Everyone’s life changes, which is why it’s probably not a great idea to get a tattoo of your boy/girlfriend’s name on your arm (or face on your chest) in the first week of dating. Kind of awkward after the breakup, and might provoke some tricky questions when you find someone new. It’s common sense.
So why don’t we think about those pictures of us and our friends blotto on Granville Street last night the same way? They might not be the best images to represent us tomorrow, and could provoke some tricky questions from prospective employers, grad-school admissions boards or, of course, our families. (You know your mom’s on Facebook, right?)
What exactly is a digital tattoo?
We often think of the internet as ephemeral, like everything we say’ll disappear tomorrow under the flood of new stuff showing up in your Facebook feed. The problem is that’s not entirely true. The stuff you say, post, or share online, including images, videos, and personal data is (or can be) public and forever. So while it might seems harmless to post videos of you being hilariously drunk now, it’s kind of like getting a tattoo when you’re hilariously drunk. Neither ink on flesh nor videos on YouTube will magically disappear forever just before your potential employers start Googling you (which they will). You have to be mindful when you do things (or at least do your best to clean up after yourself later) because the Internet is public and forever, like a tattoo on your face.
Digital Tattoo is a UBC project designed to make students more aware of their presence on the bare-all, privacy-theft, market-driven internet. From social network privacy settings to the trustworthiness of web sources for research to increasing your (positive) online profile for potential employers, the Digital Tattoo website is a treasure-trove of valuable information, tutorials and resources. Their big lesson is “Think Before You Ink.”
NetworkEducation
Today’s lesson will be provided by the Digital Tattoo website.
- Go to Digital Tattoo.
- Take the Assess Yourself quiz on the right side of the home page. Review their suggestions on how to clean up your online act.
- Click on Protect. Read the info on this page.
- Click on Adjust Your Privacy Settings under Protect Yourself on the right menu. Complete the tutorial.
- Check out the Useful Resources and New and Noteworthy links. Follow the one that takes your fancy and see what it has to say about internet privacy.
- Select another tutorial of your own choosing from the Protect section or any other available major section (Connect, Learn, Work).
- Watch this short video from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada:
- Think about your digital tattoo and the information on this site. Are you a little freaked out? Do you think you will change some of your online habits? Which ones? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
Links
from Digital Tattoo:
- Top Ten Things You Can Do to Protect Your Privacy (It may be from 2008, but it’s still all good advice.)
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada – Identity Theft and You
- Social networks: after privacy, beyond friendship
This post was originally created for the Digital Media Project, a joint project of UBC School of Library, Archival and Information Studies and the Irving K Barber Learning Centre. It has been modified from its original form.
3 replies on “What’s Your Digital Tattoo?”
Just to update this post a bit, a German company has developed software to add expiry dates to your photos so you might not have to worry as much about creating a No Cameras! policy. Here’s the story from Yahoo!/AFP.
[…] adjust your privacy settings, ANYONE can read what you write. ANYONE. See our tutorial called What’s your Digital Tattoo? to learn more about what you can be doing to control your online […]
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