Difference between revisions of "Alex Wang"

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−	[[File:Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 10.46.33 PM.png|400px|thumbnail|right|The results I get when I google 'Alex Wang.' Clearly it isn't me.]]Unlike many of my peers who have grown up well connected in the social media world, I don't really have many social media accounts. For the few platforms I've created accounts on, I've made sure to distance the online profile/person I created from the person I am in real life. For instance, I've had a Twitter account since high school that is used solely for sports updates and an occasional laugh. Understanding the importance of online privacy, I have always made sure to reveal as little as possible about who I am. Since entering college, my social media presence has increased, but only by a little. This increase has primarily come from realizing my need for a professional presence online, a need which has been met by the creation of my LinkedIn account.	+	[[File:Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 10.46.33 PM.png|400px|thumbnail|right|The results I get when googling 'Alex Wang.' Clearly it isn't me.]]Unlike many of my peers who have grown up well connected in the social media world, I don't have many social media accounts. Understanding the importance of online privacy, I've made sure to distance the online profile/person I created from the person I am in real life. Since entering college, my social media presence has only increased a little. This increase has come from realizing my need for a professional presence online, a need which has been met by the creation of my LinkedIn account.
	In order to discover what information about me is available online, I've spent a decent amount of time searching for myself on the web. Below, I summarize and analyze my findings.		In order to discover what information about me is available online, I've spent a decent amount of time searching for myself on the web. Below, I summarize and analyze my findings.
	==<b> Thoughts Before Searching</b>==		==<b> Thoughts Before Searching</b>==
−	Before starting the project, I already had predictions on what the results would be like. As 'Alex Wang' is a very common name, I predicted that I would have a tough time finding myself based solely on my name. Furthermore, as I am not well connected with social media, there would be far fewer results than what someone who used it religiously would have. Finally, I believed my online data identity would be incomplete and inauthentic. This is primarily because I view people as dynamic beings who cannot be represented completely by an online profile. Likewise, as people are always changing, it is basically impossible for everything online to be up to date.	+	Before starting the project, I already had predictions on what the results would be like. As 'Alex Wang' is a very common name, I predicted that I would have a tough time finding myself based solely on my name. Furthermore, as I am not well connected in the online world, I expected to receive far fewer results than someone who uses social media religiously. Finally, I believed my online data identity would be incomplete and inauthentic. This is primarily because I view people as dynamic beings who cannot be represented completely by an online profile. Likewise, as people are always changing, it is virtually impossible for everything online to be up to date.
	==<b> My 'Google' Identity</b> ==		==<b> My 'Google' Identity</b> ==
	===Search Query: 'Alex Wang' ===		===Search Query: 'Alex Wang' ===
−	I began by searching only my first and last name. As I had expected, none of the search results had anything to do with me. In fact, as can be seen in the image above, all of the popular results were about Alexander Wang, a fashion designer. This was bound to happen even if I had a decent online presence, as Alexander Wang is famous worldwide. Realizing there was no point in sifting through hundreds of thousands of query results, I decided to change my search query.	+	I began by searching only my first and last name. As expected, none of the search results had anything to do with me. In fact, as can be seen in the image above, all of the popular results were about Alexander Wang, a fashion designer. This was bound to happen even if I had a decent online presence, as Alexander Wang is famous worldwide. Realizing there was no point in sifting through hundreds of thousands of query results, I decided to change my search query.
	===Search Query: 'Alex Wang Saginaw' ===		===Search Query: 'Alex Wang Saginaw' ===
−	Having received zero results about me using the query above, I decided to be more specific and include the city I lived in throughout middle and high school. I figured this would give me at least a few results related to me. As expected, I was able to find several search results about me. In fact, the top result was my LinkedIn profile, as seen to the right of this section [[File:Screen Shot 2021-02-19 at 10.06.19 AM.png|400px|thumbnail|right|The results I get when I google 'Alex Wang Saginaw.']]. A few results down, you'll be greeted by links to mathematics competitions I competed and received awards in during high school. Go a page further and you'll see a middle school science fair I was part of, as well as a summer camp I attended in high school. What I didn't find, however, was my Facebook page. This can be attributed to the fact that I have very little information about me on the account other than that I attend the University of Michigan.	+	I decided to be more specific with my search query and included the city I lived in throughout middle and high school. I figured this would give me at least a few results related to me. Expectedly, I was able to find several search results about me. In fact, the top result was my LinkedIn profile, as seen to the right of this section [[File:Screen Shot 2021-02-19 at 10.06.19 AM.png|400px|thumbnail|right|The results I get when I google 'Alex Wang Saginaw.']]. A few results down, you'll be greeted by links to mathematics competitions I competed and received awards in during high school. Go a page further and you'll see a middle school science fair I was part of, as well as a summer camp I attended in high school. What I didn't find, however, was my Facebook page. This likely can be attributed to the fact that I have very little information about me on the account other than that I attend the University of Michigan.
−	==<b>My Instant Checkmate Identity</b>==	+
−	===The Inaccuracies ===	+
