#thing 16

This week’s Thing was on “Your Digital Footprint.” It was a very informative and insightful Thing. While I am aware of my digital footprint, I am probably not careful as I should be. Hickey mentioned the need to be careful of what you post on social media, e.g. on Facebook and Twitter, not only because of repercussions for current and future employment but also in regards to defamation. This was an important point that I had heard many times and something I try my best to follow, even though I can be very difficult to not to get engaged in certain (sometimes controversial) subjects or arguments on social media. I was vaguely aware of geographic locations in photos but not to the extent that I make sure that that information is stripped from any of my photos (This is definitely something I am going to remedy with immediate effect!) I am not that familiar with Flickr so I had not realised that they could ask you to agree to sublicensing your uploaded images to a commercial partner.

The task for this week was to look through a list of points in relation to our digital footprint to be aware of them and how we can protect ourselves.

Be very careful giving out personal information to websites that you are unfamiliar with. Yes, I am careful about this and if I have not heard of the website I try to find out what I can about it before giving out any personal information.

Do not respond to phishing emails. Remember, Banks or Paypal, etc will never ask you to send personal details or to “Click Here” to login. Only ever call them on a number you trust or login into your account on a trusted computer on a secure internet connection that you initiated. Phishing emails are so annoying! I’ve had a one or two of near misses before where I’ve almost clicked on a link but thankful I realised that they were phishing emails before I did.

Don’t download illegal software - apart from the legal ramifications - quite often, this software will have backdoors programmed in to allow access to your device or information at a later stage. I’m not particularly IT orientated so even if I was of a mind to download illegal software I would be too nervous that it would cause havoc on my laptop.

Be careful when connecting to the internet when out and about. For example, a coffee shop, or bar or airport waiting room. Make sure that you are connecting to a legitimate hot-spot and that it is encrypted. In the public domain there is potential for fake wi-fi hotspots to be set up, such as “freeStudentWiFi” that could steal your information. I am quite cautious about this and try to always make sure that I connect to a legitimate hot-spot. If I am in anyway unsure then I will use my data.

Do read T&C’s of the apps you download so that you can give “informed consent.” I do try and skim-read the T&C’s but they are always so long and filled with so much legal jargon that I give up ½ to ¾’s of the way through.

Be aware online of what you post, both from a defamatory perspective and regarding giving out too much information about yourself or your family. As I mentioned above I try my best to avoid getting into online arguments and I stop and think before I post anything. As a general rule, when in doubt ‘Just keep scrolling!’

Educate yourself about the basics of the internet and how it works. This will allow you to become more aware of the risks out there and how to mitigate them if needed. This is something that I definitely need to work on. This Thing provides the first step in educating myself about the internet and how it works.

Do use an alphanumeric password, i.e. characters, numbers a special character. Do not use the same password or a very close derivation for all your accounts. Remember, if I can get access to your email account, I will be able to reset most of your online accounts and take control of them. Change your passwords reasonably often. I always use alphanumeric passwords; however, I’m not the best at regularly changing them. I have tried before but I find that it gets very confusing very quickly.

Finally, enjoy yourself online but always remember the pictures or content you post could potentially end up in a newspaper / in an ad campaign / looking back at you in a job interview, etc... So be prudent and careful about your digital footprint. I try to be careful, but I suppose a person can’t be too careful, especially about your digital footprint!

Dropbox is a very useful tool that I don't use often enough.  I like that it mimics the look and feel of a computer's operating system, with folders and icons.  It made it very intuitive to use.  Here is a link to the file I shared with Suzanne:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/33yvx1ex0y4y48h/CALA%20table.jpg

In the past, I have used Google Docs as a way to share files.  I have also relied heavily on email attachments.  Dropbox offers a better solution that sharing files via email, because I am not clogging up anyone's inbox with huge files.  I find the interface to be more pleasing than Google Drive, but if I am sharing a file with someone that I am collaborating with, I would probably go with Drive.

I could use Dropbox to share files with myself, as I move between my office computer and the Ref desk.  It would be a helpful tool to use when uploading conference files, such as the PowerPoint presentation Monica and I used at TLA.  That way, we could easily share it with people who attended our session.  Although there are other ways to share such things, such as SlideShare. Just this morning I used Dropbox to share some files from the TEL training.  I hope to use it more frequently.