Talk:David Schindler

Annabel Allen's Comments:

Hi David, this article did a good job of covering your digital presence from the persona you hope to project on the internet, to information that may represent you. The order of your sections flowed well and your voice really came through in the writing. I also found interesting your points about how the internet can be both impermanent and permanent and how little control we have over it. My grandpa's obituary also turned up in my searches and since he was never an internet user, it is probably the only thing online that shows a little bit about who he was as a person. I found it kind of comforting that this tribute to him could be lasting on the internet in a way that was attached to me.

Overall you made some good conclusions about your data and how it compared to what you expected and what you actually wanted shared about you. It seems you have a pretty good handle on your online identity. In a revision, I would be interested in you elaborating a bit more on how you feel this current online representation of yourself compares to who you really are. Additionally, the section "Googling My Name and Town" could perhaps have been broken up into two sections: one on the disappearance of data about you that you expected to be permanent, and another on the way the appearances of your dad in your searches of yourself showed permanence you may have not expected.

Review from Rachel Kaufman-Levine:

I really enjoyed reading your data profile! I especially liked how you chose to divide the content on the page. Doing so made the piece flow well and helped to keep me engaged as I was reading. My only suggestion regarding the structure would be to consider making the "Overview" section first instead of "My Real Identity" as it seems to make more sense that way. Something else that I really liked about your profile is that when you googled yourself you searched both your name as well as your name and town. This adds depth that would not have otherwise been there, specifically the part about your dad, which I thought was the strongest part of your profile. However, I agree with Annabel's suggestion to break this section into two sections.

I also found your conclusion quite interesting. In my profile, I talk about how I don't like that my unique last name makes it incredibly easy to find all of my data online and not have it be mixed up with someone else's data. To me, I find this scary because I would prefer to keep my identity private online and leave it up to me who gets access to my data and who doesn't. It seems that you sort of feel this way too based on the discomfort you expressed in the "Googling My Full Name" section when you discussed the voting registration website. I agree that it's cool to see people's content that they put out on the Web as well as news articles etc that discuss their accomplishments. What troubles me, though, is that the information that always comes up first for me when I search myself on google is websites that I didn't know about that contain my personal information that I didn't want to be public information. With this, I think it could be beneficial for you to discuss the difference in your feelings about your private information being public and your feelings about being able to see information that people choose to publicize as well as news articles about their accomplishments.

Comments from Evon Yao

I really enjoyed reading your profile. It was a thorough and comprehensive search. I also liked how you touched on some themes that I didn't find in most of our other peers' pages. This really set your statement apart from the rest of the class to me. For a revision, I think it would be great if you could expand on some of the themes you mention, particularly about digital archiving, what lasts throughout history, and what doesn't. You start to mention this a little bit, like when you said "It is interesting how the internet can change so drastically over the years," and I think you could definitely elaborate on this further.

For the "Social Media Use" section, I thought there was too much emphasis on the content you found logged into your own accounts. It was also unclear if these accounts popped up or not and if so, under what search query. I think you should clarify this more for your revision. Overall, I'd like to see more from your data broker profile/what one would find from an anonymous search (meaning not logged into one of your accounts) as the social media content felt too dominant and not super helpful.

"Our history is digital, but the fact that it is up to a publication to keep its articles and maintain their archives is definitely an easy way for history to be lost. That history can show the accomplishments of the community." This line really stuck out and resonated with me. Again, I think this would be a great theme to elaborate more on, distinguishes your profile from the crowd, and gives you a narrative to follow.

Overall, I found your writing eloquent and your own voice definitely came through. "Digital profiles tie us to our family in a way that lasts past them." is also a line that stuck out to me. I would like to see more of this authenticity and don't be afraid to play up these themes/incorporating your own personal story some more. Great job!