Anonymous accounts
Confidentiality and online security are considerations when working in an online environment. The internet has profoundly changed society but we are only beginning to develop the tools and strategies for examining the effect. One theorist, dana boyd, studies the effect of online social networking. Her book, It's complicated: The social lives of networked teen provides some useful insights. Increasingly the task for educators is to prepare people for a world where digital citizenship is a fundamental fact of life.
Most people use the internet both for personal and for professional purposes. It is important to be able to keep those usages separate. Using anonymous accounts can be part of an effective strategy for maintaining confidentiality and personal privacy.
Web-proofing
While many of the risks and hazards tend to be sensationalized in the mainstream media, it is important to be aware of "web-proofing" strategies to avoid problems. One of the most basic principles is "security through obscurity" and the use of anonymous accounts.
The first activity is to establish a new, anonymous, web-based Google account specifically for this course. Your account will give you access to a wide variety of Google products and services that we will use throughout the course. You can also use this identity to access any of the other web-based applications we will explore.
When you set up your Google account for this course do not use your real name. Use an alias that does not give clues about your name, age or gender and one that will not attract the attention of web search engines. You can use a random series of letters and numbers in combination, for example, "abc222@gmail.com". We will be using a number of online applications that will require a user name, a password and an active email account. Please select an alias for your user name and a password that you will be able to use in multiple accounts. The best way to determine if your alias meets the course requirement for anonymity is to Google it. A truly anonymous account should return no search results.
You can set up multiple Google accounts for other purposes and use your real name later if you like, but for the purpose of this course we will only use anonymous Google accounts set up with an alias. Accounts that do not conform to this protocol will not be reviewed for grading.
If you want to know if your name is random, do a Google search. It should come back with no hits.
Most people use the internet both for personal and for professional purposes. It is important to be able to keep those usages separate. Using anonymous accounts can be part of an effective strategy for maintaining confidentiality and personal privacy.
Web-proofing
While many of the risks and hazards tend to be sensationalized in the mainstream media, it is important to be aware of "web-proofing" strategies to avoid problems. One of the most basic principles is "security through obscurity" and the use of anonymous accounts.
The first activity is to establish a new, anonymous, web-based Google account specifically for this course. Your account will give you access to a wide variety of Google products and services that we will use throughout the course. You can also use this identity to access any of the other web-based applications we will explore.
When you set up your Google account for this course do not use your real name. Use an alias that does not give clues about your name, age or gender and one that will not attract the attention of web search engines. You can use a random series of letters and numbers in combination, for example, "abc222@gmail.com". We will be using a number of online applications that will require a user name, a password and an active email account. Please select an alias for your user name and a password that you will be able to use in multiple accounts. The best way to determine if your alias meets the course requirement for anonymity is to Google it. A truly anonymous account should return no search results.
You can set up multiple Google accounts for other purposes and use your real name later if you like, but for the purpose of this course we will only use anonymous Google accounts set up with an alias. Accounts that do not conform to this protocol will not be reviewed for grading.
If you want to know if your name is random, do a Google search. It should come back with no hits.
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