Difference between revisions of "Morgan Tucker"
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== Not The Whole Story == | == Not The Whole Story == | ||
| − | == <big>''' | + | ==== <big>'''search: 'morgan tucker hawken''''</big> ==== |
| + | Including my school on the search brings up my Facebook page because I have my high school in my bio. When someone who is not my friend on Facebook goes to my page, the first image they see is my profile photo which has a sticker that states I voted for Joe Biden. The second photo they see is an older profile picture with a sticker indicating I am pro-choice. These photos with stickers show I am politically active and believe in fighting for reproductive rights, however, they do not show all of the hard work I have done to help encourage voter turnout and social change. | ||
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| + | ==== <big>'''search: 'morgan tucker checkmate''''</big> ==== | ||
To see how much someone could find out about me in one place, I decided to look myself up on Checkmate. I had never looked myself on a data broker website, so I was unsure what to expect. As I tried to access files about myself, the website kept showing me warnings that some of the information I find may be surprising to read, and I had to check a box acknowledging this. I felt unsettled and nervous, hoping I wouldn't discover I was adopted or something. | To see how much someone could find out about me in one place, I decided to look myself up on Checkmate. I had never looked myself on a data broker website, so I was unsure what to expect. As I tried to access files about myself, the website kept showing me warnings that some of the information I find may be surprising to read, and I had to check a box acknowledging this. I felt unsettled and nervous, hoping I wouldn't discover I was adopted or something. | ||
[[File:NOTICE.png|400px|thumbnail|right|Warning on Checkmate]] | [[File:NOTICE.png|400px|thumbnail|right|Warning on Checkmate]] | ||
Revision as of 10:30, 5 March 2021
Contents
My Data Identity
I like to think of myself as a unique individual. I even won the “most unique” superlative in high school. But according to the web, I am not unique. Well, at least my name is not. Though I feel confident with my identity, in the "infosphere"[1], I am merely lost in the sea of Morgan Tuckers.
Though it is comforting to know I am not easy to find online, it is concerning that the information found about me does not paint an accurate picture of who I am. The internet cannot keep up with the speed in which my personality, values, and mind changes and evolves; information and data on the internet about me is outdated, inaccurate, and missing crucial pieces that make up my true, complete self resulting in a skewed representation of me.
Online Presence Backstory
Like all overprotective parents in the 2000s, my parents were worried about my online activity. They did not even want me to have a Webkinz account. So, when I was finally allowed to have an iPad, they made it clear that I was not allowed to get social media. Of course, I went against their wishes and secretly created Instagram and Twitter accounts. But I did follow one rule: never use my last name. So most of my accounts are under Morgan Tuck or Morgan T. These decisions from the past have now contributed to the difficulty in finding information about me with a simple search.
Who I am According to Google
Nope, You’ve Got the Wrong Person
search: 'morgan tucker'
My first Google search was sweet and simple: "morgan tucker". A link to a search of Morgan Tuckers on Facebook shows up on the first page of the google search. When I clicked on this, my actual Facebook page was the 78th result of the search. That means that there are 77 accounts before mine that could be mistaken for me. This concerns me not only because when I am older, my long-lost college friends will not be able to find me on Facebook, but people can find information that they believe is about me, but is actually about someone with the same name.
After this, I went back to the initial Google search and went straight to the Images tab because I wanted to see if photos of me showed up. There were no photos of me, just people that could be mistaken for me. There is nothing wrong with anyone that shows up in the images, but I would appreciate if a photo of the real me appeared in this search. It is hard to make sense of information on the internet, especially without the ability to put a face to the data.
search: 'morgan tuck'
I had big hopes that searching "morgan tuck" would lead to most of my social media profiles because my username is almost always morgantuck11. However, the only person that showed up for every page of results was a WNBA player. This is inaccurate information because not only is this person not me, but I have actually been ordered by my doctor to never pick up a basketball again after two concussions in one high school basketball season.
search: 'morgan tucker hawken'
I began to think I would be more successful with my findings by narrowing my search to my name and high school. This search brought me to an archived article on my high school’s website. The article discusses a youth panel I was selected to participate on for the Jewish Federation. As exciting as it is to be highlighted for an achievement, the article does not explain what was expected of me on the panel accurately. It states “Panelists are expected to commit to one Sunday per month, host an Israeli teen, travel to Israel, and lead a community project”, and all I had to do was commit to one Sunday a month. This article allows people to think that I have had all of these experiences such as hosting someone from Israel and going to Israel as a teen, but this is not true and was the not the essence of the work I did with the panel.
That Was The Old Me
search: 'morgan tucker hawken'
Including my school on the search also leads to a page indicating that I received a bronze medal award for a Spanish test. I have since forgotten all of the Spanish I learned and no longer take Spanish classes, so this is not a representation of who I am now.
search: 'morgan tucker beachwood'
I included Beachwood, my hometown, in a search to see if this would find anything. Beachwood City Schools is also the name of the school system I attended until high school. This search brought up my Bat Mitzvah announcement from 2012 in The Jewish News. The announcement says I attend Beachwood Middle School, no longer true as I am a twenty-one year old college student, and says I have not had my Bat Mitzvah yet. It also includes my middle name, my parents' names, and the synagogue I belong to.
Not The Whole Story
search: 'morgan tucker hawken'
Including my school on the search brings up my Facebook page because I have my high school in my bio. When someone who is not my friend on Facebook goes to my page, the first image they see is my profile photo which has a sticker that states I voted for Joe Biden. The second photo they see is an older profile picture with a sticker indicating I am pro-choice. These photos with stickers show I am politically active and believe in fighting for reproductive rights, however, they do not show all of the hard work I have done to help encourage voter turnout and social change.
search: 'morgan tucker checkmate'
To see how much someone could find out about me in one place, I decided to look myself up on Checkmate. I had never looked myself on a data broker website, so I was unsure what to expect. As I tried to access files about myself, the website kept showing me warnings that some of the information I find may be surprising to read, and I had to check a box acknowledging this. I felt unsettled and nervous, hoping I wouldn't discover I was adopted or something.
I looked at as much as I could before it made me create an account. Checkmate knows my full name, my address, the types of online accounts, and my father, mother, and grandfather's name. Checkmate provided the most accurate yet basic portrait of me without having to do much digging. However, my true, authentic self has yet to be shown through my online persona.
Conclusion
Living in a world filled with social media, I have an intense desire to curate my presence online. This allows me to feel like I have some control in this uncontrollable world. Even though I put a lot of effort into my social media accounts to seem quirky, my Redbubble shop to seem professional, my art Instagram to show my art style, and my blog to seem authentic, I realized I still have little control over what someone on the web can gather about me. The information they would find is outdated and just a small part of who I am. To get to know the real me, you need to spend time with me, speak with me, and interact with me. Pixels on a screen do not portray the whole picture.
References
- ↑ Floridi, Luciano. Information and Computer Ethics. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
