Weekly Report & Reflection #12

Hey everyone!

So this is going to be my final post for my online class. The time has flown by and I have learned so much about being a digital citizen, and leaving a positive digital footprint.  When it comes to leaving a positive digital footprint behind, I have learned that I need to be mindful of what I am posting, and take a minute before I upload and post if I can stand behind it 100%.  Another way that I can help my digital footprint is by being active online.  By this I mean posting on various web 2.0 platforms such as blogs, and online discussion groups.  Whether my posts are comments or opinions I need to make sure that they are going to be insightful and constructive in a positive way.  Another way to help me keep my footprint positive is by following online laws such as using creative commons properly and being mindful of copyrights and crediting others where credit is due. 

When it comes to promoting online interactions between others it can be a difficult task.  Just because I feel that this is something that needs to be taught to the children of today so that as they grow up they know how to properly behave with others online.  People now days feel as though they can say whatever they want to others online since they will never meet face to face and can remain anonymous behind a screen name.  We need to teach children that even though they are just posting words they can be extremely hurtful to the person reading them. 

I have always gone by the saying “If you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all” I am that way in person and in how I conduct myself online. If I don’t agree with what someone has posting and I can’t find a way to phrase it nicely I just won’t post anything, because I don’t see the need to get into a heated discussion online with someone. 

So all being said and done, I feel that I have learned a lot about how to conduct myself properly online during these past twelve weeks, and have gained a variety of knowledge on the different tools that are available to people to use and grow their digital footprint. 

Well, this brings my last post to an end. I hope that you enjoyed going on this journey with me as much as I did.

Take Care

Aarti 

Weekly Report and Reflection #11

Hey everyone,

Week 11 is over, and one more week to go! This week I got to explore a variety of webcasting tools such as SoundCloud, Screenr and Audacity.  All of these tools are ways of people sharing their opinions and thoughts on topics with the digital world. I had fun playing around with the different resources and landed on doing a podcast. Podcasts have always seemed interesting to me, so with using a combination of two of the resources I created and uploaded my first podcast. These tools help people express their opinions and others gain knowledge. However, they really don’t allow for collaboration between others to come to a common goal.  This is the one thing that I enjoyed about creating a podcast is that it was all my own opinion and I know that there are others who may not agree with me and feel that I am wrong in what I said but that’s the beauty of technology.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and has the right to share it, if you don’t agree that’s fine too. 

Creating a piece of work that is 100% original and mine, has been such an amazing experience, so in order to protect my hard work I added a digital license to my blog. This will help prevent others from taking my work and passing it off as their own, without my permission.  You can visit my Creative Common license by clicking here

Feedly Connection

http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/graduate-careers-right-job-for-you

When I came across this article by The Guardian, it hit really close to home for me, given that I only have eight more months of school left and that I need to start thinking about my career. I have been working with the same company for the past eight years and have made my way through various departments and levels of management, it has been a great learning experience for me, but I know that I really want a job in the field that I have spent soo much money and time into obtaining this degree.  After reading that less than one third of students get a career related to their degree shocked me.  I know that the accounting field is highly competitive and I have made goals in accordance to that.  In that I’m okay with not working for a top five firm and going to a small to mid-sized firm so that I can grow and learn.  I’m not surprised that people change jobs many times during their lifetime. I am ready for a change from where I am working now, and am looking forward to what the future holds.

Brock University has wonderful resources for their students to help them have that job lined up come graduation, and I am planning on using them to help me come April 2016. I have already attended a variety of networking events put on by Career Services, to build those connections and have my name recognized when the recruiter is going through a stack of resumes. 

Have a great night!

Aarti 

Creative Commons License

Aarti's Blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at aarti87.blogspot.com.

Weekly Report & Reflection Post #10

Hey everyone,

Week 10 activities are done. This week I got to explore Copyrights and Creative Commons.  To be a responsible digital citizen I feel that knowing the laws for the online world are important.  I used to think that when things were copyrighted as long as I cited the source of where I got my information, pictures from I would be fine. However, I have come to learn that there is a vast difference between what I was doing and the variety of laws that exist.  I had no clue what creative commons were before this week started.  I have now come to realize that creative commons and copyrights are two very different things.  Creative commons allow the user to take an image, or music and modify it for their own purposes while still giving credit to the person who created it. 

