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Study Skills

Wolfson College Academic Skills: Developing a digital footprint

Help with finding, managing and using information from the Wolfson Library Team.

Why develop a digital footprint?

  • It already exists so it is best to be in control of the information about you on the web
  • Increases chances of finding collaborators and them finding you
  • Showcases you and your work within and outwith academia, which is important for making an impact with your research
  • Means that you are prepared in case a potential employer uses it in recruitment
  • It takes a little time to get in order but is very straightforward

Surveying your current footprint

Your digital footprint is about the traces you leave on online and that others leave about you. It includes

  • Profiles on social networking sites
  • Profiles on websites e.g. department, clubs/societies
  • Photographs, slides, posters
  • Written text on blogs, papers, discussion boards

It relates to your work, volunteering, and your social life.While you may reserve certain behaviour for particular platforms, others won't make that distinction. We therefore recommend that you delete out-of-date profiles and posts/photographs that you consider inappropriate for colleagues/peers/family to see.

Find out about yourself!

Search for yourself, a peer or supervisor to find out what the web says about them. If it is about you, are there any surprises? Is it current? Is there anything that you want to change/delete?

Or use duckduckgo.com, a search engine that doesn't track your searches, store personal information or follow you with adverts. Unlike Google it will deliver the same results to everyone, regardless of your search history.

Download our Academic Skills Digital Footprint Guide

Making yourself more visible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some tips when tidying up your profiles:

Check your settings to show:

  • Education
  • Past experience
  • Awards
  • Publications
  • Media

Aim for consistency as there's bound to be someone with a name like yours:

  • Formal or informal?, initials, ORCiD
  • Photograph – situate this in your workplace or in the field. Think about using it to demonstrate your skills​

When the profiles are up to date, you can increase traffic to them by adding links to your email signature.

Planning

As you are already on the web, it makes sense to improve the quality and quantity of that information so that visitors to sites get a representative picture of you.

Think about what it is that you want to communicate: personal life, current work, potential employment, wider set of skills, or content e.g. blog? Secondly, consider your potential audience: peers, colleagues, potential employers, academy, or the wider public?

Structure your entries by providing a headline to grab attention, a summary for more information and evidence to demonstrate it.

e-professionalism

This is the way you engage yourself online in relation to your profession, including your attitudes, actions and your adherence to relevant professional codes of conduct. Developing a professional presence online requires (regular) reflection on the use of social media, the sites and language used and the (automatic) links between online accounts.

The University of Edinburgh, Managing your Digital Footprint 

Your online conduct should be underpinned by integrity, respect, dutifulness, honour and accountability.

Remember that the world is watching you and consider very carefully the topics that you comment on and the language that you use.

Code of Conduct

Consider following an online code of conduct, such as this one from the University of Leeds.

I will:

  • re-read everything before I post it, to check that the language and tone I’ve used is appropriate for the audience that might read it
  • check my privacy settings for each of my accounts, so that I know who can see what I post on different sites
  • let my friends know privately if they’ve posted something that could be misinterpreted as offensive or inappropriate.

I won’t:

  • post anything libellous, obscene or discriminatory
  • take part in any type of personal abuse or use aggressive language against another user, even if they post something that I find offensive
  • post anything that can be viewed openly without thinking about how it might be misinterpreted if taken out of context.

Tools for constructing a footprint

If you have access to profile space on your departmental/faculty website, make use of it. This is free space to promote and link to your work. If anyone searches for you they will be able to see that you are a legitimate member of the university and it will add authenticity to posts you make elsewhere on the web. Write about your current research and showcase any talks you given or publications.

Linkedin is a networking site for all sectors which gives you the opportunity to create an online portfolio, which is useful at all stages of your career, not just when job hunting. Make sure it is up-to-date, now and in the future. It isn't a CV, though you can link to one. Instead make a readable and evidenced account of your activities to date. Include media (such as Powerpoint presentations - see Slideshare below) where you can. Look at peers for ideas. It is also useful to find out what others have done in their careers to help you plan your own and to connect with others. If you are contacting someone you don't know that well, make it personal; for example, include a reminder about which conference you heard them talk at.

Academia.edu and ResearchGate are profile sites which are geared towards researchers. They are, however, still for-profit enterprises. They work in a similar way to Linkedin to showcase your talents and connect you with other researchers. While they may encourage you to upload your research papers you should be wary of the copyright restrictions around your research and even if you upload a pre-print, which may be permitted by the publisher, they are not a recognised repository for Open Access that meets funder requirements. You should instead deposit in the University's repository, Apollo, and add links to your profiles. For more information about Open Access, look at our tab 'Publishing your research'.

Any published author can set up a profile on Google Scholar. Click on the menu and select 'My profile'. Fill in the details and select the articles that match your name (you can fine tune this later). Choose to make your account public or private. You will then have access to citations statistics about you, your articles and books, as indexed in Google Scholar. You can cite these on your web page profile. Find out more about citations on our Measuring the Impact of your Research tab

Blogs

The informed researcher is both a consumer and producer. Engaging with social media is a way of following what is going on in your field, as well as talking about what you are doing.

Writing a blog is like creating a personal webpage, but generally the material is presented in chronological order. You could use this for promotional purposes or reflection on the research process. It may be that you want to share your thoughts and develop a following. Alternatively, it could be private journal that helps remind you what you have read and thought about when it comes to writing up. Also, just like Twitter you can follow others and receive a notification every time they publish. There are lots of different platforms, but more than quarter of all blogs use Wordpress.

If you are interested in reflective blogging, watch this short video from the Moore Library:
https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/wolfsoncollege/digital-footprint
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