Content uploaded by Lis Setyowati
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Lis Setyowati on Jul 28, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
DIGITAL LIFE, DIGITAL TATTOO
AND THE FILTER BUBBLE:
raising the awareness and the cautions on online activities
through information literacy education
Lis Setyowati
Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University
Jl. Prof Soedharto, Tembalang, Semarang, Indonesia
Email: lis@ft.undip.ac.id
Abstract
Digital life has become an extension of human existence, therefore everyone may now
take digital life for granted. Many activities, such as communicating, finding and sharing
information, etc. which used to be done through the analog media are now conducted
through digital ones. However, many of us may not realize the consequences we have to bear
with these online activities. An activity done in the digital environment will affect one’s real
life. Being recorded and archived, these activities will be our digital tattoo. They stay forever.
This digital tattoo will not only affect one’s reputation but also one’s infosphere. Some may be
aware of, first, crafting information about themselves, but most do not realize the second.
They are not aware that their infosphere is pretty much determined by their digital tattoo.
Many search engines and websites recorded every online activity. They create
personalization of information services by applying algorithms based on the archives they
stored. This seems to be a convenient way to get information. However, it has its own harm.
Such service prevents us from getting information beyond our habits and preferences, thus, it
prevent us from having a wider perspective. Eli Periser (2011) called this filter bubble.
Everyone needs to know this. Through information literacy education, librarians can help to
spread the knowledge on how to maintain digital tattoo and to minimize the filter bubble.
Keywords: digital life, digital tattoo, filter bubble, information literacy
Introduction
Tattoo is a graphic art that uses
skin as the media. It’s not just a paint on
the surface of the skin but strokes of ink on
the deeper layer. Once tattooed, it is hard
to be removed. Those who wear one are
well aware of this, in fact this is the reason
why they get one. They want to abide their
memory or put a signature that represents
the value they hold and believe. Therefore,
a tattoo is both unique and personal due to
the value for its owner. Since it is unique
and personal, a tattoo is sometimes used as
a mark to identify someone. This is
because only few people have tattoos and
each is unique.
That’s how we see tattoo in the
analog world. Somehow, similarly it
applies in the digital world. When man’s
life is highly dependent upon digital
technology, many of their daily activities,
including communicating and finding
information, are done with the help of
digital media. An email account that is
used as “a home address”, is no longer
used merely for receiving electronic mails,
but also as “a passcode” needed for many
activities from using social media sites or
doing transactions through e-banking or
commercial sites, etc.
In doing so, we voluntarily share
many personal information to many sites
we visit. This information is then kept by
each website visited. We may leave pieces
of information there, including our
activities during the course of the visit.
And this is how we left our digital
footprints. Unlike footprints we left in the
analog world, the footprints we left in the
digital world is permanent. It is as
permanent as a tattoo in the analog
world(Enriquez, 2013).
In this article, we discuss the
concern over digital tattoo, filter bubble
and library role to raise the awareness on
these issues.
Digital Identity
Many of us have a parallel life in
both the analog and digital world. In the
analog life, each of us has an identity.
Similarly, there is an identity we hold in
the digital world. Identity is a set of
essential and unique characteristics that are
associated with an entity(Abelson and
Lessig, 1998), that differs a person from
the others (Fletcher, Griffiths, & Kutar,
2005). More than just a home address of
one’s existence in the digital world, an
email account is most common mean
through which one shares personal
information such as age, sex, occupation,
address, and phone number. This
information shapes our digital identity.
However personal information is
not the only information that shape digital
identity. Digital identity is also shaped by
our online behaviors, such as sending
messages, blogging, social media use,
doing e-commerce, etc. Those activities
require an email account, which serves as
an identifier for each user.This is how
everyone leaves trails when he gets into
digital world.
Many websites and search engines
keep their user’s information as well as
their online behaviors, because these are
highly valued commodity in today’s digital
economy (Abelson and Lessig, 1998).
Such information is so valuable that every
corporation would gather as much data of
personal information as possible and get it
archived. Compiled and analyzed, the
archives are used to create a complete user
profile for digital marketing purposes.
As business is getting more
competitive, every business player has to
grab their potential customers’ attention.
To do this, they have to offer products that
suits customer’s interest. However, each
customers’ interest differs. They have their
own personals needs, wants, and
preferences. Therefore, the product offered
is not random, but customized for each
individual. They have to cleverly offer all
the products that the customers might
need. The greater match with their needs,
the greater chance they’d buy the product.