Online presentation Tools

After learning about creative commons and copyrights I got to play around with a variety of online tools where presentations could be made.  I have used Prezi in the past for a group presentation, so I decided to explore a different one this time around.  I explored Animoto, this tool is super interesting in the fact that it has a database of creative common material that can be used in the presentation.  A variety of images, music, and text slides will appear in the set sequence that is decided by the user.  The one thing that I found could not be changed was the length of time that was spent on each image, because certain parts I would have liked to have a longer pause on so the viewer could read what was being presented.

Have a great night!

Aarti 

Weekly Report and Reflection #9

Hey everyone!

So another week is done, and time is flying by.  This week I got to explore VoiceThread.  It’s an online tool where a person can post a presentation and have others add various comments to it either by recording their own voice or just by text.  When it comes to me using this again, I personally don’t think I will, not because I didn’t like the tool, more so because I don’t think I will ever need to create this type of presentation.  However, I am glad that I know how to use a tool like this if need be.  In terms of this being a tool to expand my knowledge, I feel that it is a great one because it allows you to get other people’s opinions on the same topic and realize aspects that you might have overlooked. 

Collective knowledge tools are very different from tools where collaboration is concerned. In collective knowledge we are asked to answer a specific question on based on our opinions.  Whereas, in collaboration we are all working together to complete the same task.  So in both we are working alongside other. 

When it comes to digital rights and responsibilities, I have found that everyone has their own opinion on what they feel are important to them.  This week I came across a new responsibility that I had overlooked in the past as being very important, and that was the right to report cyberbullying and harassment online.  The bullying used to stop for kids when they got home from school because the bully didn’t come into their homes, whereas now day’s kids are being bullied at school and then it continues online when they are at home.  If this isn’t handled quickly it can escalate and reach a breaking point for the child, because it doesn’t stop.

This week has been full of learning new things, can’t wait to see what’s in store for next week.

Take Care

Aarti 

Technology Use Scenario 17

Scenario 17 pg. 94

Ms. Deal does not like having several passwords for all her accounts. Because she has so many she gets into the habit of writing the passwords on a sticky note on her monitor so she won’t forget. While she is out of her office, John, a student who had been in trouble in her class earlier in the day, comes by her office. He sees the passwords and writes down the one for Ms. Deal’s email account. John goes to another computer, logs in as Ms. Deal and sends several insulting emails to staff members. How could this have been avoided?

In this scenario technology is being miss used by going into another person’s email without their consent.  John should not have taken Ms. Deal’s password and sent out various emails to her colleagues.  Given yes John could have been upset from being in her office earlier that day and wanted some sort of revenge but I feel that he took it to a level where her job could be jeopardized. This could have been avoided if Ms. Deal didn’t leave her passwords out in plain sight where others can easily see them.  Now days with many different accounts, everyone has to remember a variety of passwords and which one coordinates with which account can be a tedious task within itself.  I know I have gone completely blank when trying to remember a certain password, when logging into a website. If Ms. Deal has trouble with remembering which password to which account, she should keep them in a secure place where she is the only one with access to them, such as a locked drawer or on her phone.  This way she has them written down but she is now the only person who knows where they are located.  This will keep her passwords more secure and away from the public eye.  

Weekly Report and Reflection #8

Hey everyone,

Week 8 has now come to an end.  Time is going by so fast.  This week I got to explore wiki’s.  Wiki’s are an interesting tool, they are a hybrid between a word document and a webpage.  To me that was fascinating, the way that one thing could switch between two different things.  When it comes to me actually finding a use for a wiki.  I think that I might be able to find a way to include using one.  I think the most useful time to use a wiki is when planning an event with friends.  This will come in handy for everyone seeing what tasks still need to be completed and which things are still outstanding.  As for when comparing wiki’s to blog posts, Google Docs, and Evernote. There is a vast difference, since the others are just ways of sharing information between different parties.  The only one that that can be altered by someone is a Google Doc.  Wiki’s can be altered by anyone who has the link which is the same as a Google Doc. When it comes to preference I like Google Docs more.  They allow you to see all of the changes that are being made, and see things that are being done in real time to the document as you are working on it.

When it comes to wiki’s and learning, they can be integrated in a variety of ways.  One of the most common ways for a wiki is when it comes time to collaborate with other students in the same class as you.  For instance, if I were to set up a wiki for ADED1P32 with major concepts and ideas, other students in the class can add to it and expand on topics that were already posted.  This becomes useful because everyone has their own ideas and thoughts, and by adding it to the post things that one might have forgotten about will be triggered in memory. 

