Title: What makes up your digital identity?
Course: Anglès 4t ESO 1r T > Section: Unit 1

Digital Attributes

What is your online fingerprint?

Your digital identity is all the information about you in the digital world - everything you post about yuorself! likes and dislikes, comments and personal info, too! It helps others check that you are who you say you are and then you can be tracked, surveyed and monetized on the web. How does what you post online affect your identity? These information is known as: digital attributes and digital activities.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

So, can you see how  necessary it is to keep an eye on that?

Let's start with your digital attributes! Here you have some examples of the most common digital attributes recorded on the net: date of birth, medical history, ID numbers, bank details, login credentials (username & passwords), email address, phone number, school name, fingerprint, eye scan, badges and tokens, etc. This is private information so, you should be careful when you share it online.

Stop & Think: Think before you share! What information is OK to share online?

Watch the video by commonsense.org and write your ideas in My Learner Diary 1 or in My Basic Ideas 1. Use the hints below to brainstorm ideas.

by Commonsense.org/education under Creative Commons license Attribution - NonCommercial -NonDerivative (BY-NC-ND 4.0)

1. Make a list of all the social media platforms you usually use.
2. Find out what the minimum required age to legally use these social media platforms is.
3. Make a list of the information about you that appears on them. Who has posted it?
4. How many selfies have you posted on these platforms? What do these selfies tell about you?
5. Consider what are the most important things that make you YOU. Is it where you live? Your personality? Your physical appearance? Where your family is from? Write as many details about your identity as possible.

Who is Who on the Internet?

The way you use social media can place you into four major categories of users: the victim, the lurker, the geek and the internet celebrity. Let's have a closer look at them!

The victim: It is the least desirable one to be! They are very visible online, mostly because others share information about them without permission! They are victims of fraping - when someone logs into their account and pretends to be them - of tagging in unflattering photos or even their private intimate photos are shared online. They are clearly victims of cyberbullying!
Image by sunil kargwal from Pixabay

The lurker: They usually mask their visibility online: they are present on social media platforms, and they even join funny, entertaining activities, but they are quite unnoticed. They follow various profiles, mainly friends, family or celebrities, but rarely interact, just watch! Peer drama is not of their interest!

Image by Anna Bauer from Wikimedia Commons

The geek: They are not only full-time gamers but also like to share posts related to their interests and passions: they create and promote content online – such as fan fiction or music videos. They spent a lot of time on so many different activities and projects that one can think they have obsessive or addictive behaviours, and so get really worried about them!

Image by muhammad rizky klinsman from Pixabay

The internet celebrity: They live and breath on the web! They spend hours perfecting selfies for Instagram or enjoy speaking to the world via a YouTube vlog. Their main goal is to promote themselves on social media platforms using the latest trends to become the centre of attention online. They are clearly open sharers but more savvy than most when it comes to privacy.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

The trolls: Last but not least, we have the trolls! They are most similar to playground bullies and focus on starting arguments and fights on social media and forums, often by saying the most grossly insensitive and offensive things they can come up with. They feel protected by the anonymity of the internet and may become really aggressive. So the best way to deal with them is to ignore them, though it may be harder than it sounds!

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

( "types of internet users" idea adapted from Miniops "Participar a la xarxa" and Jason England newrisingmedia.com)

Stop & Think:

1. Do the Social Media Personality Quiz to see what type are you. Do you agree with the results?
2. Do the exercises on Let's practice reading 1.1 about cyber-bullying.
3. Then watch the video and think about it. Post your ideas on the Discussion Forum: Internet Users. Collaborate with TWO entries (start a debate and reply to a previous post).  Click the folder Writing guides and read the guide on "How to participate in a Forum" in a correct way.

by Commonsense.org/education under Creative Commons license Attribution - NonCommercial -NonDerivative (BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Use the hints below to brainstorm ideas:

    1. Look the phrase "don't feed the trolls" up in the dictionary. What does it mean?
    2. What kind of internet user is the most adequate? And the least?
    3. What kind of internet user best describes your personality online?
    4. Have you ever acted like a troll on the internet? What did you do? How did you feel?
    5. Do you think gender stereotypes are present online? Would you say boys tend to have a given personality online? Would you say girls tend to have a given personality online?

Digital Activities

A trail is a path or a track that someone can easily follow and your digital footprint is a record of what you do online, including the sites you visit and the things you share. It can also include things that others post that involve you, such as pictures or comments.

Can you see a relationship between these words?

What do you do online?

Here we have some examples of the most common digital activities we do online: likes, comments and shares, uploading photos on Facebook, Instagram, etc., online shopping, forum posts, search queries, sign petitions, geotagging, downloading apps, watching videos, music streaming, etc.

