ED 654: Barbaric Yawp (Big, Imperfect Intro Post)

Post a Picture of Yourself

What is this? You want me to post a picture of myself… on the internet? THE INTERNET?! But… terrible things will happen if I do! I will have a web presence* and I don’t want one! I want to be completely anonymous.

D'Arcy appears to be appalled with her nose crinkled and tongue out
D’Arcy is appalled by this request.

Ok, not really. I embrace this “new world” we live in, one where we are present online in one way or another. Here I am.

D'Arcy appears smiling and casual.
D’Arcy is happy to show her face to you.

I do know people who very seriously hold the view I started with above. While there are a handful of very real reasons for a select few individuals to fear having any of their information or pictures posted online (such as being in a witness protection program, or similar), most people I have talked to who hold this view seem to fear something akin to the boogeyman.

D'Arcy appears incredulous.
D’Arcy is incredulous about this whole boogeyman thing.

Don’t get me wrong; there are real risks associated with posting certain information and too much information online. A key job we have as educators is to help people learn how to approach online engagement (digital citizenship?) responsibly and in a way that reduces risks.

(* I argue that virtually everyone already has a web presence whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not. You can’t control the whether (ooh, that makes a fun pun!), but you can, to a certain extent, control the what — what people easily find and what message it sends. More on that in my upcoming Choice assignments for this unit.)

My Web Presence

My personal definition of “web presence” is all of the information about you that can be found online. By this definition, my web presence is much larger than what I am listing below. A Google search for my name brings up a smattering of information in various locations. The following are the key places that I have intentionally developed my web presence and engage online.

Professional or Academic

  • Twitter (@poindekster)
  • Website (darcyhutchings.com — you’re looking at it!)
  • LinkedIn
  • Diigo
  • Yammer (online community for my workplace)
  • Google+ with school/work email (not maintained)

Personal or “Private”

  • Facebook for connecting with family and friends**
  • Personal website for political endeavors
  • Pinterest for personal visual collections

** Facebook deserves a little more explanation. I typically keep my Facebook fairly locked down. I have made frequent exceptions to this recently as I’ve been heavily involved in supporting a political campaign. These posts I have made public. My Facebook friends are carefully sorted into different groups, many with different privacy settings but some based purely on the person’s interests or role in my life. (I was recently asked, who sorts all their Facebook friends into groups? My answer: A librarian. Yes, I catalog my friends and acquaintances.) I can post things just to my family, to the small circle of best friends, people who are librarians, people who are part of my political network, etc. My postings default to all friends except those marked acquaintances. I only friend people I actually know in some capacity.

Who is D’Arcy?

I’m a mother, a leader, an information specialist (academic librarian), an educator, a pragmatist (usually), a chronic learner. My hobbies include having a toddler (there isn’t much time for anything else) and learning. Together, we like to camp, hike, play with our dogs, dance, and explore the world around us. Before my son, I used to garden, ride my motorcycle at every opportunity, game, travel, and sleep. Oh, sleep. Sigh.

I’m working on my second master’s degree one class at a time. This one is in education with an emphasis in instructional design (ONID), 70% completed, and the first was a master’s of library and information studies (2008). Though the first couple classes I took for this degree are the reason I was able to get my current job as an instructional design librarian, I don’t need this degree. I just can’t stop. I really don’t want to get a PhD but I fear it is inevitable. That’s that chronic learner thing. And this isn’t even touching on all the informal learning I do… I must know ALL the things!

I’m passionate about social equity, helping others, and being the best person I can be (there will always be room to improve). I am not afraid to stand up for others or what I deeply believe is right — and when I am, I do it anyway. The meaning of life to me is the impact we have on others. This doesn’t have to be epic and is often aΒ  That is our only true legacy. When there is a leadership vacuum, I am compelled to fill it. When I see a wrong and believe I can do something about it, I am compelled to do so (hence my heavy involvement in politics now, for the first time in my life).

Lists

Scariest — and therefore my favorite — horror movies (my favorite genre)

  • 28 Days Later
  • 28 Weeks Later
  • The Ring
  • The Descent
  • Paranormal Activity 1
  • Paranormal Activity 2
  • Paranormal Activity 3
  • Cloverfield
  • The Crazies
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
  • Pandorum
  • The Uninvited
  • Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)*

* I only like horror when it’s terrifying and old horror just isn’t. This one gets to be the exception, though, because I hid and watched parts of it when I was 4 years old and had nightmares about it regularly for about 3 years.

