(Smart Insights, 2013)
Digital identity refers to the presence developed online of one’s self. Jake Stroup (n.d) an identity theft expert from About.com says that “Our social digital identity can be spread out over many different websites, smart phones, and can bleed over into our other digital identities as well”. Simply what Stroup (n.d) says is that what is put on the internet, no matter what passwords you think you have protecting it, you are creating yourself an identity that can be accessed by others. This identity can alter your real life identity too. Shea Allen, a news reporter from the US, created a blog in 2011. She only blogged a total of 10 times before 2013 when she made a post about some of her cheeky confessions as a new reporter titled “No Apologies: Confessions of a Red Headed Reporter”. The post included a number of ‘cheeky’ confessions, including “I’ve taken naps in the news car” and “I’m frightened of old people and I refuse to do stories involving them or the places they reside” (Shea Allen, 2013). Three days after the post was published online Allen was fired by her employer the ABC.
Every other week there are articles on the news about employees being let go over posts they made online. Cynthia Boris (2013), who writes for Payscale.com, said in an article “Photos of a wild party might not be a problem if you work at a club, but if you’re a pre-school teacher they’re grounds for dismissal”(2013), when discussing employers wanting to protect their brand. As pre-service teachers in the digital world we will have to face issues that teacher did not have to 20 years ago. We have to actively participate in keeping a ‘clean’ imagine online remembering to only posts things we’d be happy to show our students and employers.
References
Smart Insights. (2013). Digital fingerprint [Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/a-practical-guide-to-website-personalisation/attachment/digital_fingerpint-2/
Stroup, J. (n.d). Your Social Digital Identity. from http://idtheft.about.com/od/DigitalIdentity/a/Your-Social-Digital-Identity.htm
Carroll, L. (2014). TV reporter fired over blog ‘didn’t think it would come to this’. Today News.
Allen, S. (2013). No Apologies: Confessions of a red headed reporter. Retrieved from http://sheaallensays.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/no-apologies-confessions-of-red-headed.html
Boris, C. (2013). TV Reporter Fired Over Blog Post – When Personal Becomes Public. Retrieved from http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/08/tv-reporter-fired-over-blog-post—when-personal-becomes-public
teachinginadigitalworld4 