Digital Rights and Responsibilities

Kapoor, A. (CC) 2015

When being a digital citizen, we have a number of rights and responsibilities that we should adhere to. I believe that the three most important rights and responsibilities of a digital citizen should include:

1. The responsibility to give credit where credit is due 
2. The responsibility to make ethical choices 
3. The responsibility to be respectful of others

The responsibility to give credit where credit is due, is important because it is so easy for people to go online and take anything, and then repost it as their own. The ease of gathering information, images, music, etc. online is taken for granted these days and people don’t realize that someone else put time and effort into creating that blog post, or picture, and if you need it for something you are doing then just cite the source of where it came from. 

The responsibility to make ethical choices, this falls hand in hand with the first topic in that when taking things from the internet we are faced with options on whether we want to pay for the new song to add to our playlist of download it from a free source.  Everyone has downloaded music from various sources, where we don’t have to pay for it, and then there are still many people who use iTunes to get their music.  It may seem easy to just take things online but at the end of the day if you believe yourself to be an ethical person in making the right decisions in your daily life, then what is stopping you from having that same belief system when conducting yourself online.

The responsibility to be respectful of others, now day’s people share every aspect of their daily lives with the world online.  There are those people who may be jealous of the things others are doing and make hurtful comments, and can get away with it because they are behind a computer screen, and have anonymity.  I think that people tend to forget that it’s another human being on the receiving end of those words and to properly conduct oneself online we have to respect one another.  

Have a great day!

Aarti 

Weekly Report and Reflection #7

Hey everyone,

So this week brings week 7 to an end.  This week I got to explore Google Docs.  Over the past weeks I have been learning and exploring new tools that I had never used.  However, this week I had experience with Google Docs in the past.  I love using this tool when working on group projects.  It makes it so much easier to collaborate and ensure that the final report flows properly. I love how you can see the changes being made to the document in real time.  Another great aspect of using Google Docs is when working you can message your group members and ask for ideas or get immediate feedback from them. 

Google Docs is also a great way to keep all personal documents in a place where you can access them from anywhere in the world.  Just because documents are online doesn’t mean that they need to be shared with everyone. Google docs allows you keep the documents private so that you are the only one who has access to them.  I have started to use my Google drive on a regular basis now, rather than making sure I had a Flash drive on me or even emailing the files to myself. When doing this there is always an inherent risk that the file may be corrupted and not open, which can become an even larger problem. 

Google docs allows you to share particular files with family and friends, through Google Drive.  My first experience with Google Drive was a few weeks ago when I had to send one of my managers a few files that happened to be too large for attachments.  So I ended up uploading them to Google Drive and then emailing them to her that way.  The only complaint I have with this method is that due to the file size, it took each file around one hour to upload onto the drive.  Other than that she got all of the necessary files and had no problem opening them. 

Feedly Reader

The article that I will be talking about this week comes from studysuccessful.com and is titled Should You get a Masters Degree.  http://studysuccessful.com/should-you-get-a-masters-degree/

After reading this I am definitely going to spend some time considering all of my options for the future, since I was honestly considering to continue my education after I finish my undergrad degree. 

The article has three main points that they want the reader to consider and they are:

1.   Consider Salary, and whether having the advanced degree is going to make a difference in your starting wages.  Some industries will pay more for a person who has a masters degree in comparison to those who only have an undergrad degree.  
2. The financial cost of going back to school. Do you have enough money to put towards completing the program? Post grad programs are expensive and seeing where you have the financial means to go back to school without putting yourself into more debt. 
3.  Managing classes, there are two ways to complete a master’s degree and they are either full time or part time.  In part time you have the ability to work and go to class at the same time, and for some people it is difficult to find that balance between the two worlds and give enough attention to their school work and or family. 

These are all things that need to be considered when making the decision on whether to go back to school and further your education or just go into the work force.

Have a great day!

Aarti 

Weekly Report and Reflection #6

Hey everyone,

So week 6 has come to an end. This week I got to explore the online tool Evernote.  This tool has changed my life in terms of collecting information.  It is soo easy to just add a variety of files, whether they are PDF, videos, articles, blog posts, or even diagrams, in one place.  I was close to going overboard with the clippings, especially with the extension on my internet browser, adding to my notebook is so easy. 

I was surprised to see everyone having the same reaction to this tool.  On the discussion board, I didn’t see a bad evaluation of the tool.  I am curious to see how it works in a group project setting, especially when it comes to collaborating with the other members.   

