Digital literacy is defined by Paul Glister as “the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers.” (as referenced in (Fulton & McGuinness, 2016, p. 9)). Digital literacy in this day and age is an increasingly important skill to have. Without it, things like searching for information can be quite difficult. I would consider myself to be digitally literate, able to find information and figure out how to use a software. This project was a great excuse to put my digital literacy to the test and see if I could complete all of the tasks successfully.

Setting up the Padlet was easy to do. After logging in it was easy to create a blank Padlet for this project. Importing screenshots and links to the other components of the project was easy to do as well. There was a bit of a learning curve involved with taking screenshots on my computer and then figuring out how to save them but other than that it was very easy to use. I think Padlet is a great alternative to PowerPoint depending on a person’s information needs. Sometimes PowerPoint can overwhelm with the amount of options that are given and are sometimes unnecessary for certain tasks. Padlet is a great and accessible way to present information to others in an online environment.

Pinterest and Pocket showed me how to organise and compile information in order to be able to retrieve it easily at a later date. As stated in my comparison section in my Padlet, I acknowledge that my difficulties with Pocket could perhaps be sorted out with more time spent using the site. I also have to admit my bias towards Pinterest as I have been using it for a few years so I may have forgotten whether I had any difficulties with it on my first use. ‘Pinterest focused on content discoverability from the very beginning’ (Kakehi, 2019) this quote from an article about the two sites explains why its easier to discover content on Pinterest more so than Pocket.

I found the Map Mashup section to be really fun to use. I ended up using Google Maps to create this. I decided to keep it simple and just do an informative map about EU Member States and when they joined the EU. I could see myself using this feature in the future when planning a holiday, as its very easy to pinpoint a location and add a description of it. I also had the option to put the places I had pinpointed in a custom order which was handy for alphabetising the countries. This platform is great for creating, curating and publishing information for others to then use. There are many articles online which provide links to different interesting Mashups made by others using various sites. Some of these include a map of all the cities in the world, a map of historical conflicts, and many more (Basu, 2011).

 Using Screen Pal was a great learning experience. It was very quick and easy to download. When the programme was finished downloading the option to record came up immediately, so I didn’t have to go looking for it. It gives you the option to narrate over your recording using your computer mic or an external mic. This is very useful for creating How-To videos like the one I made for this project, as it allows you to explain what you are doing as you are doing it. This does away with the need to film a separate audio file and sync it up afterwards. What I found annoying was that you had to pay a premium subscription to be able to record with computer audio. This would have been helpful for my video as sound is integral to the music software I was using, and I felt the audio wasn’t quite clear enough. This could be helped by using a professional microphone. Either way the software was very useful to be able to share content with other online, offering a simple way to capture my computer screen for others to see. I myself have found this useful in the past when I needed to find out how to perform a certain task on my computer, for example a quicker way to add multiple files to a folder. Editing my video in YouTube was very straight forward and easy to do. In it I was able to add a description to my video, tags, and even edit the auto generated closed captions that accompanied my video. This last function makes it more accessible for those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, as so often there is content online without subtitles of any kind.

Overall, my understanding of curating and sharing information has greatly improved. It has forced me to think about the ways in which I use platforms like Pinterest, Google Maps, and YouTube. It has also introduced me to new platforms like Screen Pal and Pocket which help to improve myself as a digital citizen.

References

Basu, S. (2011, August 31). 10 Unique Google Maps Mashups You Can Explore For Information. Retrieved from Makeuseof.com: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-unique-google-maps-mashups-explore-information/

Fulton, C., & McGuinness, C. (2016). Digital Detectives : Solving Information Dilemmas in an Online World. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Kakehi, T. (2019, March 2). Bookmarking the internet: How Pocket & Pinterest started and will survive. Retrieved from Medium: https://takuma-kakehi.medium.com/bookmarking-the-internet-how-pocket-pinterest-started-and-will-survive-2e0281ba59c1

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Instagram's policy states that they have the right to sell users content to third parties. This violates one of the 5Rights 'the right to know who has access to your data and for what purposes'.

Like Anderson's article, I simplified the language to make it easier for the user to understand.

Prior to this portfolio I did not have a LinkedIn page, though I knew a bit about it from my peers who already had accounts. After making the account I found it a bit difficult to find how to add certain elements to my profile, namely my resumé. I had to look up on Google how to add this to my profile. This also prompted me to update my resume which I hadn’t updated since 2022. I don’t have a head shot currently, which I feel is needed for a more professional profile so I will be looking to get one in the coming weeks. Looking at other peoples profiles on LinkedIn, it’s clear that the type of language used on peoples updates is largely the same, with a lot of ‘I’m thrilled to announced’ or ‘I’m pleased to share’. I found this interesting as it’s so clearly different to other social apps like twitter and Facebook. Public perception, or more accurately recruiter perception, is very important. I feel more confident having made this account to put myself out there in the job market, and also with presenting myself as a candidate for jobs.

I found rewriting Instagram’s privacy policy to be quite tricky as it was hard to understand what the privacy policy was actually saying. Reading Anderson’s article made it easier to understand the basics of what their policy was (Anderson, 2017). ‘Research has shown that users, who do not pay attention to privacy terms, tend to be less privacy-aware’ (Soumelidou & Tsohou, 2020, p. 510). It’s easy for apps like Instagram and Facebook to buy and sell people’s data when people don’t read the fine print. My main goal was to make sure that the new privacy policy was based on users making informed decisions about what happens with their data. I used very easy to understand language as the original Instagram privacy policy used a lot of technical jargon that wasn’t easy to decipher as an everyday person.

Creating the infographic about how I manage my online presence was a great way to take a step back and think about how I present myself online and how I use social media. One source that helped me to come up with content for this was Digital Detectives: Solving Information Dilemmas in an Online World by Crystal Fulton and Claire McGuinness. One thing in particular it gave me inspiration for was a section about digital footprints. ‘While it may seem that pictures and posts distributed by you or your friends are harmless, this material can come back to haunt you in future.’ (Fulton & McGuinness, 2016, p. 153). This bit in particular remined me that nothing is truly private on the internet and that it is important to manage what I post onto social media. In extreme cases old problematic posts can cost people their jobs, as seen time and time again with various celebrities and politicians. As far as the actual making of the infographic, I use Canva regularly for various things like making cover images for my Spotify playlists and creating weekly posts for UCD Music Society’s Instagram so I was used to the layout of the app. I had never made an infographic before so this was a nice way to try it out for the first time. The article by Jamie Spencer helped me in my understanding of what an infographic should look like and what the goal of the infographic is (Spencer). It provided me with a comprehensive list of examples of infographics and different uses for them.

References

Anderson, J. (2017, January 6). A lawyer rewrote Instagram’s privacy policy so kids and parents can have a meaningful talk about privacy. Quartz.

Fulton, C., & McGuinness, C. (2016). Digital Detectives : Solving Information Dilemmas in an Online World. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Soumelidou, A., & Tsohou, A. (2020). Effects of privacy policy visualization on users’ information privacy awareness level: The case of instagram. [Users’ information privacy awareness level]. Information Technology & People, 502-534.

Spencer, J. (n.d.). A Collection Of The Best Infographics. Retrieved from Make A Website Hub: https://makeawebsitehub.com/best-infographics/