Google has launched a new service which purports to allow users to control their online information.
Their new About me page lists information such as work history, contact details, educational background, web presence, places you have lived, gender and birthday. The page allows users to edit and delete information that they don’t want people to be able to see. I checked mine out and found no surprises.
I imagine that this tool will make a good activity for teachers wishing to engage students in practical, real world digital citizenship activities. Students should be made aware that they could edit, delete or change any public information which would make them or their parents uncomfortable. A very practical activity for many one would guess.
For teachers in NSW Department of Education school it may prove to be an interesting exercise to ask students* to logon with First.Last@education.nsw.gov.au and then with their personal Google account to compare what data is displayed.
Click here and login to your Google account to make a start.
*I asked my daughter to experiment with her school email account. There was no information listed in her about me profile but ironically, the very act of doing this increased her digital footprint.
How would you use this tool in a classroom context?
Featured image: screenshot of my own “About Me” page header