In terms of Evernote and my PLE, I know for a fact that it is going to be a great asset for me in my future career.  I am just not too sure on where to place it as of right now.  I will be taking the next few days to think about where it will fit in and how to showcase all of the different things Evernote is capable of doing. 

This week as I was going through my Feedly reader, I found an article that caught my attention.  It was titled 3 Ace ways to break away from your studies from College Blender.  http://www.collegeblender.com/3-ace-ways-to-break-away-from-your-studies/

I think every student has had that moment when sitting in a class wondering when they will ever need to know the information that is being taught.  I have had that moment in a variety of classes thinking when I will need to take the partial derivative of a function, when I’m an accountant? The article discusses three ways to branch out when in a rut and learn from other aspects of being a student.  The first being finding a hobby, the example they give is getting involved in the beauty industry.  I will admit I have a slight problem when it comes to that industry in the fact that I spend way too much money on cosmetics, and now have more makeup than any normal person.  All of my closet friends have told me that I should take a course in makeup artistry to get certified. It is definitely an option for me to consider since I do enjoy doing everyone’s makeup when we go out.

The second way to branch out that is mentioned in the article is by joining a high society.  This is a good way to meet people with the same interests as you outside of school. It sounds like a great way to network and make connections to help when looking for a job in the future. 

The third way mentioned is go outside your campus walls.  I know when I’m in full school mode I’m either in the library or at home studying.  The article made me realize that I have one more year of university to make the most of, so it’s a great time for me to volunteer and work on skills that will come in handy for the future. 

So this has been a fun week with learning a new tool and everything. I’m looking forward to what the coming weeks have in store for me. 

Take Care

Aarti 

Weekly Report and Reflection #5

Hey everyone,

So week 5 has already come to an end.  This week I got to explore Twitter.  Twitter was the one piece of social media that I had never used before, taking this course. The reason I never created an account before was because I found no use in telling people what I was doing during every moment of my day. It has definitely been a learning experience to see the different aspects of the online tool.  The one thing I found most difficult was keeping my tweets within the allotted character limit.  I know the more time I spend exploring twitter I will come to enjoy using it on a daily basis.

I will definitely be adding twitter to my PLE. I feel that it as technology continues to move forward it is important for me to have an understanding of every aspect on how to instantly connect with people all over the world. 

I can honestly say that over the past five weeks I have learned soo much about how to become an active digital citizen that it is becoming hard for me to keep track of all of the new things I am learning, and how little I knew before.  I used to think that I was technological savvy but I barely scratched the surface of how much the internet influences us on a daily basis. 

This week in my feedly I found a few articles that really resonated with me.  The one that had the most interesting information was from collegeblender.com it was titled Textbooks, Computers, and a Tea Pot: Essential Gear of the Successful College Student. (http://www.collegeblender.com/textbooks-computers-and-a-tea-pot-essential-gear-of-the-successful-college-student/)  Even though I am going into my final year of university I can still use some of the tips they give their readers.  The one tip I found especially useful was the one about FREE word processing tools.  I wish I had known about this when I was entering university instead of paying for the entire Microsoft Office Suite.  I will definitely be looking into these for when my student version of Microsoft Office is over. 

I am looking forward to what the coming weeks have in store for me to continue to learn and grow as a digital citizen.

Have a great day

Aarti

Weekly Report & Reflection Blog Post #4

Hey everyone,

So week 4 has come to an end.  This week I got to learn about the importance of bookmarking on the cloud.  I have plenty of book marks on my browser, and they are all separated into a corresponding folder.  However, by learning about DIIGO, and that I could save those bookmarks in a separate place was really interesting.  Tagging is a concept that I had a brief idea about, yet there was so much more for me to learn.  Tags are key words that are found online, in articles, blog posts, and many more platforms.  When a person is looking for information and conducts a search all of the results will contain those words. Tags are also a great way to help find more information that is related to a specific topic.

It is the responsibility of the user to know which information is reliable and which is completely made up by someone.  When it comes to knowing which sources are reliable it takes time to sift through all of the information in front of you.  I can say from experience, I have done a few research papers where I used Google to help me gather information.  Google will give you millions of possible resources for the topic you are searching for.  Though, there may be some useful information it will take time to go through each link trying to figure out what is relevant to the topic. 

