educator, these are extremely important pieces to consider and understand to a fuller extent in order to build and maintain a boundary between identities. As Wilson, Wood, and MacNeill (2019) explain, “how one is perceived in digital spaces becomes a significant part of professional identity development.” To manage this perception, in a sense, I like to keep personal accounts private, profile pictures without my face, and no captions with personal information, thinking about thoughtful curation online, and sometimes checking what appears when I search my name. As of now, my WordPress site is my main public professional media. Even these little practices can help ensure your digital footprint supports long-term career goals or more personal ones!

Breaking Down Digital Visitors & Residents

When we delve into the idea of “digital natives and immigrants” brought on by Marc Prensky or the "visitor and resident" model by David White, we can reveal individuals' fluencies and use of media and social platforms, which may hold different levels of visibility and personal connection. Digital natives represent those who grew up with technology and media, including myself, using many of these platforms that can be graphed like mine above. I will break this down for clarity, as my engagement and purpose are mapped here from Visitor (Invisable) to Resident (highly visible), then from personal to institutional. As White emphasizes, “We’re living out a portion of our lives online”(White, 2013), and this graph demonstrates how. From the creation of this graph, I realized how visible some of my personal contributions online are, including on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Nomadstable. This made me realize that these contributions may be more visible than I'd like to imagine. Even private social media is still public in many ways, especially when you open it up to people you may not be as close to, like classmates or coworkers, to create group chats ect. This visual better allows me to understand the spectrum and reality of how tied these platforms are to both the personal and institutional parts of my life, and honestly, made me realize that a lot of media I consume is connected to institutional work and research. Again as Wilson et al. (2019) suggests and many of the articles note, “digital identity is not static, but rather an evolving construct influenced by interactions, expectations, and context”, and I believe this is especially relevant to teachers, where professional development and digital presence can be increasingly intertwined through shared lesson plans, networking, online blogs, ect so I beleive my intitutional / work related media use will expand.

Related Resources:

This resource could be used by teachers in the classroom to share similar topics from this week. It offers a collection of grade-specific projects designed to teach digital citizenship in engaging, age-appropriate ways. From early elementary to high school, the site provides creative lesson ideas that emphasize responsibility, safety, and ethical behavior online.

This is a well rounded and straight forward animated video helping explain the concept of a digital footprint which could be used in the classroom but also helped certain aspects from this week click for me. It exemplifies how online contributions, like posts, comments, and shared content can leave that lasting trace and shape your digital identity over time.

Common sense.org: Lastly, this page provides lessons, videos, and teaching strategies to help students understand how their online actions contribute to their digital identity. It covers topics like online self-presentation, personal data, and managing a positive digital footprint.

This weeks Module 2