After reading the articles from class three, I was trying to figure out a way to frame my blog post. The copyright and fair use issues from the previous class were still in my head, combining with the new ideas of digital footprints/shadows/e-reputations.
Like any typical student, I put off my work and inspired by The Savvy Intern's, "Managing Your E-Reputation: Facts And Myths" and Kim Komando's USA Today blog, I googled myself.
Although we had done this in the ADE 634 class (previous post), this time it was through a new lens. When I hit my YouTube channel, the framework for this post came to me. A video on that channel represents the bridge between the copyright issues from last class and the (potential) impacts of my online presence.
I was living in Korea in March of 2008 and I attended a concert by the band Maroon 5. As part of their encore, they sang a version of
Prince'sThe Artist Formerly Known as PrincePrince's song, Purple Rain. I video recorded the performance and posted it to YouTube. Not too long after it was posted, I received the notification that the video may contain copyrighted material and the sound was removed from my video. I was disappointed, but understood the desire of the copyright holder to "protect" the content. However, the video started receiving lots of hits. To this day, the video has almost 12,000 hits. Without any sound. I decided to leave the video online as a sort of protest against the tactics of Prince's record company, Warner Brothers. To be fair, Prince himself has protested against their tenacious hold on his name, his music and his brand.
At one point, I sent an email to WB to ask for permission to post the sound, but they never got back to me. So, the whole matter never really went beyond that one post. I go back to it every once in a while to see how many more hits it has, or to read new comments, but by and large it's something that I posted, wrote about and then forgot.
In line with the ideas from last class, specifically in line with the stories of teachers getting fired, losing credentials and worse, I started thinking about that video and what it might say about me to a potential employer. Would they think of me as a pirate? A rebel that disregards law? There are some curse words in the comments on that video. Would a potential employer hold that against me?
In my opinion, the material on my YouTube page is harmless, but it does beg a big question. How much should we work to manage our digital presence?
As far as managing what's already out there, it makes sense to remove or request removal of anything that would be deemed as objectionable by most people. We should pass that idea on to our students. I'm still not sure about things that wouldn't count for or against me, though. I don't think they need to be hidden or removed. And what about the things that will help me get hired? I resist the idea of creating an online brand for myself as an educator. Publishing blogs to attract the attention of would-be employers or to suppress my other online activity seems strange to me. I would definitely share my class blog with potential employers, but I suppress it from search engines to protect the online presence of my students.
What should we do to eliminate potentially damaging material, but still maintain our rights to free and fair speech? How much should we work to create positive material? Is there a balance? I'd love to hear from other COETAILers.
Finally, some homework questions for the reader of this post. How badly do you want to find this video that I'm talking about? If you do go searching for it, how difficult is it to find? Do you think it reflects poorly on me?
Like any typical student, I put off my work and inspired by The Savvy Intern's, "Managing Your E-Reputation: Facts And Myths" and Kim Komando's USA Today blog, I googled myself.
Although we had done this in the ADE 634 class (previous post), this time it was through a new lens. When I hit my YouTube channel, the framework for this post came to me. A video on that channel represents the bridge between the copyright issues from last class and the (potential) impacts of my online presence.
I was living in Korea in March of 2008 and I attended a concert by the band Maroon 5. As part of their encore, they sang a version of
At one point, I sent an email to WB to ask for permission to post the sound, but they never got back to me. So, the whole matter never really went beyond that one post. I go back to it every once in a while to see how many more hits it has, or to read new comments, but by and large it's something that I posted, wrote about and then forgot.
In line with the ideas from last class, specifically in line with the stories of teachers getting fired, losing credentials and worse, I started thinking about that video and what it might say about me to a potential employer. Would they think of me as a pirate? A rebel that disregards law? There are some curse words in the comments on that video. Would a potential employer hold that against me?
In my opinion, the material on my YouTube page is harmless, but it does beg a big question. How much should we work to manage our digital presence?
As far as managing what's already out there, it makes sense to remove or request removal of anything that would be deemed as objectionable by most people. We should pass that idea on to our students. I'm still not sure about things that wouldn't count for or against me, though. I don't think they need to be hidden or removed. And what about the things that will help me get hired? I resist the idea of creating an online brand for myself as an educator. Publishing blogs to attract the attention of would-be employers or to suppress my other online activity seems strange to me. I would definitely share my class blog with potential employers, but I suppress it from search engines to protect the online presence of my students.
What should we do to eliminate potentially damaging material, but still maintain our rights to free and fair speech? How much should we work to create positive material? Is there a balance? I'd love to hear from other COETAILers.
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| By Berto Garcia (Prince)[CC-BY-SA-2.0] |
Finally, some homework questions for the reader of this post. How badly do you want to find this video that I'm talking about? If you do go searching for it, how difficult is it to find? Do you think it reflects poorly on me?
Nice post! I sometimes wonder if there is something I put online that I have forgotten about. Thankfully I have never been "too controversial" and doubt it is damaging to my image.
ReplyDeleteI find myself with similar questions. But bottom line, I am not putting anything out there that I am worried about....saying that I do know that many of my posts on Facebook highlight my liberal political stance. Do I need to be worried? As far as I concerned...no...because I would not want to work for anyone who found my posts objectionable. Will it bite me later???? I will let you know.
ReplyDelete