After completing the Internet Detective tutorial I learned that doing research is a skill that I need to fine tune for the rest of my educational career.  I knew the basics that there are certain things that anyone can post anything they want online and someone if someone doesn’t know better they could believe it to be true.  What I didn’t know was that the URL of the website will give away the user information on whether it is a reliable source or not.  I had no idea that a web address composed of so many little parts.  The chart under the title What can a URL tell us? on the internet detective tutorial was really informative in breaking down a URL.  (http://www.vtstutorials.ac.uk/detective/urlclues.html)

As the weeks progress I am learning so much more on being an active digital citizen.  I had no idea that there were soo many different resources for people to collaborate and categorize information.  I am looking forward to continuing my journey on gaining digital literacy as the weeks progress. 

Have a great day!

Aarti 

Week 3 Reflection Activity

Hey everyone,

So another week has come to an end.  This week I learned about the usefulness of RSS readers.  They are definitely convenient for all of the blogs that we read.  In this post I will specifically be talking about a post I came across through the blog College Bender.  The post was titled Why a Graduate Certificate Might Be a Better Be Than a Master’s Degree. (link to the post http://www.collegeblender.com/graduate-certificate/)  I read this article because as my undergrad years come to an end I have to start thinking about my future and I was definitely considering going to get my MBA after I completed my BBA. After reading this I am now wondering if getting a Masters would be beneficial for me or if I should just go into the work force and get my CPA. I know that there are many one year certificate programs available and I can always complete them later in life.  This article has opened my eyes to the different paths that I can take. 

While reading news articles on how the entering the work field has become more competitive many places have said that having a masters is considered the new undergrad degree. Whereas before it was undergrad degrees were more valued than high school diplomas.  People these days are continuing to educate themselves for a better future as times are changing. 

As the article mentions completing a certificate is less costly than a master’s degree, and that to me is going to be a major deciding point.  School is expensive and deciding to continue on with higher education and adding more debt to get a chance of a higher paying job versus getting an introductory job and working your way up the company ladder are decisions that need to be made. 

I feel that technology has opened many more doors for everyone on helping make decisions.  This post has given me more information to take into consideration and when it’s time for me to make my choice of furthering my education or getting a job I can make an informed one. 

Have a great day!

Aarti 

My Experience with RSS Feeds

Hey everyone,

So it’s onto week 3 of activities. This post will be about the infamous RSS Feeds.  Over the past years as blogs were becoming more popular and I started readings various ones, going back to them on a weekly basis was getting a bit tedious.  There were times when I would forget to check a certain blog for new material, then when I finally remembered it there were many new posts that I had to read.  So I started subscribing to them with my email.  I have a folder set up where all blog post related emails go directly into it and can then spend a night going through them, which is soo much simpler.  Little did I know that I could set up an entirely different reader just for all of the blogs that I follow.  So I just signed up for feedly.  I’m excited to see how this works out for me, and especially if I remember to check the site on a regular basis for new posts. 

So currently I have a variety of items on my reader.  I love reading beauty, and style/fashion blogs.  So I have taken the ones where I don’t miss a single post and added them to my reader.  One of my favourite blogs to read is www.lisaeldrige.com/blog.  The author of the blog is a professional makeup artist in London, England.  I originally came across her through Youtube videos. She has been working in the industry for many years, and is now the creative director of Lancome Paris.  One of my favourite posts of hers that I have read is http://www.lisaeldridge.com/blog/25880/the-beauty-pioneers-helena-rubinstein/#.VVUJpflViko This post goes over how one lady (Helena Rubinstein) knew the power of intelligent marketing and beautiful packaging to get women to purchase various items. 

I will continue to read blogs it’s just a matter of how I read them, whether its going to the various blogs, in my email or on the reader. 

Have a great day!

Aarti 

Week 2 Reflection Activity

Hey Everyone!

So its onto week 2 of activities for my online course. Wow time is flying by. So this week we went over the various PLE's (Personal Learning Equipment)  that we use in our daily lives and as students. After watching various presentations on PLE I didn't realize that it consists of every form of technology and websites that I use on a daily basis even if it is just to pass time.

Going through the various resources we were given I have come to learn that everything I do online has an impact on my PLE. Below I have posted my current PLE, Yes, I know that right now it is small and basic, however over the coming weeks I am excited to have it grow as I learn about more tools that are available online.

Kapoor, A. (CC) 2015

After completing this I was surprised that I only use a handful of the tools that are available online. Over the coming days I will definitely be going over some of the tools to see just how well I know them and will be adding to my PLE.  