−	Likewise, as I looked through my data broker report, nothing seemed out of the ordinary or particularly harmful. The first couple pages were pulled from my Linkedin profile, though I did notice some inaccuracies in what was reported. For example, I wrote on my profile that I would be interning at Deloitte Consulting this summer, but also had my previous summer internship at [[File:Screen_Shot_2020-02-13_at_8.46.55_PM.png|400px|right|thumbnail|The First Page of my Instant checkmate Report]]Denison Consulting in Ann Arbor listed. When I looked at my report, however, the same company ‘Denison Consulting’ was listed for both my upcoming and my current internships.	+	===Looking Deeper===
		+	After using Google to see what information about me is publicly available, I decided to investigate my LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. Starting with LinkedIn, I noticed that my profile information was for the most part up to date and correct. This came as no surprise, though, as I have been diligent in updating my professional profile. While my profile contains information about my experiences over the years, it also has a link to my personal website. Unlike LinkedIn, my portfolio website is significantly outdated. Moving on, as I rarely use Facebook, my account contains little information about me. The information that exists, however, is all accurate.
−	Another discrepancy I noticed was in my education of the same ‘Linkedin section’. Prior to having been accepted to the business minor, I was a part of the Cappo Sales Track program through the Ross School of Business. Even though I have now updated my Linkedin profile to reflect my most current educational pursuits, my data broker profile depicted results from when I was still unsure of what my minor would be. As a result, this data is no longer accurate with what my educational pursuits are today.	+	===Privacy and Transparency Concerns ===
		+	One of the main reasons I barely use social media is because of concerns over privacy. These concerns were reinforced when using Facebook to investigate my data identity. Alarmingly, I was quickly exposed to ads for products that were awfully similar to what I had recently been searching for on Amazon and other websites. Unsurprisingly, when navigating to my ad preferences, I immediately noticed that I was allowing Facebook to use data collected from other sites. Having not touched my privacy settings since creating the account, I came to the conclusion that Facebook had set data collection usage to be on by default. This example of Facebook and its ads showcases how social media platforms choose to neglect user privacy; important settings are often hidden in complex pages, with default settings disregarding user concerns over privacy. Transparency is also an issue in social media. In reference to Turilli and Floridi's "The ethics of information transparency," transparency is described as being dependent on a plethora of factors, including the availability and accessibility of information. Relating the reading back to my example, the accessibility of the information pertaining to Facebook's data collection usage is clearly lacking. Without clear transparency, it is quite foolish to trust social media platforms.
−	===The Interesting Details ===	+	==<b>Analysis of My Online Data Identity</b>==
−	Something that was interesting to see in my data broker profile were my previous areas of residence. I have done all of my schooling in the Ann Arbor - Ypsilanti area, but I've lived in Troy, Michigan and Dearborn, Michigan in the past. It was pretty intriguing to see the exact addresses of the places I lived in within these cities mentioned in my report. Until I saw this data, I didn't even know where I lived in these cities! At the same time, however, the fact that my residence information is accessible to anyone who utilizes a data broker service like Instant Checkmate was pretty shocking to me and made me realize how information that I always thought was 'private' was <b>not</b> private.	+	===Brief Context Behind the Results ===
		+	Unlike many of my peers, I've been fortunate enough to have had a privileged upbringing. I attended a small selective school for the gifted and talented, and had the resources to participate in competitions and other extracurricular activities. At the same time, going to a school with an average graduating class of about 40-50 students also affected how much I valued social media. I never felt the need to be heavily connected in the social media world, as it wasn't something that was important to me or my peers; we saw each other everyday and texted outside of school. Thus, as one might expect, the majority of my pertinent query results are related to the extracurricular activities I took part in.
−	I was also concerned to see the large amount of sex offenders that lived in my area. Growing up, I knew that Ypsilanti wasn’t one of the safest areas to live in, but I never paid that much attention to my surroundings. While learning this information certainly hasn't changed my decision to leave Ypsilanti by any means, I am a little bit more aware of my surroundings and the demographics of the people that live in my general community. Lastly, echoing the phenomenon I observed when I googled myself, I noticed that only my Linkedin profile and email popped up under the social media category of the report. Though I was baffled at first, I eventually realized that neither my Facebook nor my Instagram accounts would be 'dug up' by the data broker since they both feature my <b>abbreviated name</b> ‘Kavya Pratapa’.	+	===Main Findings===
−	This led me to ask the same question that Haimson & Hoffman reference in their ‘Constructing and Enforcing “Authentic" Identity Online’: <b>which name constitutes as my authentic or <em>real</em> identity?</b>	+	====My Data Identity is Incomplete====
		+	One thing I found throughout my investigation was that my data identity was incomplete. Synonymous to how words can only do so much to describe a person, your online profiles and information only reveal so much. This is especially true for me, as my profiles are mostly incomplete. For instance, my Facebook account contains only my current and past education; the rest of my profile is still empty. If someone were to judge me based on my profile, they would assume I have no hobbies or interests outside of school. This is far from the truth, but your online identity is an incomplete representation of who you are.
−	==<b>My Online Self - Instant Checkmate & Google</b> ==	+	====My Data Identity is Unauthentic====
