Created: March 2017
Last Updated: April 2020
This learning experience is part of a playlist — two or more learning experiences focused on specific areas of the digital world. You can find this playlist, Building and Protecting Your Online Presence, here. This particular learning experience is the first in a sequence of six. Learning experiences in a playlist build off of each other, but they were designed so that they can also be completed on their own!
| Estimated time: | 30 minutes
|
| Group or individual activity: | Individual |
| Ages: | 13-18 years old |
| Grades: | Grades 8-12 |
| Online/offline elements: | This learning experiences contains an activity and challenge that require the use of a computer or mobile device with Internet access. |
| Areas: | Main area: Privacy and Reputation Additional areas: Digital (Literacy), Identity Exploration and Formation, Information Quality |
| License: | This learning experience has been created by Youth and Media and is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit http://dcrp.berkman.harvard.edu/about |
Learning Goal
Identify one type of personal information you can manage online, one type of information you cannot totally control online, and one thing you can do about some aspect of your personal information online not directly controlled by you.
Materials
Computer or mobile device with Internet access
Resources
Social Media Profile: Barack Obama's Facebook page - by Barack Obama
Video: Mean tweets – President Obama Edition #2 - by Jimmy Kimmel Live
Activity
The public information that is available about you online comes from many sources. Check out the resources above and then take a look at your social media profile(s).
What is the story that people might take away from reading your profile? Who writes that story? How might you manage that information? What can you influence with respect to online content about you? What can't you control?
Challenge
Look at one of your personal social media profiles (on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.) or the social media profile of a famous person. Pick a few posts that are visible on the profile. Who created the posts? Why? What are some of the comments? Who was the target audience for each post? What information was left out?
Based on the posts you're looking at, write one or two paragraphs answering the following questions:
What is one type of content that you/the account owner DO/DOES primarily control?
What is one type of content that you/the account owner DO/DOES NOT primarily control?
What is one thing you can do about content that someone else has written about you that you do not like for some reason (i.e., this information is NOT in your direct control)?
Next Steps
Congratulations on finishing this challenge! We are positive that others would love to see what you learned! If possible, please share your write-up with an educator, mentor, or advisor, or a family member or friend. You are also welcome to share your write-up with the Youth and Media team via email (youthandmedia@cyber.harvard.edu). Please designate the title of the learning experience in the subject line of the email.