Nathan Yee's Finding Strength Through Pain: Becoming a better digital citizen out of embarrassment

Thanks for dropping by my blog. My name is Nathan Yee and through the following months I will be reflecting on my place in the digital world. I will be challenging myself to see beyond my daily lifestyle and interaction with the "net" by viewing my contribution at a holistic level. I hope that the class, Learning in Digital Contexts, will expand my knowledge of digital environments and its place in my skill trait. Who knows, maybe this class will add knowledge and competence that will strengthen my resumé!
This week I have been challenged by the concept of a "digital footprint".

What is it? 

What does it mean? 

How does it affect me? 

These are all questions I asked right away before doing follow-up research. Well, I can honestly say that trying to recall all of my past posts and my younger internet identity is very embarrassing, hurtful, sad, and reminiscent of special moments in my life. Right here for example, is a picture of my ex-girlfriend and I on Barrie's waterfront.

I was young, naïve, and hopeful. So much has happened in the 5 years since breaking up. Like forgetting that we made a blog together on this very website, which I only discovered when creating the blog for this class. I am sad to see that I invested so much time and resources into something that did not pan out. But that might just be the case with learning and becoming more experienced with life. This brings me to comment on Jenny Luca's "Six Reasons Why Kids Should Know How To Blog" on Tina Barseghian's 2011 blog post. Experiences forge us and help to challenge what we post on the internet. If it is something we will regret or we see having no benefit to us in the future, maybe it is not meant to be posted. Can we ask ourselves if these (sometimes) impulsive posts add to a positive digital footprint? On the other hand, this may be useful in my digital citizenship portfolio. Having my first girlfriend and being able to reflect on the impact it had on my life is valuable as a learning experience. Maybe having a "positive digital footprint" is one where we take embarrassing or hurtful searches, posts, and general online existence and use them to forge who we want to be. To learn from out mistakes, and make the changes in our online attitude to benefit ourselves, our friends, and the online community as a whole. 

According to the "The Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship" I have deduced that I lack knowledge and understanding in both 7. Digital Rights and Responsibilities and 9. Digital Security. This is due to the trickiness that is behind services that I use, for example: Netflix, Facebook, Apple, etc. All of these web giants have been targets and producers of privacy and security issues that I have signed up for based out of naïvety. I wish to learn more about these issues so I can better prepare myself and be an educated digital citizen.

If I want to be a better online citizen (which I do), there are steps needed to be taken. I find myself with a wealth of resources. Netiquette is a perfect beginning point because its ability for me to identify tangible attitudes that avoid bullying, are compassionate towards many cultural and religious backgrounds, and just support what the internet was made for: sharing.

I am excited where this class will lead me and my classmates in the weeks to come. I challenge you to comment on my concept of creating a positive digital footprint, and the process of constantly developing and striving to be better through experiences that are not always positive. Can it be effective? Do you have any stories of becoming stronger through pain?

Thanks for reading,

Nathan