−	For me, both of my names ‘Kavya Pratapa’ and ‘Kavyapranati Pratapa’ are parts of my authentic self. While I only use my full name for professional and official purposes, my abbreviated name ‘Kavya’ has allowed me to socially assimilate to a greater degree. Yet, on Instant Checkmate, these two names seem to be independent of one another. As 'Kavyapranati Pratapa', I couldn’t view any information about my Facebook or Instagram accounts via the Instant Checkmate report. While I am not incredibly active on either platform, it's still data that provides valuable insight into my social life, such as the student organizations I'm a part of on campus or the people I choose to hang out with. Unlike what I was expecting, I realized that my Instant Checkmate profile <b>did not provide me with a complete picture of who I was</b>.	+	If someone were to look me up, they would think I'm heavily involved in math competitions and research (due to past competitions and science fairs). Although this was true years ago, it isn't today, highlighting the temporality of my data identity. Thus, my online identity is unauthentic, as some aspects would lead you to think of me differently than who I am today. Likewise, even my LinkedIn is somewhat unauthentic; due to personal laziness, it says I still work at a startup that I recently left. These examples show how your data identity can be unauthentic due to several reasons. While some of it is in your control, not all of it is.
−	This led me to wonder whether the versions of myself I was seeing on Google and on my data broker report were consistent with one another. While the presence of several sex offenders on my Instant Checkmate profile was a mild "blow" to the 'self' that I wanted to project, that is more a consequence of where I live rather than who I am. Apart from that, all of the information about me via Google and Instant Checkmate depicted a pretty positive version of myself: I am a student at a world class institution like the University of Michigan, I have had the opportunity to engage in a variety of experiences beyond my classes such as research, and I have been able to pursue professional opportunities in the consulting industry. In a lot of ways, my data broker profile echoes the same version of myself as my 'google search' results: <b>A university student who has always been involved in academic and professional pursuits.</b>	+	===Overarching Themes: Temporality and Imperfect Representation===
		+	From a broad perspective, my findings highlight two major themes of online identity: temporality and imperfect representation. First, an online data identity provides an incomplete and coalesced representation of a person. With one Google search, I was able to find several top results of math competitions and science fairs I competed in when I was younger. While they forever will exist as items of my online identity, the competitions and fairs I participated in are only a temporary part of my actual life. In fact, my interests have completely shifted since beginning college. Therefore, your online data identity is temporal in nature; some aspects reflect who you are today, while others represent who you were in the past. Consequently, an online data identity is also an imperfect representation of a person; there is only so much information about a person online, and much of it is outdated and doesn't embody who they are today.
−	===Spheres of Identity ===	+	==<b>Conclusion</b>==
−	I realized that conducting both a ‘google search’ and a review of my data broker profile did not portray a version of myself that I found to be compromising of my identity online. However, having two different names, though both are equally important to my identity, [[File:6a0120a8cae999970b01a5119de533970c-2.png|250px|right|thumbnail|We all exist in different spheres based on who we interact with]] portrayed an essentially curated but positive version of myself. I also realized that my online identity, depending on which name I use, only depicts one sphere of my life at a time.	+	The findings support my prediction that my online data identity would be incomplete and unauthentic. It is incomplete because only so much information is provided through profiles and articles, and even the profiles are oftentimes not fully completed (as seen with my Facebook profile). In addition, my data identity is unauthentic. Information is not completely up to date and doesn't fully represent who I am today. I believe this isn't a specific case, though, and that everyone's data identity is inaccurate to some degree. These findings emphasize the temporality of your online data identity, as well as the dynamic nature of people. People are always changing, and what's on the internet doesn't always perfectly represent who they are in real life.
−	When I first searched myself as 'Kavya Pratapa', I did see some information that was pertinent to my previous academic ventures, but for the most part, only saw my social media accounts. On the other hand, searching myself as 'Kavyapranati Pratapa' provided me with results mostly related to my academic and professional life. Academics have always been important to me and are still crucial to my identity, but I realized that having fun and spending time with my friends is just as important to my own understanding of who I am. It’s only when I use my identity ‘Kavya’ that you start to see me as someone beyond academics and schoolwork. In a way, my abbreviated name becomes my ticket to seeing my curated online social identity [<b>Sphere 1</b>] while my full name depicts my curated online professional identity [<b>Sphere 2</b>].	+	==<b>References</b>==
−		+	Turilli, M., Floridi, L. The ethics of information transparency. Ethics Inf Technol 11, 105–112 (2009).
−	But, this isn't that far off from our offline lives. Our close friends in a social setting don't experience the part of ourselves that goes to work at 7 am in the morning, just as our colleagues don't see our 'wild side' at parties. Depending on who we are interacting with, different parts of our identity come into play, and our behaviors reflect the persona that we are trying to portray. While I was initially surprised that I could not find a complete picture of who I was online, I realized as I was completing this project that my offline interactions don't really provide me with a complete picture of who I am either.	+
−		+
−	Because at the end of the day, I, like everyone else, exist in multiple spheres. <b>And I'm okay with that</b>.	+
−		+
−	==<b>References</b> ==	+
−		+
−	5, Privacy.” The 4th Revolution: How the Infosphere Is Reshaping Human Reality, by Luciano Floridi, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 110–110.	+
−		+
−	Haimson, O. L., & Hoffmann, A. L. (2016). Constructing and enforcing" authentic" identity online: Facebook, real names, and non-normative identities. First Monday, 21(6).	+
−		+
−	Shoemaker, David W. “Self-Exposure and Exposure of the Self: Informational Privacy and the Presentation of Identity.” Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 12, no. 1, 2009, pp. 3–15., doi:10.1007/s10676-009-9186-x.	+

