Closing thoughts

--Originally published at David M. on Digital Identity.

So #Semanai has ended now.

I found some interesting reading material on the dgst101.net website but regarding the course content, I found it pretty bland, for me I guess. Since high school, I’ve dabbed into the idea of owning your own website. A lot of the content from the course may seem new to non-ISC majors but I knew the 90% course content.

What really got me into forming my own digital identity has been the past year of increasingly Facebook and Twitter censorship and liberal bias.

When you own your content they can’t censor you. When you own your identity, you can’t be shamed into submission.

For me the end goal would be to have a brand, an identity, which is platform-agnostic. If they censor you on Facebook, move to Twitter, if they censor that, move to your own website.

Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, photos, videos, you can be everywhere on the internet.

Like Mike Cernovich from DangerAndPlay.com would say, be “too big to ignore”.

Cheers.


Dawn of The Final Day -The Rest of the Semester Remains-

--Originally published at Site Title 2

Semana i has finally finished and with it so does this Digital Identity workshop. I will start today’s blog by saying that I really enjoyed the course. My only complaint is that it felt a bit repetitive on some topics. Other than that, I really took somethings from it. Being able to interact with people who play a large role on the Internet felt very special. Some of the things we discussed taught me stuff I’ll hopefully never forget. Moving forward I’m the one who has the task of applying what I learned. I know I probably won’t put everything I learned in practice, but I’ll do some of them at least.

Friday started with  a very different activity from what we are used to. We had a quick class about storytelling through video with Diego Zavala. He talked about how film used to be much more about the technical aspect, but, as technology made it more accessible, storytelling became the factor to push productions apart from others. We looked at various examples of different techniques that can be used to easily achieve successful storytelling. As an assignment we were asked to create a video that managed to tell a simple story, which led to this beauty:

It was a funny activity and I know I’ll regret posting this video publicly someday.

For the second half, we had another video conversation. This time we talked with Rebecca J. Hogue and Helen DeWaard. The video can be found here. Blogging was, once again, a very important topic and the reason for many questions. On the blogging side of things, I really liked the way they talked about how you can have different blogs and how, over time, they you may join different blogs. Rebecca’s cancer example was a great example of different blogging personas becoming one. Each of her blogs had a purpose but, as time passed, they started helping achieve the same goals. Another point showed clearly by Rebecca was about how blogging and storytelling can work together. Rebecca’s blog wasn’t a simple diary to record her activities during her disease. She was able to tell others what she was going through, her story, but, at the same time, she was able to help numerous cancer patients and survivors.

While no readily apparent, blogging has great potential, almost like a superpower. I hope if I ever become a regular blogger I’ll try to use that opportunity to do something good with my words.


Dawn of The Final Day -The Rest of the Semester Remains-

--Originally published at Site Title 2

Semana i has finally finished and with it so does this Digital Identity workshop. I will start today’s blog by saying that I really enjoyed the course. My only complaint is that it felt a bit repetitive on some topics. Other than that, I really took somethings from it. Being able to interact with people who play a large role on the Internet felt very special. Some of the things we discussed taught me stuff I’ll hopefully never forget. Moving forward I’m the one who has the task of applying what I learned. I know I probably won’t put everything I learned in practice, but I’ll do some of them at least.

Friday started with  a very different activity from what we are used to. We had a quick class about storytelling through video with Diego Zavala. He talked about how film used to be much more about the technical aspect, but, as technology made it more accessible, storytelling became the factor to push productions apart from others. We looked at various examples of different techniques that can be used to easily achieve successful storytelling. As an assignment we were asked to create a video that managed to tell a simple story, which led to this beauty:

It was a funny activity and I know I’ll regret posting this video publicly someday.

For the second half, we had another video conversation. This time we talked with Rebecca J. Hogue and Helen DeWaard. The video can be found here. Blogging was, once again, a very important topic and the reason for many questions. On the blogging side of things, I really liked the way they talked about how you can have different blogs and how, over time, they you may join different blogs. Rebecca’s cancer example was a great example of different blogging personas becoming one. Each of her blogs had a purpose but, as time passed, they started helping achieve the same goals. Another point showed clearly by Rebecca was about how blogging and storytelling can work together. Rebecca’s blog wasn’t a simple diary to record her activities during her disease. She was able to tell others what she was going through, her story, but, at the same time, she was able to help numerous cancer patients and survivors.

