My Adventures with Cybersleuthing

Cybersleuthing An Educator

Photo by Peggy_Marco on Pixabay

This week I chose to cybersleuth a close friend of mine who happens to be an educator.

Things that came up about Megan while doing a search:

• Article on the University of Regina Education News site (2016)
  • Megan Honoured by her Team with a Dedication Award. The article explains that Megan was on the U of R dance team and was given this award as someone “who has contributed their time and efforts as a committed team player and goes above and beyond what is expected of them”
• Sask Today News Article, Parkland College Awards Scholarships (2011)
  • Megan won a $1000 dollar scholarship to be applied toward her studies in Education.
• “X” Account
  • I wasn’t able to explore her account as I don’t have an X account but from the write up below the link on Google, it looked like it was an account primarily used for her classroom
• Instagram Account
  • This account is for her classroom, as it is named “Pearce in Primary”. Things I learned from this account are:
    • She used to teach Grade 3 and 4 in Saskatchewan
    • She is now a Kindergarten teacher in Ontario
    • Seesaw Certified Educator
    • She has a Teachers Pay Teachers shop
    • She has included various “Highlight” collections grouped into categories, which include philosophy, management, books, our class, art, Seesaw, TPT and other resources.
    • From the posts Megan seems to be an inclusive teacher who has a desire to keep learning and growing with her students. She also seems to have fun and partake in spirit days. I got the impression that besides teaching students the academic skills, she is actively helping the students build a positive mindset, build their resilience and overall helping to develop strong character traits. While creating a safe environment for the students to express their unique identities.

If I didn’t know Megan and was basing my judgement solely on her digital identity. I would say that she is a person who throughout the years has shown a passion for teaching and a drive for learning. I would say she maintains a professional persona and as an employer I would definitely be wanting to interview her for a position as I feel she would be a great asset to any team! On the flip side, if I was a parent looking for information on my child’s teacher, I would have great confidence in her based on her digital footprint.

Digital Identity

Photo by Anemone123 on Pixabay

When discussing our digital identity, I think an important thing to acknowledge and understand is that our online identity long outlives us. Our identity online is permanent and doesn’t go away when peoples’ memories fade. This can be a positive or a negative viewpoint depending on the story your online identity tells about you. In the case of my friend Megan, her digital identity showcases nothing but favourable information about her. However, for some people that is not always the case. This week when I was watching the TED Talk by Monica Lewinsky, it took me a few minutes in to realize who she was. Sure throughout my lifetime I have heard jokes made at her expense but outside the context of the Bill Clinton scandal I never knew much about her. I didn’t know her last name, I didn’t know what she looked like and I knew nothing about her true character. All I knew of her was by a mistake she had made when she was in her early 20s and as Monica points out, who hasn’t made a mistake in their 20’s that they are not ashamed of?  She made an error in judgement, like so many of us do, but unfortunately her mistake is out there for the whole world to know about for an infinite amount of time, generation after generation can continue to judge and ridicule.  Monica goes on to discuss how our access to the online world has made it so easy for sharing of one’s personal information to the public without consent, context nor compassion. The sharing of specific information without context, consent or compassion can have detrimental impacts on one’s digital identity, which directly impacts their “real” life. Even if consent is given for sharing of information, context and intent are important factors to consider and often get left out in online spaces. For example, with Justine Sacco’s tweet that got her fired. Everyone assumed the worst, but as Jon Ronson points out in his video, what if the tweet was meant to be a joke at the expense of American society and not taken seriously. This brings in the third element Monica talked about with needing compassion. When we lack compassion, we are lacking the ability to see the intent behind words or actions and automatically assuming a character flaw. As Katia Hildebrandt mentions in her blog, “Identity, digital or otherwise, is a complex and slippery thing, and judging another person harshly without considering the full context is neither fair nor productive.”  When we think about digital identity and the outcomes of cyber-vigilantism/cyber-shaming are the consequences worth the price one person has to pay in order for others to get a simple laugh in their day.  Is the money made from this public humiliation worth more than another person’s life? These are important question to reflect upon.