At first I would like to mention that I believe the point of this task is not information can I retrieve about myself and how, rather than how much information can the others derive by me if start searching about me. So let’s rock and roll.
Somebody put something in my drink (Ramones are playing on the background) and I am waking up without remember anything about myself. I have two dogs, my id and a laptop, connected to the internet. But oops, I don’t remember anything about me. Definitely, somebody put something in my drink.
Luckily I remember the basics, such as how to use the internet and a searching engine. OK then, let’s see what happens if I write my name in Google. I have heard somewhere that Google results are different, depending on who is the one searching. It seems that I am not logged in anywhere, so this means that my results will be the sae as everyone else’s results.
My name in this ID is spelled in a strange language, so I should write it like that. According to my keyboard, this language is Greek. So let’s see…
Hmm it seems that I am a journalist. I was born in Australia and I graduated from University of Athens where apparently I studied media. This is the two first results that are coming from Mr. Google. They are from a project which was made in order to celebrate the Press Freedom Day and I have paticipated there. They have taken me an interview and according to the video (in which I am being interviewd) I am a technology editor. A small CV of mine is also there which says that I am a technology editor. Hmm so until now I know that I was born in Australia, studied in a university and I am currently a journalist. I also can hear my opinions about press and freedom of speach. The third result comes from pathfinder.gr, one of the top 50 website portals in Greece. Interesting, am I famous? I wonder. Well everyone should be in this age. I see. So my main job is to make video reviews about technology products. I can see more reviews there and my CV. Hmm, I learnt that I also like movies. Well, technology and film, not that bad, but nothing special I guess.
Then my name is also refered from another technology editor. In his presentation he mentions that I brought him angry birds drinks from Finland. Aha, that explains everything, including the pile of snow outside my house! I am from Greece bu I am currently living in Finland. I see. Scrolling down on Google I can see that I also belong to another technology editor team. No wonder now in the background is playing bad religion and “I love my computer”. I must be married to technology or something.
The next result before the end of the page is from ionio.gr, the website of the Univerity of Ionian islands in Greece, where I helped for the creation of its website.
On this search, my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages are not in the pages. Maybe I should search using latin characters. No Mr. Google, thank you for your suggestion on searching my name in Greek, but since you follow me, you should have known that I did I already did it 5 seconds ago. Anyway…
Yes here it is, first comes my twitter page, then LinkedIn, Adacemia.edu, Quorra and then Facebook.
Checking my twitter account there is this neronakos nickname. I guess it is my dog’s name. Twitter doesn’t allow to people who don’t have an account to check other people’s profiles, but who doesn’t have a Twitter account these days? Let’s see, if someone has a Twitter account what will he learn for me? That I live in Athens, I have two dogs as it seems for my background, I have participated in some courses using hashtags and that probably GreenPeace took over my account and make autotweets instead of me. Because I don’t feel so concerned about the environment after all. But who knows, I have amnesia after all. Judging from the images and photos that I have uploaded, I have some sense of humor. Let’s move to LinkedIn. I see, I can see my CV here. It seems that I am a well educated person since I am collecting masters and I was a good student. Well I guess I am kind of the show off person. Why someone write her grades otherwise? I am native Greek speaker and I can speak English fluently. And I have some videos from Pathfinder.gr. Well, afterall LinkedIn serves this purpose afterall.
So my public profile says that I was born in Australia, grew up in Greece and came to Finland. I am collecting masters and I can even see that I love anime and manga as well as my music tastes. It seems that I am also a humourous person since I have post a lot of funny stuff and I have left them seen in public. Since I am a technology editor, I doubt that I don’t know how to use the Facebook settings, so it means that I don’t care that much who is going to see these things! Well at least it seems I have no “Big brother is watching you” complex and probably I don’t believe that what I post could ever be responsible for not getting a job. From here I can see what one of my master thesis was about, since I asked people to participate in my survey: Usability in social media, the cases of Facebook and Google Plus!. Then it is certain, I definitely know how to use these privacy setting but I don’t care. Well why to? I wonder, since if someone wants to stalk me he can do it finding other ways. I don’t have my images public, but from those who are public I can see that I have a sense of humor since in my profile pic I am wearing a santa hat, a flower in my ears and I am wearing the chopsticks holder as a moustache. There is also one with me posing with a big hat and one with my dog. Some of my dogs photos are public as well.
Hmm how else can I continue in order to learn more? Oh, I can use this neronakos nickname. Maybe I am using it in other accounts as well, or maybe it is my nickname in some fora etc. Hmm it seems that people cannot learn that much about me, except that I like manga.
Well at least I learnt some stuff, like my educational background, when I was born etc and my interests. And that I have a sense of humor.
Laida Limniati
Why I Heart My Media 