While no readily apparent, blogging has great potential, almost like a superpower. I hope if I ever become a regular blogger I’ll try to use that opportunity to do something good with my words.


Último día :(

--Originally published at Semana i ITESM gda

El día de hoy fue la última sesión de nuestro curso de identidad digital. Tuvimos un pequeño workshop con Diego Zavala que nos enseñó cómo hacer buenos vídeos. En mi equipo hicimos un pequeño corto de nuestro recorrido cada día para llegar a nuestro taller de semana i.

Fue una semana muy buena en la que aprendimos muchas cosas, como lo importante que es cuidar lo que publicamos en nuestras redes sociales, debido a que esto es un reflejo de nuestra personalidad en internet. Esto es de suma importancia porque lo que está en internet cualquier persona lo puede ver.

Además algo muy importante es que si alguien tiene un buen perfil personal es más fácil conectarse con personas que tienen tus mismos intereses. Por ejemplo si publicamos acerca de lo que nos gusta o apasiona de nuestra carrera, podemos encontrar a gente que también le guste y así crear una conversación muy interesante y aprender más desde otras perspectivas. Y esto es algo que debemos de hacer un hábito para cada día actualizarse en conocimientos.
Este curso fue genial, nuestro profesor invitó a muchos expertos que nos hablaron de todos estos temas, lo más padre fue cómo creamos una gran comunidad digital en 5 días, con 100 estudiantes, un profesor y varios especialistas. Me encantó y mil gracias a Ken Bauer por la experiencia de este curso.

 


Último día :(

--Originally published at Semana i ITESM gda

El día de hoy fue la última sesión de nuestro curso de identidad digital. Tuvimos un pequeño workshop con Diego Zavala que nos enseñó cómo hacer buenos vídeos. En mi equipo hicimos un pequeño corto de nuestro recorrido cada día para llegar a nuestro taller de semana i.

Fue una semana muy buena en la que aprendimos muchas cosas, como lo importante que es cuidar lo que publicamos en nuestras redes sociales, debido a que esto es un reflejo de nuestra personalidad en internet. Esto es de suma importancia porque lo que está en internet cualquier persona lo puede ver.

Además algo muy importante es que si alguien tiene un buen perfil personal es más fácil conectarse con personas que tienen tus mismos intereses. Por ejemplo si publicamos acerca de lo que nos gusta o apasiona de nuestra carrera, podemos encontrar a gente que también le guste y así crear una conversación muy interesante y aprender más desde otras perspectivas. Y esto es algo que debemos de hacer un hábito para cada día actualizarse en conocimientos.
Este curso fue genial, nuestro profesor invitó a muchos expertos que nos hablaron de todos estos temas, lo más padre fue cómo creamos una gran comunidad digital en 5 días, con 100 estudiantes, un profesor y varios especialistas. Me encantó y mil gracias a Ken Bauer por la experiencia de este curso.

 


Day 4: Communicating

--Originally published at Site Title 2

Maha Bali was today’s main guest. The talk can be found here. It was mostly a Q&A session with the class about topics related to digital identity. Social networks, blogging, and censorship were all talked about.

To start things off, we were asked to read other classmates’ blogs and make comments. I found it very interesting to get an insight into how others are experiencing the class. Many of them wrote about topics I considered secondary when writing my blog. This helped me remember most of the topics we discussed, not only the ones I wrote about.

As the class got started, we talked about the use of technology, specifically cell phones, when being with other people. The topic was particularly interesting since different classmates had different opinions on the matter. Ken said using a phone for social activities even when in front of others is fine and doesn’t make us asocial. Even Maha agreed that using technology doesn’t hurt our social relationships. A point of view held by some of the others was that the person physically in front of you deserves attention before those on the phone.

Maha’s participation today covered a wide set of questions. One of the first asked questions was her opinion about the phone issue previously discussed. As mentioned, she felt people on the phone deserved your attention in the same way those around you do. In regards to her blogging, she talked a bit about her own style and what are the various ways to blog. She mentioned a blog should take 5 mins. max to read but also gave some credit to other forms of media like video and audio even though she prefered text.