Image by Mizter_X94 from Pixabay

Stop & Think:

1. Do the Social Media Vocabulary exercise and try to remember as many new words as possible.
2. Use the hints below to brainstorm ideas and write your ideas in My Learner Diary 1 or in My Basic Ideas 1 .

- Make a list of activities you have done online for the past week. What do these activities tell about you?  e.g appear in a video posted by a friend, post comments on friends' selfies, appear on a top-scores list of an online game, watch YouTube, search online a present for your parents, stream your favourite music group on Spotify, use Google Docs to do school assignments, etc.
- Do you always tell the truth about yourself, when you are on social media? Make a list of situations you have experienced where you or other people told fake stories.

What is your online footprint?

Today, it's not only who we are now in the real world, but also everything that has been once posted on social media about ourselves: this will be our digital footprint for a long, long time because it's not that easy to erase definitely. It's not like a tattoo that we can have removed from our skin whenever we like. Unfortunately, we can't always control where our information is stored or who is using it and why.

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

When we make a decision on the information we want to show to the world, we define our identity: a tattoo on our skin, a T-shirt with a message, a crazy haircut or ... our posts and photos on the social media have the same message: Hey you! Look out! Here I come!

However, how many different digital identities do real people have? Have you ever heard of Finsta and Rinsta?

Finsta is a cool conjunction for fake and Instagram and it's used for posting to a specific group of people or to post anonymously. On the flip side, Rinsta is a conjunction of real and Instagram.

Stop & Think: Do you realize that we live in a glass house and everybody can see us? Here you have some teenagers' views about it. Listen to them carefully. Use the subtitles to help you.

by Commonsense.org/education under Creative Commons license Attribution - NonCommercial -NonDerivative (BY-NC-ND 4.0)

1. Find out the meaning of some new words you have heard in the video and collaborate with TWO entries to the Glossary 1. Click the folder Writing guides and read the guide on How to write a Glossary.

2. Collaborate with TWO entries ( start a debate and reply to a previous post) to the Discussion Forum: Glass House. Click the folder Writing guides and read the guide on How to participate in a Forum in a correct way.

Think about the idea of "spam accounts" and "regular accounts" that appears on the video. Use the hints below to help you brainstorm ideas.

  - What are the benefits and drawbacks of presenting yourself in different ways online? Is it fair?
  - What reasons do teenagers have for creating and using fake social media accounts?
  - Is it worth the effort to have a finsta? Why, or why not?
  - How many different accounts have you got?
  - Have you got a fake account? Have you ever used it to say something harmful or mean? Would you say the same thing in person?
  - Is the YOU that people see online a real or a fake YOU?

Pros and Cons of Social Media

Teens, Social Media and Technology

According to a survey by the Pew Research Centre, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat were the most popular online platforms among teens in 2018 in the USA. American teenagers have a quite clear view on the influence these social media platforms have in their daily lives. What about you? Do you agree with their opinions?

Image by Camilo Garcia from Pixabay

Read the following  online article. Here you have an adapted text, so it will be easier for you to understand.

Source: Pewresearch.org Terms of Use

Stop & Think: Do the following reading comprehension activities.

1. Do the quiz: Let's practice reading 1.2
2. Use a dictionary, when necessary, and collaborate with two entries in the Glossary 1 about two words you have learnt while reading this text. Click the folder Writing guides and read the guide on How to write a Glossary.

FINAL TASK

So, it's time for the final task. Remember this is an INDIVIDUAL TASK.

Goal: to tell a personal anecdote, edit your profile on Moodle and post an entry in the blog introducing yourself as a social media user and digital citizen. Topic question: What makes you different from others?

Steps:

Step 1)

1. Expand your vocabulary on social media and personality description. Do the quiz Let's practice vocabulary 1.
2. Review the H5P presentations about Narrative text: an anecdote describing a personal experience, Past narrative tenses and Expressing time and sequence.
3. Write a text of about 90 words. Tell an anecdote you have experienced on a social media platform. Click the folder Writing guides and read the guide on How to write a Narrative text. Upload your pdf document on the FINAL TASK individual assessment 1.

Step 2)

1. Write an entry to your Blog that defines you as a social media user and a digital citizen: Write a text about 50-60 words. Introduce yourself, describe yourself and add an image that best describes you. Refer to an anecdote in short and add a link to full text - your anecdote (pdf)  Click the folder Writing guides and read the guide on How to write a Blog.

Step 3)

1. Do the FINAL TASK peer assessment 1 and give a mark to your classmates' work.

Step 4)

1. Give feedback on the Exit Ticket 1