Data Mining for Gold and My Digital Tattoo!
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I have spent some time researching my name and what my name is associated with. I have searched my name on multiple sites, which some sites did not have any information on me whatsoever. However, there were seven sites that were able to give some background to my digital mine. The seven sites that had information on me were: Google, BlockShopper, Radaris, YouTube, Classmates, Facebook, and Twitter.
Google:
Everyone has Googled themselves at least once in their life, right? Well, I was able to narrow down results that just pertained to me. I first typed in “deanna mulay”, which I was able to see 147 results in about .47 seconds. This search stated my Linkedin account, where I went to high school, a blog that I have written last year for a school, all of the 5k races I participated in, and even showed that I donated $20 to a fundraiser. I was not surprised about any of the information I found online, however, I was surprised to find photos of me from my Linkedin account. I thought that I would see more photos from my Facebook page instead. I was also shocked to see photos from my blog posts from last year with the students.
I was also able to see that my address was given along with my parents’ names on White Pages. Once I kept clicking on relatives’ names, it eventually started with my name again. All of the addresses were correct and the ages of my family were correct as well.
After I found all of the above information, I decided to take it one step further. I typed in the search bar “deanna k mulay”. I thought I was going to get so many more results, but I only had 3 results. All of which were from Benedictine University for the Dean’s List in 2016.
As a young educator, I still live with my parents. I was able to locate our home address and how much my parents paid for our house back in 1997! I found it interesting that the names on the website had my mother’s name correct, but it had my father’s name as Saml Mulay Jr., instead of Samuel Mulay Jr. I was also able to find the previous owners of our house, which was over 23 years ago.
When I typed in my name on Radaris, what I found, was definitely not what I expected. They actually listed that I lived in Elk Grove Village, IL. What really shocked me though was that they listed my uncle’s house address. I have listed this address for a subscription in the mail, but otherwise, why would people think that I live there? Radaris did also share my relatives correctly. I did also find it interesting that my grandmother, who did live at the given address, was on it twice as Geraldine L. Marra and Geri L. Marra and that she was 61 years old. All of my relatives listed on this site had correct ages and names except my grandmother. When my grandmother had passed away, she was 79 and she lived at that address until her passing.
When I typed in my name on YouTube, I expected my channel to pop up that I made years ago. Well, my channel did pop up, along with videos that I uploaded for a class that I had completely forgotten about. I also recently uploaded videos to my channel, which the videos are in some of my previous blogs (UDL, Kahoot!). I also found a video that was on my friend’s YouTube channel when we were in our first year of college together. We had to create education videos that related to our readings for that class. However, none of the other videos were related to me.
As I was typing in my information of where I went to high school and the year that I graduated, I thought to myself that no one that I know is going to be on this site. Boy, was I wrong. There were 8 classmates that graduated the same year as I did. I did not remember all of their names, but this site actually jogged my memory a bit. I also viewed the other people who went to Montini Catholic High School from 2010-2014. 82 results popped up and I knew almost everyone that was on this site.
Facebook:
I was not able to find my profile on Facebook directly. However, I did find my Avon Facebook Group that led me to my profile. After I found my profile, I was able to see that I live in Glen Ellyn, went to Benedictine University, pictures of myself and my dogs, and went to Montini Catholic High School. Other than those few points, I was not able to find additional information.
Twitter:
About five weeks ago, I created my Twitter account for my PLN. I also had a private account many years ago, but never really engaged with it. When I went to look for both profiles, I was not able to find any information other than that I was an educator. I am not surprised that this is the only information that popped up because I rarely use Twitter, but I still have a web presence using this site.
Reflection:
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I am not one who is always sharing information online or posting information that I would consider private. After completing this data mine, I realized that there is so much information on myself and I had no idea what was really out there. There was a blog I wrote last year, all of the 5k races I participated in, my address, my relatives’ names, where I went to high school and college, and even where I donated money to. I found old videos uploaded to YouTube that I completely forgot about. I even found old classmates from when I went to high school. In the last few weeks, I have been making more of an online presence, but I still did not realize fully what was online before I made myself more public. I guess I should not be surprised what information is really online about me, but at the same time I feel like my private life has been made public by force.
After finding all of the information on myself, I think that it is important for teachers and parents to talk to students about their digital tattoos and data mines. I found videos of myself from six years ago and believe me, they are not going anywhere. I think students should be aware about what is online about themselves at a young age, but as the students reach junior high and high school, they should be able to create their own data mine to see what kinds of information is really available for anyone to see. A post is not just a post that can be removed with ease, it is permanent, which will follow you no matter where life takes you.
More information on Data Mining and Digital Tattoos are available below:
More information on Digital Tattoo.
What is a digital tattoo?
What is data mining?
More information on data mining.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI also had a similar experience when you talked about your father's name and grandmothers names spelled a little differently and listed twice. I saw this with my name as well as my fathers name. It is interesting to take a stroll down memory lane when we are able to find some of this information, but at the same time, while most of it isn't bad, these are things of the past and sometimes we wish remain in the past without being able to find them with a few clicks of a button.
Hi Deanna! It was great to read about your experience data mining and compare it to mine. Like you and Daryl, I also found errors with some of the information out there about me. One website I visited listed two other similar names that I apparently go by and both are wrong. I only have one name. You mentioned that Radaris had your uncle's address listed. I ran into something similar that also shocked me because I'm not sure how they got the information. One website had my correct number and it also listed my aunt's phone number as mine. I never give this number out so I'm still baffled by this. I agree with you that both parents and teachers should teach students about digital tattoos and how they can be aware of their personal information out there through data mining. I think it is part of learning about online safety, and I think students should be aware of the impact of their online activity so they can make choices that are best for them. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Deanna,
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph was so well-stated. You are correct that those videos from 6 years ago will probably remain visible, and we should tell our students how to be careful. As teachers, we want our students to present themselves to the best of their ability. Part of that is making good choices. I enjoyed reading about your findings, especially from classmates.com!
It sounds like you had a really productive search! If anything, now you have a greater understanding of the importance of searching on a regular basis. Thanks for sharing the great links.
ReplyDelete