After the PLE I went on to look at word clouds.  This was a fun activity, since I took my previous post and it took the words and made them various sizes.  Every time I changed the type of font it would give a new arrangement of words.  Then onto changing the colours that were available.  I personally didn't like any of the predetermined combinations so I created my own.  So playing with different number combinations to see what colour they gave was where I spent a majority of my time.  I was happy with a combination of teals and greens. I have the word cloud posted below.  

Kapoor, A (CC) 2015

  So this completes week 2. I can't wait to see what the coming weeks have in store for me to learn.  

Have a great day!

Aarti

Week 1 Reflection Activity

Hey everyone!

So this is post is going to be a reflection on what I have learned over the past week.  When it comes to having a digital footprint I think that now days it is really important to have one, not only for personal reasons but for professional ones as well.  There are two types of footprints that can be left in the digital world, one being passive and the other being active.  At the end of the day I would like to leave an active positive footprint online.  A positive footprint is one that is an extension of yourself and allows your strengths to be shown. 

Netiquette is defined as the correct or acceptable way of communicating online.  There is a definite relationship between netiquette and a positive footprint.  If you know how to conduct yourself online it becomes easier to leave a positive legacy behind.  We spend so much time online, interacting with friends and family and conducting business.  It is soo important that we know how to interact with others properly and in a professional manner. 

With the internet becoming such an important part of your lives these days, I think that it is important to educate everyone on how to properly conduct themselves online, and when using the internet is appropriate, since it at our fingertips all the time.

After taking the Secondary Digital Driver’s License Exam, there were only two areas where I need to improve.  The first area being digital commerce and the other being digital security. 

When it comes to digital commerce I need educate myself on how to conduct various transactions online.  I personally don’t like to buy things online, that’s because I like to see the product before I spend my money on it.  I will however go online to see product reviews and comparisons between different brands.  When it comes to online shopping I’m weary about the security of the transaction going through.  It’s so easy for people’s identities to be stolen and compromised with just their credit card number being taken.

The second area that I need to gain more information on is digital security.  There are many ways that to protect yourself when leaving your digital footprint behind.  Like I mentioned earlier it is easy for your identity to be taken.  Also technology can be hacked and compromised.  We conduct everything online from online banking to connecting with friends and family.  I can say from my own experience that I tend to have the worst luck with technology and that no matter what I do to protect myself my computers always catch some sort of virus and I lose all of my documents.  I think that knowing how to protect yourself online is important and will come in handy. 

Overall I think that education on how to conduct yourself online is very important.  I am hoping that over the coming weeks I will learn ways to keep a positive digital footprint, and gain knowledge on digital commerce and security. 

Have a great day

Aarti 

Introduction to Blogging

Hello Everyone,

My name is Aarti and this blog will be my documentation through an online course.  During the coming weeks I am hoping to learn proper ways of online communication.  With technology constantly changing taking this class will definitely help me in finding ways to keep up with the changes.  As well as staying professional in all of my communications moving forward.

With technology we have everything at our fingertips.  On whether that is looking up information or seeing what friends are up to. Technology and the internet have become such a major aspect of our lives these days and I feel that it is important to know how to conduct oneself on this medium of interactions.  I am constantly sending emails to friends and colleagues and knowing how to get the proper emotions through in those emails can be difficult, since text is so neutral and it all depends on how the person at the other end perceives your message. 

Another major thing that has changed over the years is ones online presence.  Now days people are constantly posting their thoughts on various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), not realizing that what they post is going to be online forever. So any future employer, and or co-worker can look them up and see their various messages.  For me I feel as though posting every little thing about how your day is going, and if you are upset over something can become very unprofessional in the aspect that it could harm their career.  When I make any post I always take a minute to think if this is something that I want to be public and if I am okay with it being online for the rest of my life.  I am working towards my CPA designation and I feel that employers can go and do a google search of your name to see how you represent yourself on a daily basis and if you do get hired by that company will have a good representation of them in your personal interactions. 

Being present online is also a great way to network with other individuals in the same field of work as you.  Since I am a student and am going into my final year of university I am using LinkedIn to network with individuals who have graduated from Brock University in my program and are currently in the position that I hope to be in.  It also shows other positions in companies that they have held to help me see various career paths can help me reach my career goals. 

Another reason having an online presence is so important today is that it can connect people from all over the world in one common place, whether that be for personal or professional reasons.

So over the next few weeks I am hoping to learn how to create an online presence and have it be an extension of me while still being professional so it does not hinder my future career. 

Have a great day

Aarti