Pets I’ve Had

  • Kitters (cat, toddler years)
  • Stubby (cat, kindergarten year at G&G’s (grandparents))
  • Jake (dog, kindergarten year at G&G’s)
  • Baraka (horse, kindergarten year at G&G’s)
  • Don Romero (horse, kindergarten year at G&G’s)
  • Griz (dog, ~ ages 11-20)
  • Saban Savant (rat, high school)
  • Petunia (ferret, high school)
  • Keira (dog, 2011 to present)
  • Ava (dog, 2011 to present)

 

9 Replies to “ED 654: Barbaric Yawp (Big, Imperfect Intro Post)”

  1. So, quick question, what’s the appeal with horror movies, haha? I try to get scared when I watch them only I can’t, I simply can’t. Occasionally startled, yes, and occasionally grossed out, yes, but the being scared part is tough for me. I wish I could take my irrational fear of birds and transfer it into horror films.

  2. Hi D’arcy! It will be fun to be in another class with you. I think we might be on the same slow pathway in completing this program, although taking time off for your family is a much better reason then mine.

    I agree with your statement, ” A key job we have as educators is to help people learn how to approach online engagement (digital citizenship?) responsibly and in a way that reduces risks.” and would add to be respectful and take ownership for what you post instead of hiding behind an anonymous moniker when posting an opinion.

    • Nice to meet you, D’arcy! Like Heidi, I also liked your comment about how we have a responsibility to help people learn how to approach online engagement in a way that reduces risks. For my “search and research” assignment for collection 1, I researched technological determinism.. and one thing I came across was the idea that people fear technological changes because they feel like they can’t control those technologies. That makes me think that, perhaps, the more we educate ourselves and others about online engagement and digital citizenship, the more we will feel like we are in control of our online participation– and the less we will fear it.

      • Great points, Valerie, regarding awareness mitigating fear. That ties well into my “What I Really Want” write-up too. It is true that our nature is to fear things we do not understand!

  3. I meant to add…here’s another way I’m thinking about it: protectionist approach feels like a solved problem…it’s not rocket science. Supporting and promoting what a friend recently called, in a discussion about digital citizenship, the “arts of freedom” is much more complicated. It represents, I think, the counterbalance to the protectionist approach which, alone, too often instills the very culture of fear that makes people leery of posting a photo in case…well, I don’t quite understand what they think will happen! Protectionist and expansivist, let’s say. It’s easy to find material and discussion about the former…the latter…not so much.

  4. Excellent. And a model for others seeking to explore the tensions and supports with the personal and the public.

    You write:

    “A key job we have as educators is to help people learn how to approach online engagement (digital citizenship?) responsibly and in a way that reduces risks.”

    That question mark really indicates a huge question, doesn’t it? And I agree that risk-mitigation is important (and, as we’ve been bantering about on Twitter, is to some degree also a function of age).

    But there’s also something about this formulation that nags at me a little (in general, not just what you’ve posted here). The protectionist approach to digital citizenship: mitigating risk, observing rules, mores and laws—the standard models one finds everywhere in discussions of digital citizenship, particularly in/from the K-12 world—feels so limited without a significant counterbalance in promoting creative expression, agency, rich engagement with the manifold of tools/apps/services out there, forming and using learning networks, etc. Without that it feels akin to teaching traditional citizenship through a focus on all the laws one shouldn’t break and moral codes one should observe…which should be a part of things, but should it be the *primary* aspect of digital citizenship?

    (* I argue that virtually everyone already has a web presence whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not. You can’t control the whether (ooh, that makes a fun pun!), but you can, to a certain extent, control the what β€” what people easily find and what message it sends. More on that in my upcoming Choice assignments for this unit.)

    OK, so I like the pun. You should t0tally use that. And I completely agree with your premise that most people who think they don’y actually have a presence they would be surprised at. Implicit in this is another thing I’ve been querying about on Twitter: permanence and ephemerality. We talk about the permanence of those “digital footprints,” but in fact my experience is that the web is extremely fragile and impermanent. I *wish* it were as permanent as some of the digital citizenship discussions assume. Which isn’t to say that people don’t get caught out with things they wish they’d never said/posted/written. But I also wonder about that: is this like other phenomenon on the web where the sheer magnification of specific instances of regret makes it seem like it happens an inordinate number of times? Given the sheer volume of people’s posting/spewing/sharing, I wonder if the actual percentage of times it poses a serious, lasting problem isn’t actually vanishingly small? And since, throughout time, these things have happened regardless of medium, does it actually happen *more* with digital media or is it just that there’s so much more out there? Finally, there’s a whole range of repercussion when such incidents do occur, from simple teachable moments to life-changing…and at some point(s) that is part of the learning process.

    To some degree, then, the counterbalance to caution is augmenting capabilities and creative richness. Balance refraining and attempting erasure with pumping out more good, creative stuff that might not be to everyone’s taste or agreement, but which drives away the older things whether they are indiscretions or simply an earlier stage of a personal evolution.

    It’s complicated!

    Your horror movie list is interesting. I find (some) older movies more actually scary, as in I get the heebie-jeebies in the dark long after the movie is over, while modern movies tend to make me jump a lot more often while I’m watching them…the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one such example. Just thinking about that movie—and my experience watching it—makes me tense…

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