{"id":371,"date":"2010-11-14T01:11:27","date_gmt":"2010-11-14T07:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opengecko.com\/computers-2\/15minpln-no-3-deciding-who-you-are-online\/"},"modified":"2010-11-14T01:11:27","modified_gmt":"2010-11-14T07:11:27","slug":"15minpln-no-3-deciding-who-you-are-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opengecko.com\/geckoview\/computers-2\/15minpln-no-3-deciding-who-you-are-online\/","title":{"rendered":"#15MINPLN No. 3 – Deciding Who You Are (Online)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Image: <\/font>Some rights reserved<\/font><\/a> by <\/font>fotologic<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

Short version:<\/font><\/h2>\n

Work out what you want to share about <\/em>yourself when you develop your PLN.<\/font><\/p>\n

Long version:<\/font><\/h2>\n

(See the <\/font>first #15MINPLN post<\/font><\/a> to understand what this series is about).<\/font><\/p>\n

This should be a quick activity, but could potentially take you the longest.<\/font><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve followed step 2 \u2013 breathe in, breathe out, you have already thought about what your interests are online, and these should form the basis of who you are within your PLN (Personal Learning Community).<\/font><\/p>\n

There are a number of questions which all stem from one central question \u2013 how much of the real you<\/em> do you want to share online in your PLN (bearing in mind that what you share for like-minded educators around the world will be equally accessible for anyone; teacher, parent, student or otherwise).<\/font><\/p>\n

There is a lot of important discussion and debate about protecting your online identity. Much of that focuses on how to ensure that aspects of someone\u2019s life are not made public to the world online \u2013 avoiding any negative, privacy-invading identity issues.<\/font><\/p>\n

Putting your information online can be an intimidating idea to many at first. But I think it is good to think of it this way \u2013 in this regard, you are the editor of what goes online, and you are actively creating a positive online presence (the healthy flipside of avoiding a negative online presence).<\/font><\/p>\n

Building a PLN necessitates deliberately putting information about you online, and while it might be tempting to hold back on details, if you are going to join the conversation with other educators they will probably want to be convinced that you are the real deal.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Image: <\/font>Some rights reserved<\/font><\/a> by <\/font>waldopepper<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

This comes down to a question of how you draw the line between your professional life, and your \u2018everyday\u2019 life \u2013 I am not calling it a private life, because if something is deemed by you to be private, then you have already made the decision about that particular thing. I am talking about the aspects of your life beyond your workplace that you might<\/em> consider sharing as part of your overall identity. Are you happy to share with others details of your interests, home, family, tastes in music and TV, holiday destinations, etc. You should probably make that decision now. It is up to you. Plenty of educators with established PLNs do share everyday stuff \u2013 their progress with training for a marathon, their advice to their parents on whether to buy an iphone, their holiday plans. This sort of detail can help other folk connect with you more readily \u2013 to know that you are human. While \u2018The Conversation\u2019 is largely focused on professional ideas, it should be no surprise that a sizeable chunk of tweets on twitter by educators are personal references, sharing the whims, trials and tribulations of their everyday lives.<\/font><\/p>\n

As above, and this is hopefully an obvious point, anything you consider private should stay offline. This diagram helps us to remember this:<\/font><\/p>\n

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Image: <\/font>Some rights reserved<\/font><\/a> by <\/font>Dave Makes<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

So the point, again, is to have a think now about how you will project yourself. Here are some smaller questions to get started with: <\/font><\/p>\n