For this, they have to collect as
much information as possible on who their
customers are, what they do, how much
they earn, what they like and don’t like,
where they’ve been and what they do, etc.
The data gathered is then archived and
analyzed to make each user their own
profile.
Digital Tattoo
The archives of one’s online
activities is called digital tattoo(Camacho,
Minelli, & Grosseck, 2012). It is also
known as digital footprints or digital
shadows.Those who are engaged in online
activities have their own digital tattoo. It
becomes an identifier for them, thus
becomes a digital identity.
There are 2 ways digital tattoo can
be formed: actively and passively. The first
is through intentional activities and the
second is through a web browser.Active
digital footprints is “personal data made
accessible online through deliberate
posting and sharing information by the
users” (Madden et al., 2007). Any
activities intended to craft the information
on oneself including sharing personal
information such as blogging, creating
social media profiles, posting and
commenting on blogs or social media,
sharing information about active
participation in discussion group, or
mailing list, crafting personal website, are
considered as intentional activities.
However,the responsibility for this
is not solely on an individual. One may not
be conscious that others may contribute to
shape his digital footprints. It is also
important to note that, others can shape
one’s digital tattoo. Others can put our
personal information online, such as our
employment records becomes public
records that are made availablefor use.
And as the 2.0 technology enables content
sharing, social media tagging and becomes
a tool to share details information with
names, places, subject matter, and
dates(Madden et al., 2007), adding up to
one’s digital tattoo.Such things creates
passive digital footprints, personal data
made accessible online with no deliberate
intervention from an individual.(Madden
et al., 2007)
The other way to form a digital
tattoo is through a web browser. Many
might not aware of this passive digital
tattoo. Many search engines like Google
are archiving all of its users’ activities
when browsing the net. In fact, Google is
using fifty-seven signals from its users,
(Pariser, 2011) and put information such as
user’s search terms, computer’s address,
and the unique identifier for their Web
browser on the record(Madden et al.,
2007)
Not only that many websites we’re
visiting, track and keep all the information
about the visitor,equipped with cookies,
these sites are archiving the footprints we
left when accessing them. Every single
activity from googling, a web visit, online
transaction, watching streaming videos,
tagging, sending messages to pushing the
like button. The more online activities you
do, the more digital footprint you leave.
As today’s mobile technology
facilitates many online activities, it is
much easier to leave digital footprints.
Smartphones equipped with many
software functions, from email, social
media (Facebook, twitter, Linkedin),
internet browser, etc, used to capture
images, shooting a video. Combined with
the use of cloud storage, like Google drive,
the digital footprint becomes evenmore
complex. Synching the many devices we
have would mean giving way for the
companies would make it easier for
Google to gather more information from
its users, thus, making it easier for the
profiling process.
The footprints scattered in many
websites might be small, but all compiled,
these records can give a detailed user’s
profile, age, address, job, your online
activities, friends, hobbies, likes,
preferences. These can even be used to
predict what your future actions.
Awareness of digital tattoo: the
significance
There are at least two main reasons
why it is necessary to understand digital
tattoo: personal branding and filter bubble.
Personal branding
Personal branding concerns with how
others perceive someone, based on his
knowledge about that person. In the digital
world, where identities are shaped in
computer-mediated environmentssuch as
social media networks, blogs,personal
website (Labrecque & Milne, 2011),
personal information is more easy to find,
thus making it easy for others to know
one’s personal brand. (Labrecque &
Milne, 2011; Madden et al., 2007). As long
as the information found is positive, one’s
personal brand is benefited. On the
contrary, if the information found is
negative, then one’s reputation is at harm.
Filter Bubble
Filter bubble (Pariser, 2011) is the effect of
an internet when tailored to the personal
identity of the individual, thus isolating
him from other perspectives (Michelucci,
2013).Personalization is part of a
marketing strategy, selling the right
product to the right person.
Nowadays, man has to deal with
abundant information. With the rapid
growth of information, keeping it up
becomes a daunting task to do. To better
serve the customers, information service
providers creates personalized information
filtering, so that their customers can get
information with ease.
Such personalization would mean
that the product should meet one’s
need.Tailored to one’s needs, the
information given is customized, based on
their profile, either their search history,
what they like, what they click, etc. With
the help of algorithm, information
providers will decide relevant information
for each.Companies such as Yahoo,
Google, Facebook, Youtube, and
Microsoft Live apply such personalized
filtering (Pariser, 2011).
