Week 4: Where are you? Where are you going?

Human experience has changed with the exponential growth of technology. People from all over the world are sharing information about themselves online. Pictures of children, friends or yourself, opinions about current events, how-to videos, items to sell or looking to buy, among many others are shared in virtual space. 

This information takes on a life of its own. As with most information sharing, there are both good and bad aspects to this. Collaboration opportunities between medical teams, authors, musicians, and researchers that were not possible before new platforms were created continue to emerge – and new ones are being created every day.  

Information about you is online in surprising and sometimes disturbing ways. In the mid-2010s, the European Union passed ‘the right to be forgotten’ law. If you are a citizen of a country within the European Union, EU, you can request that your identity be erased from the online world. The law is being amended to limit erasure to within Europe but not the rest of the world. 

Human interaction extended through digital mediums running across the internet tells a story, but not a complete one.

Learning Objectives

· Consider understanding of self through the lens of online presence 

· Evaluate the construction of online profiles 

· Explore how technology is used to tell one’s story

· Apply academic and professional writing skills to first draft of reflection essay

Learning Resources

Required Readings

This week, there are 5 profiles about well-known people. These profiles are drawn from multiple types of sources. Each profile tells a whole story of the person, but perhaps not a complete or very detailed one. You will also find a story about ‘the right to be forgotten’ rule in the European Union. The video this week is a first-person narrative told by the author about being a misfit.  

Michelle Obama. (2020, May 7). Biography. https://www.biography.com/us-first-lady/michelle-obama

Holden, S. (2003). Johnny Cash, Country Music Bedrock, Dies at 71.  https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/sep/13/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

Productions, A. I. R. L. G.-. (2009). Extended Biography – The World Food Prize – Improving the Quality, Quantity and Availability of Food in the World. Retrieved from https://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/dr_norman_e_borlaug/extended_biography/

Profile: Malala Yousafzai. (2017, August 17). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23241937

Tim Berners-Lee biography. (2018, March 5). Biography Online. https://www.biographyonline.net/business/tim-berners-lee.html

Kelion, L., (24 September, 2019) Google wins landmark right to be forgotten case. BBC.com accessed at https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49808208 

Required Media

Yuknavitch, L. (2016). The beauty of being a misfit [Video]. TED: Ideas worth spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/lidia_yuknavitch_the_beauty_of_being_a_misfit

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