Question: 1) Briefly summarize the main points from the readings/resources for Discussion Topic 6.

2) Activity:

a. Conduct an Internet search on your own name and email addresses. Be sure to include nicknames or other names that you have used in the past. You may want to include screen names or avatar names. What, if anything, do your screen names and email addresses say about you?

b. Also use keywords that pull for publicly available information such as tax records, bankruptcy, marital status, criminal background, and court proceedings. Try to find private information about yourself including phone numbers, records about children, and work history.

3) Reflection: Respond to the following questions in your response to this discussion topic

• What information did you find about yourself? Were you surprised by what you found? Did you find things about yourself that you would rather keep private?

• The information that you found on the Web creates a perception of who you are. We can think of this as your "online social identity." What does your online identity say about you? What might a hiring manager, supervisor, friends, and loved ones think about the online image you have created?

4) McWhorter's (video) entertaining discussion about texting suggests that language is evolving before our very eyes and is a nuanced and legitimate form of communication. Irvine's article supports this idea, noting that the modalities of communication used by young people have changed as the result of available technologies. Yet, future employers and college professors emphasize the importance of formal, unemotional writing as essential to presenting a proper and professional social identity. Referencing the resources for Discussion Topic 6, do you think that employers and educators are wrong in their strict expectations of formal communication? Why or why not? What do you think is the proper place for new "languages" that have evolved in tandem with technology (e.g. txting, L33T speak, emoticons, etc.)?