In an effort to remind myself of the variety of online communities I've been involved in over the years, I did a vanity search on google. Ouch, the earliest stuff I can find is 20 years old. I got started on US patents lists in the late 80's and followed that quickly with some Grateful Dead newsgroups. I've been a member of and officer in the Engineering Libraries Division of the American Society of Engineering Education. I was on a committee to look into rebuilding universities in Afghanistan. I wrote articles for the Engineering Schools newsletter at Purdue and for professional library journals.
I did a teleconference out of the College of DuPage (during the winter) and gave a virtual presentation at a conference in Norway. I've organized, moderated and presented at national conferences. I designed and delivered an online course at Purdue for 8 semesters.
All of this is out on the public web and I could live with any and all of it being studied.
I've also got a page on a website where I am listed as Sheila C, there is lots of very personal info about me on the page that I kept up for 2-3 years. I left it there because someone in the community might find it useful. I would not mind it being used because I believe that it would be difficult, but not impossible, to trace it back to me.
Otherwise, if my name is attached to it, I don't mind it being viewed, or read, or studied because I consider the web a public space.
more later. sheila
4 comments:
What if that very personal info WAS traced to you? What if it was quoted out of context?
I do worry about things I've said 10-20 years ago (or pictures ala national geographic on the wayback machine!)....not so much about saying them, but losing the context that was the impetus for the utterance.
Sounds like you've had one heck of a life...and now I'll be surprised if SOMEONE doesn't do a search on "Sheila C".....
Well, this is a course on digital research methods right?! Sheila it sounds like the past 20 years (at a minimum) have been very interesting.
I think that it is great that you do not mind your information on the Web being studied. The interesting thing about this information though is that if it is public information, the author of the information may not have a say in how the information is used and/or what research it goes to support. This is very concerning to me.
Sheila,
You've sparked my interest! I've read several blog entries back to back, but I'm seeing a common thread that we need to approach communities from the standpoint of would researching this community offend us AND also who might the research offend. While you weren't particularly addressing this issue, I got from your post that what you have posted you don't mind still being available online for others to view.
By the way, you have had some remarkable experiences. I must admit that I had some eye-openers the first few weeks of this course with thoughts of "I hadn't thought about XYZ before." Also, everyone's personal sharing helps us all in our journey to be sensitive when conducting digital research.
I recently looked up a niece of a friend of mine who runs an art gallery in the UK. I contacted her father to make sure she was still there, but I initially got all the information I had online. When we finally got to visit, she had no idea that there were pictures of her on the art gallery's website. I found this interesting. I told her that all I had to do was type her name and London art gallery and immediately found her.
I think we all should do vanity searches--call it responsible online self-analysis!
Debra
Oh I definitely want to search for Sheila C now! What an interesting e-trail you have. Like you, I'm ok with people googling me or looking at my public posts. I prefer to be anonymous, but I suppose it's too late for that now.
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