Comments on: Fear of Googled Past

By: Steve Ransom

Steve Ransom — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:41:20 +0000

Yes… rules are neither clear nor fixed. I think employers are finding it quite easy to dig up dirt that appears on the first page of a google search… they often don’t have to try all that hard. Hence, the many companies that have emerged under the umbrella of “digital reputation management”. I think the rule of thumb, “Just use your head!!” goes a long way here ;-)

By: Alan Levine aka CogDog

Alan Levine aka CogDog — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:49:57 +0000

Thanks for your balanced comment Steve. I was being a tad facetious, and my post is meant more as an opening for this kind of discussion because I hear people more talking out of fear/restraint and I wanted to lob something in the opposite direction. I would agree that there is a lot of work to do to help people of all ages understand the ramifications of what they post online.

At the same time, for potential employers to pursue every shred of personal detail they can find online, and pass judgment on it without giving individuals the opportunity to respon to allegations is, well chicken shit.

It is certainly not a space of clear understanding or firm rules.

By: Steve Ransom

Steve Ransom — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:04:08 +0000

Alan,
I agree with you in spirit, but the reality is that folks are putting their professional lives in jeopardy all the time by their thoughtless stupidity that they see necessary to share online. I agree that our distant past should remain just that… our past. However, there is no mistaking the reality that we all make judgements based on the information that we have… regardless of whether those judgements are sound/accurate or not.

I would agree that one’s current actions that can be observed (on the job) are much more powerful in determining one’s merit and character than a laundry trail, but given the option to post digital dirt/nonsense or digital evidence of knowledge products/skills/abilities, I would strongly encourage students to shoot for the latter…. and to consider the implications of the former. Funky choice of clothing (love the pants, by the way… oh yeah, back then they were “slacks”) is quite tame compared to what naive folks (not just kids) are openly sharing on line. When we were younger, there was no option for sharing our stupidity for the world to see (thank goodness). It is one thing to, as Downes puts it, “pretending people live lives of sanctity. Nobody does, and we should stop pretending.” However, one also doesn’t have to make public every thoughtless or inappropriate comment, photo, video, thought,…. in the spirit of fun.

There is still room for some digital restraint in this conversation.

By: CogDogBlog » Falsebook

CogDogBlog » Falsebook — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:24:19 +0000

[...] already blogged about this fear, and how ridiculous the concept is if you spin it around to the suggestion– it thus says we [...]

By: 10 things about EdTech the Sage aint sayin’ «

10 things about EdTech the Sage aint sayin’ « — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:44:01 +0000

[...] ‘design’ of their profile though a network of websites represents them. Most live in fear of a Googled past as Alan Lavine put it. You have to be here, you have to have this, you have to … blah. [...]

By: Scott Leslie

Scott Leslie — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:10:36 +0000

Do you still have those pants? I so want a pair of those pants. They really compliment this pair. (This is a meta-example - it's not just blog posts you have to worry about, but comments as well! I am a master of distributed, loosely-coupled career suicide. Seriously, some of us do not need any urging in this regards!) Scott Leslie’s latest blog post...xtimeline - Explore and Create Free Timelines

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:23:12 +0000

We're creating portfolios as part of a class I'm teaching for future teachers and the conversation about including a picture came up and then went quickly into what kind of picture you'd want there. They'd seen the picture I chose for the portfolio I was forced to make for a program I took. They laughed at it and wondered why I'd choose that picture. My point was I chose that picture deliberately. I put some things online in the hopes that they'll keep me from getting a job that I think I want but don't really*. I don't want to be hired by humorless people who don't really want the real me. I'd be doing both of us a disservice and likely end very unhappy. *the picture is a weak example, but zombie vocabulary, most anything I do with Jim Groom and a few other things will probably add up to a missed job or two- or at least I hope so Tom’s latest blog post...Can we all just get along?

By: Pyesetz the Dog

Pyesetz the Dog — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:06:02 +0000

I note that this post has a greater density of dog-metaphors than your usual. One of the things that people like about dogs is how unembarrassed they are. Yes, please, give us your "drunken stupidity stories", "Cars wrapped around poles", "Badly acted roles in terrible plays", "unreadable papers", and "Badly timed investments". Because I think you'll find it difficult to avoid barking while telling such stories. Example. Pyesetz the Dog’s latest blog post...News of the week

By: Benjie Gillam

Benjie Gillam — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:08:08 +0000

Sounds like you would enjoy reading Scroogled by Cory Doctorow, if you haven’t already. http://craphound.com/?p=1902 free to download or you can buy it in a book store.

By: Jenny Luca

Jenny Luca — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:25:41 +0000

Well said Alan. To err is human, to forgive divine. Isn't that how it goes? I hope this will be the case for the students we teach today. By the way, can totally empathise with your 1970's fashion sense. Have a few choice photos of my own in the albums somewhere, but I'm pretty sure Google hasn't tracked them down! Jenny Luca’s latest blog post...Sleepout for Schools