Personalized filtering seems to
offer an ideal customization. Each user
will get the information based on what he
usually searches for, what he likes or what
he preferred to read. Ifone takes a careful
notice on Google search, everyone will get
different result for the exact same search
terms.Somehow, such filtering also means
that there is information hidden from us,
thus narrowing perspectives by limiting
the information. In other words, one’s
informational environment is determined
by the way we use the media.
In the area of science, this could
cause harm because academics often
encouraged to get engaged in social media
to build networks among their peers, share
information, promote their works, and
keep up on the latest research.
Take the use of Facebook for
example. When you do many clicks on
certain subjects on your facebook
newsfeed, it would affect the information
that will appear on your newsfeed. The
clicking activities represent your thought
and beliefs. Calling it out loud, it will
resonates. You will get similar sound.
Imagine if you’re only exposed to similar
thoughts, then it will be difficult to
understand other views, to get connected
to new ideas.
Another example of personalized
filtering’s effect is the use of Google.
When someone use Google to search for
information on celebrity gossips much
often than searching scientific journal
articles, he might find it rather difficult to
get reliable resources for his research
paper.
Digital tattoo and information literacy
education
Most of us becomes a digital
citizen now, someone who use internet on
a daily basis (Mossberger, Tolbert dan
McNeal, 2007). As a digital citizen, we
have to know the world we live on,
including digital tattoo and filter bubble
and the cost it can cause for our life.
As both a digital citizen and
someone who works in the information
services sector, a librarian needs to know
about digital tattoo, not only for their own
good, but also for their profession, to share
the knowledge with their patron, through
information literacy education.
It is important to share the
following tips in relation to the digital
community:
1. Use social media networks wisely. Use
private settings and delete any unused
social media accounts. Avoid sharing
too much information through social
media, particularly for important
information such as passwords, phone
numbers, home address, pin number or
images of important documents like ID
or passport.
2. Check your own digital tattoo by
googling yourself or using application
such as BigFoot.
3. Be careful when you install apps, they
usually ask your permission to access
personal information such email
account and contacts.
4. Use secondary email to join social
media networks
5. Use a more neutral search engine that
protect user’s privacy, such as
DuckDuckGo.com dan Ixquick.com.
6. Use application for digital footprint
management such as Disconnect
(Disconnect.me), DoNotTrackMe
(Abine.com) andGhostery
(Ghostery.com). These application limit
access to to personal information by
blocking cookies.
7. When you look for scientific
information, it would be best to look
into a journal database, instead of
Google.
Conclusion
Your interaction with digital life
affect your real life. Your online activities
are archived and in some ways will affect
your informational environment. Many
people are still unaware of this. Librarians
can offer the help to raise the awareness
among patrons as digital citizens on wise
information behavior. Through
information literacy education, librarians
can help to spread the knowledge on how
to maintain digital tattoo and to minimize
the filter bubble.
References
Abelson, Hal and Lessig, Lawrence (1998) Digital
Identity in Cyberspace. Accessed through
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/
student-papers/fall98-papers/identity/linked-
white-paper.html
Camacho, M., Minelli, J., & Grosseck, G. (2012).
Self and identity : raising undergraduate
students ’ awareness on their digital
footprints, 46, 3176–3181.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.032
Enriquez, Juan. (2013, May). Your online life,
permanent as a tattoo [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Fu1C-oBdsMM
Fletcher, G., Griffiths, M., & Kutar, M. (2005). A
Day in the Digital Life : A Preliminary
Sousveillance Study Finding the Digital
Footprint Privacy in a Technologically
Saturated World, (2001).
Labrecque, L. I., & Milne, G. R. (2011). Online
Personal Branding : Processes , Challenges ,
and Implications. Journal of Interactive
Marketing, 25(1), 37–50.
doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2010.09.002
Madden, M., Fox, S., Smith, A., & Vitak, J. (2007).
Digital Footprints Online identity
management and search in the age of
transparency Findings, (December).
Pariser, E. (2011). The Filter Bubble. New York:
The Penguin Press.
Copyright © 2016 Lis Setyowati. Penulis
memberikan kepada MIP-UGM lisensi non
eksklusif untuk menggunakan naskah ini untuk
penggunaan pribadi dengan mencantumkan
hak cipta. Penulis juga memberikan lisensi
non-eksklusif kepada MIP-UGM untuk
mempublikasikan naskah ini melalui Web,
CD-ROM, flashdisk, dan bentuk cetak untuk
prodising International Conference on Science
Mapping 2016. Dilarang menggunakan naskah
untuk keperluan lain kecuali bila sudah
meminta ijin kepada penulis.
