Hello Internet! My Name Is...

There's a saying out there that goes like this: The Internet never forgets. In fact, this saying has spawned a blog in of itself (enjoy, ladies). In this day and age, there is no limit to the depths of the Ol' Interwebs, with both treasure and trash awaiting those brave souls willing to dive down far enough. Daniel J. Solove provided a beautiful example in The Future of Reputation when he described the hilariously awful accident of communication from a law student to his colleagues a prestigious law firm. "[T]he email and the apology soon became the toast of the Internet...If you run a Google search on the person’s name, you can still pull up the emails in an instant" (2007). Nowadays, even simple mistakes are no longer simple if the location their made is online.



How you ever really sat down and thought about your reputation? When I was in high school, there was no positive connotation to that word. If anyone had a "reputation", it was instantly annotated to add the word "bad" in front of it. Of course, that is the work of scandal-hungry teenagers, desperately in need of the next thing to disparage before trying it themselves.  But now that I am older, and hopefully wiser, a reputation has come out of the ether and formed itself in a real creature to consider. As Solove eloquently put it, "Our reputation can be a key dimension of our self, something that affects the very core of our identity. Beyond its internal influence on our self-conception, our reputation affects our ability to engage in basic activities in society" (2007). Can I really know myself if I do not know how the world perceives me, and how I react to that perception? Whoa, this is heavy.

Noted philosopher Martin McFly

Ahem. Moving on...

This week my task was to boil down my whole existence into a clear, concise, professional and somehow interesting Google Profile. This page would be a go-to tool for anyone looking to learn a bit about me, with educational and geographical markers integrated with personality tidbits and even a few fun pictures thrown into the mix. Essentially, the task wasn't difficult, but the execution required some real thought and reflection (surprise!).

How do I want myself to be remembered on the Internet? Do I want to be remembered in viral videos and jokes on late-night television? Certainly not (though now I'm curious what I could do to get myself to that level). Do I want to be one page of thousands, easily skipped over and lucky for deep inspection? Not exactly, but certainly a safer option. I could mull this over and try a dozen combination of bios, pictures and even clip art. However, what it really boils down to is how will this page help my reputation the web, including any changes and revisions I make to it down the road? What image do I want people to see, whether they are potential employers, friends or colleagues? Frankly, what it all boils down to is I want a page that represents me in a way I won't be embarrassed by in 5, 10 or even 20 years from now.

So, what the moral of the story, kids? Well, if you're going to do something stupid on the Internet, never use your real name (or at least set your Facebook pictures to Private).

Don't be this guy. Seriously. Those boots and that vest. Yikes.

Okay, all kidding aside, I really felt this week's assignment gave a really great perspective on how the Internet can be a vast and wonderful resource for triumph and greatness, as well as a bottomless pit of embarrassment and shame. With a little effort, some thoughtful editing and a clear focus, I can hopefully reap the former and avoid the latter. Hopefully.

Please to enjoy: Julie Benson's Google Profile

References:

Solove, D. J. (2007) The future of reputation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Picture of Marty McFly courtesy of: http://www.empireonline.com

Picture of a Bad Online Reputation courtesy of: http://poorlydressed.failblog.org/