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Latest revision as of 01:15, 5 March 2021

Unlike many of my peers who have grown up well connected in the social media world, I don't have many social media accounts. Understanding the importance of online privacy, I've made sure to distance the online profile/person I created from the person I am in real life. Since entering college, my social media presence has only increased a little. This increase has come from realizing my need for a professional presence online, a need which has been met by the creation of my LinkedIn account.

In order to discover what information about me is available online, I've spent a decent amount of time searching for myself on the web. Below, I summarize and analyze my findings.

Thoughts Before Searching

Before starting the project, I already had predictions on what the results would be like. As 'Alex Wang' is a very common name, I predicted that I would have a tough time finding myself based solely on my name. Furthermore, as I am not well connected in the online world, I expected to receive far fewer results than someone who uses social media religiously. Finally, I believed my online data identity would be incomplete and inauthentic. This is primarily because I view people as dynamic beings who cannot be represented completely by an online profile. Likewise, as people are always changing, it is virtually impossible for everything online to be up to date.

My 'Google' Identity

Search Query: 'Alex Wang'

I began by searching only my first and last name. As expected, none of the search results had anything to do with me. In fact, as can be seen in the image above, all of the popular results were about Alexander Wang, a fashion designer. This was bound to happen even if I had a decent online presence, as Alexander Wang is famous worldwide. Realizing there was no point in sifting through hundreds of thousands of query results, I decided to change my search query.

Search Query: 'Alex Wang Saginaw'

I decided to be more specific with my search query and included the city I lived in throughout middle and high school. I figured this would give me at least a few results related to me. Expectedly, I was able to find several search results about me. In fact, the top result was my LinkedIn profile, as seen to the right of this section . A few results down, you'll be greeted by links to mathematics competitions I competed and received awards in during high school. Go a page further and you'll see a middle school science fair I was part of, as well as a summer camp I attended in high school. What I didn't find, however, was my Facebook page. This likely can be attributed to the fact that I have very little information about me on the account other than that I attend the University of Michigan.