Personally, I still prefer writing over making videos when creating, but feel the same about both when consuming. Depending on what type of information you are looking to share, a video or blog will achieve in a different way. Adapting the medium to your content can make it more enjoyable but harder to produce. It is important to find balance between these.


Day 3: Social networks

--Originally published at Site Title 2

Today’s workshop was mostly dedicated to social networks and identifying the way we use them. The topic was also discussed by today’s guest speakers Autumm CainesDr. Bonnie Stewart, and Sundi Richard. The video can be found here.

Fist, we watched a video about the concept of digital native. I agree with some of the points presented but find myself closer to Ken’s opinion that growing up without technology doesn’t mean you can’t learn to use it properly. If I were to classify myself, I’m not really “digitally native” as I started using the Internet a bit later into my childhood but started playing video games a bit earlier. I usually don’t participate in online conversations though I think that’s more about personality than me not feeling comfortable with the web. Usually, I’m mostly looking at content online and very rarely do I contribute and only do it in sites I’m comfortable with.

Later, we were introduced to #VandR. The hashtag stands for Visitor and Resident. #VandR is a way to classify social networks depending on how you use them. Only looking at content makes you a visitor while contributing makes you more of a resident. The speakers also mentioned that a second axis should be added that goes from personal to professional. Here is mine to make it clearer:

vandr

I must mention that some of the networks in the Visitor-Professional area should be more on the resident side. At the time of making it, I thought not engaging too much meant you were a visitor. WordPress, for example, should be moved a lot to the right. While I don’t currently use it very much, I only check the teacher’s blog and make posts myself. Making posts makes me contribute to WordPress making me a resident. Being a resident means your presence on the site leaves something behind while being a visitor means your activity on the site isn’t made public. For example, I visit the XDA forums often but never comment, so my presence on the site is kept to myself.

To end the class, we were asked to interview another person about their social network habits. Here is my interview with Gerardo Juarez:

Thanks for reading and here is today’s GIF:


Day 2

--Originally published at Site Title 2

 

 

Today started with a very very interesting activity. For the assignment we had to cut out words that we thought described us in some way. The words I chose were: improving, flexibility, efficiency, and dynamic. Once chosen, you had to search for something you felt represented the word in some way. Here are the results:

photo53696772512524234
photo53696772512524235photo53696772512524236photo53696772512524237

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find my examples self-explanatory, except for the improving one. I chose a tree because they grow over time and they tend to become a better tree, not just bigger.

I found the activity itself to be somewhat engaging. I’m not really a fan of this kind of activities, especially when they don’t feel related to the class. At least this time it was relevant to what we have discussed in class.

Today was full of activities, after finishing with the photos, we had two different groups of people come talk to the class. Fist we talked to Laura Gogia and Lee Skallerup and then to Alan Levine and Amy Burvall. You can find the video here and here.

We were also asked to add a meme or GIF to the blog. I’ll add a simple GIF as all the forced memes I saw on the Facebook group sucked.


Do I use the Internet too much?

--Originally published at Site Title 2

The Internet is something I’ve used for a long time, but very rarely do I think about how to properly use it. During the course of today’s talk, I remembered a lot of the stuff I sometimes knowingly ignore about my digital presence. While I do take my privacy very seriously for some activities, I admit I’m overly confident for others. Still, I probably can’t be perfectly secure if I want to enjoy the web.

To start, here’s an example of me not being responsible. One morning I woke up to an email telling me that my account had been accessed by some person in Asia (don’t really remember the country). Being very responsible, I quickly changed my password and for a while felt safe. This being the first time something like this happened to me, it didn’t take much longer for me to set up two factor authentication for the account. Since then, I can say I haven’t really worried about my privacy much.

That changed today, after hearing Dave Cormier´s talk. Even though (I think) I correctly protected the compromised account, I didn’t think about how other accounts may be affected. Off the top of my head, I can list a few of my accounts that still use my “old password” which would be pretty easy to find for whatever it is that had my password.

It’s very easy to make mistakes when browsing the web and, as discussed today, a lot of the times these mistakes can be permanent. To end today’s blog, I’ll just echo one of the ideas thrown around today, that being completely off the Internet is very hard, and even harder if you want to actually enjoy it.