More About Transparency and Online Presence

Since my last post I've come across so many articles and blogs about our online image, appropriate levels of disclosure, and unintended perceptions that I realize I have nothing novel to say about these issues. All I have is questions. (This happens more often than not and it’s the reason I didn’t start blogging until a few months ago.) This morning in my aggregator Miguel Ghulin brought the issue up again. You should stop over to his blog, Around the Corner, and check out his post, “Transparency Hurts?” It caught my eye right away because of my recent ruminations and other feeds I’ve encountered lately. It seems to be my spiritual Lesson of the Month.

The word transparency intrigues me. I’m self-aware enough to know that off-line I tend to over-disclose and come across as more passionate about things than I really am, all in an effort to be sincere and authentic. I assume I have the same shortcomings online as well. But isn’t that transparency? I tend to value transparency above and beyond other virtues; perhaps to my detriment. Perhaps I’m kidding myself.

Yes, common sense, professionalism, and respect should rule when we are opining in any mode of communication, no doubt. But I’m an effusive extrovert who tends to think out loud (or online) and sort through things by doing so. I may vent as well; hopefully my rants aren’t too outrageous. Usually I’m over it as soon as I’ve expressed it. Having strong opinions doesn’t mean I’m sure I’m right, that I’m going over the edge, that I’m about to remodel my life or that I’m about to chuck my job because they don’t understand my curriculum and/or philosophies. I try not to post, IM or email in the midst of an emotional storm but I’ve violated that rule once or twice and paid the price. I’ll probably do it again, being who I am.

One thing’s for sure: the more people who read your online contributions, the more in the pool to form opinions about you. But it’s all so subjective. Can we spend our lives worrying about everyone’s opinion? Bottom line, I want my colleagues’ and employers’ respect. I hope my online presence will increase rather than destroy that. Since I’m a rank amateur at all this, who knows? I might look like a fool online. I certainly hope we’re allowed to make mistakes, learn, and grow as we go.

I started blogging and getting more involved in these virtual communities because I work in what I affectionately call an “Edtech Desert.” I feel starved for fellowship in this regard. So I joined some nings, started blogging, began to tweet, and stepped out to comment on others’ posts. Besides my need for professional stimulation and exchange, I came to the conclusion that I could only make steps forward in my career by creating an online presence, precisely because there are hardly any edtech jobs in my city. It doesn’t seem as if more than a handful of local education professionals I know off-line even read blogs or use social networking; they kind of see me as the lone geek/fanatic/nerd. Scary, isn’t it? The bald truth is, one of our districts even has a 1:1 initiative. However, I don’t know any of those folks and I’m not ready to apply for a new job. Of course some of my acquaintances or potential employers must be reading blogs, but they’re not reading mine. I have conflicting feelings about that. It gives me a false sense of anonymity which can be quite dangerous.

MGhulin questions whether he’s lost potential jobs because of his blog. I would think an employer could appreciate knowing something about us via our online presence rather than hiring a complete unknown. Maybe that’s naive. There’s always that chance that they will discover we have opposing philosophies or the like. But then again, do I want a job where the administrator and I are at odds philosophically….?

So we can choose to blog anonymously or use our real names or call ourselves something obtuse and hope only a select few know who we are. We can choose to blog about only non-controversial topics, reveal only our expertise, and come across as wise but boring pedagogues, or we can get real and reveal (in a professional way) our all-too-human questions, concerns, foibles, and opinions. The same goes for comments, nings, forums, IM or email. At this moment I’m leaning toward hiding and saying nothing, but if you know me at all, you know I’m incapable of doing that.

I still haven’t addressed the issue of what, if any, participation we should have in the communities our students frequent. It scares me to death that something I just intended as funny or friendly could be interpreted as inappropriate in this hyper-hysterical climate. Therefore, I limit my interactions with my students to quick, professional, and polite stickies on Think.com or an occasional note via school email. I have an anonymous MySpace I use only to check up on my son, my half-sister, and the occasional student. I have a Facebook account which is boring and innocuous. And my LinkedIn profile is mostly incomplete. Hopefully I’ve erred on the side of caution. I’m sure eventually my virtual foot will be inside my online mouth–it happens all the time in real life!

I will be anxious to read your feedback.