Looking Deeper

After using Google to see what information about me is publicly available, I decided to investigate my LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. Starting with LinkedIn, I noticed that my profile information was for the most part up to date and correct. This came as no surprise, though, as I have been diligent in updating my professional profile. While my profile contains information about my experiences over the years, it also has a link to my personal website. Unlike LinkedIn, my portfolio website is significantly outdated. Moving on, as I rarely use Facebook, my account contains little information about me. The information that exists, however, is all accurate.

Privacy and Transparency Concerns

One of the main reasons I barely use social media is because of concerns over privacy. These concerns were reinforced when using Facebook to investigate my data identity. Alarmingly, I was quickly exposed to ads for products that were awfully similar to what I had recently been searching for on Amazon and other websites. Unsurprisingly, when navigating to my ad preferences, I immediately noticed that I was allowing Facebook to use data collected from other sites. Having not touched my privacy settings since creating the account, I came to the conclusion that Facebook had set data collection usage to be on by default. This example of Facebook and its ads showcases how social media platforms choose to neglect user privacy; important settings are often hidden in complex pages, with default settings disregarding user concerns over privacy. Transparency is also an issue in social media. In reference to Turilli and Floridi's "The ethics of information transparency," transparency is described as being dependent on a plethora of factors, including the availability and accessibility of information. Relating the reading back to my example, the accessibility of the information pertaining to Facebook's data collection usage is clearly lacking. Without clear transparency, it is quite foolish to trust social media platforms.

Analysis of My Online Data Identity

Brief Context Behind the Results

Unlike many of my peers, I've been fortunate enough to have had a privileged upbringing. I attended a small selective school for the gifted and talented, and had the resources to participate in competitions and other extracurricular activities. At the same time, going to a school with an average graduating class of about 40-50 students also affected how much I valued social media. I never felt the need to be heavily connected in the social media world, as it wasn't something that was important to me or my peers; we saw each other everyday and texted outside of school. Thus, as one might expect, the majority of my pertinent query results are related to the extracurricular activities I took part in.

Main Findings

My Data Identity is Incomplete

One thing I found throughout my investigation was that my data identity was incomplete. Synonymous to how words can only do so much to describe a person, your online profiles and information only reveal so much. This is especially true for me, as my profiles are mostly incomplete. For instance, my Facebook account contains only my current and past education; the rest of my profile is still empty. If someone were to judge me based on my profile, they would assume I have no hobbies or interests outside of school. This is far from the truth, but your online identity is an incomplete representation of who you are.

My Data Identity is Unauthentic

If someone were to look me up, they would think I'm heavily involved in math competitions and research (due to past competitions and science fairs). Although this was true years ago, it isn't today, highlighting the temporality of my data identity. Thus, my online identity is unauthentic, as some aspects would lead you to think of me differently than who I am today. Likewise, even my LinkedIn is somewhat unauthentic; due to personal laziness, it says I still work at a startup that I recently left. These examples show how your data identity can be unauthentic due to several reasons. While some of it is in your control, not all of it is.

Overarching Themes: Temporality and Imperfect Representation

From a broad perspective, my findings highlight two major themes of online identity: temporality and imperfect representation. First, an online data identity provides an incomplete and coalesced representation of a person. With one Google search, I was able to find several top results of math competitions and science fairs I competed in when I was younger. While they forever will exist as items of my online identity, the competitions and fairs I participated in are only a temporary part of my actual life. In fact, my interests have completely shifted since beginning college. Therefore, your online data identity is temporal in nature; some aspects reflect who you are today, while others represent who you were in the past. Consequently, an online data identity is also an imperfect representation of a person; there is only so much information about a person online, and much of it is outdated and doesn't embody who they are today.

Conclusion

The findings support my prediction that my online data identity would be incomplete and unauthentic. It is incomplete because only so much information is provided through profiles and articles, and even the profiles are oftentimes not fully completed (as seen with my Facebook profile). In addition, my data identity is unauthentic. Information is not completely up to date and doesn't fully represent who I am today. I believe this isn't a specific case, though, and that everyone's data identity is inaccurate to some degree. These findings emphasize the temporality of your online data identity, as well as the dynamic nature of people. People are always changing, and what's on the internet doesn't always perfectly represent who they are in real life.

References

Turilli, M., Floridi, L. The ethics of information transparency. Ethics Inf Technol 11, 105–112 (2009).