Talk:Parth Patel

Hi Parth,

I want to begin by saying that I really enjoyed reading your page. I liked the way you introduced the topic, which you did by explaining how you have been around technology for much of your life as opposed to immediately jumping into discussing the data about yourself that you found. After this, I think you did a good job of explaining the extent of which your personal information is online, and I feel as though I got a good understanding of your data identity from you explained about your data broker searches, along with your Google searches. I also really liked how you discussed your anonymity in different parts to try to find out why there is not much information about yourself online, in addition to the pros and cons of this. I believe the central theme of your page is your overall online anonymity, and I think you do a good job of staying on topic throughout the writing.

Going forward with your revision, I believe it would be beneficial to attempt to introduce some of the readings that we did in class that relate to the points you make throughout your post. These will help strengthen arguments or assumptions that you make. For example, the Shoemaker article on self exposure could be valuable when you discuss your attempts to keep your online anonymity. I also believe relating your discoveries to the topic of ethics would help improve your post. Maybe discuss the ethical dilemmas caused by data brokers while using your analysis as support for the argument? Overall, good job!

-Kyle Gericke

Sam Lu's Comments

Parth,

I think you did a solid job of introducing your data footprint and what types of information are available about you online. For the next draft, I think it might be helpful to focus a little bit less on the evidence and a bit more on the analysis — for example, instead of only mentioning the number of search results that came up pertaining to you, delving a little bit further into how that might impact your social media usage and/or how results from older accounts might have reflected your different usage habits from when you were younger. You mention that you've had a Facebook profile since 2008, but don't really indicate how your interaction with Facebook has changed (which I assume it has —  12 years is a long time!). In addition, consider adding a few more pictures that aren't stock images.

It might also be helpful to be more specific when possible — in particular, details about you that can only be applied to your own experience (all of us are doing this assignment, after all! Most likely everyone who has a Linkedin will have their full educational history, name, and location on their profile. What could you say about Linkedin's impact on your life that few other people could?). For example, when you talk about signing up for rewards, you mention that you provide burner emails, which is a great specific detail that allows readers to conceptualize what you mean when you say you're careful about putting information online.

Hi Parth,

I really liked your article! It was a really great read and I liked how you talked about your fear of data broker sites and your attempt to stay anonymous by limiting your online presence. I have a few suggestions that you can use for your future revision on your post. I noticed a few grammar errors that you could easily fix with a quick read through. Next, something you could try to focus more on could be a theme. You were talking about staying private quite a bit and maybe you can expand on this to try to make a theme more clear. Overall, I really like the use of imagery and how you mentioned your common name protects you from being found. Good job!

-Samarth Sarin