Data Mine...Digging Up The Truth Behind My Digital Presence!

I began my data mine by conducting a simple Google search on myself. I typed my first and last name in between quotation marks for a more accurate search. I was not very surprised with what I found because I have actually googled myself many times before, just because I was curious what I would find. I don't have anything to hide, I just wanted to know what was out there. About ten pages pop up when my name is searched through Google. As I have discovered in the past, the links that pop up mostly connect to articles that mentioned my name in them from high school sporting events. I was a varsity diver, gymnast, and pole vaulter, and I remember newspapers interviewing me at meets and having pictures or articles in the paper about my performances, so I was never shocked to see some of those appear on a Google search. Some other links that pop up in the Google search are links that connect to apps that I currently use or have used in the past, such as "Happier", "Instagram", and "Facebook". There are also links to posts that I have made on discussion boards in current or previous online courses, and links to blogs that I have created using my full name. It was interesting that links for my mother and father's information came up in my Google search as well. There was even a link for my mother's full maiden name. This is probably because I tend to use her maiden name as a security question clue for online accounts.
While in my Google search, I decided to check what might come up for images and/or videos. One page of images came up when searching my name in quotation marks, but out of that entire page of images, only five included me in them. There was one image which was a quote that I must have said for an interview with a newspaper about a gymnastics meet. There were also a few other images that looked familiar because I have "pinned" them on Pinterest. There were several pictures of gymnasts that were my teammates or that I competed against that appeared in this search probably because those images were found in digital articles that have my name mentioned in them somewhere. As for videos, two pages of links popped up, but none of them related to me in any way. I am neither in any videos nor watched or shared any of the videos that appeared in the search attached to my name. So, I am not sure why those videos appear when you search my name in Google.
I used the handout to go through several sites to check for my digital presence, but unfortunately several did not work or only showed my minimal information and required some sort of payment to view. However, here are some images of some of the information that I was able to access on a few of the sites:

Sources: screenshots of information gathered on pipl.com, intelius.com, and peoplefinders.com when searching "Danielle Goebbert"

These images show that some of my family members were able to be recognized through my name. The names that popped up on various sites were my mom, dad, brother, sister, and grandma and grandpa on my dad's side. All of the sites knew that I am 26 years old, and they knew that I have lived in Elgin, IL and South Elgin, IL. I thought it was interesting that both intelius.com and peoplefinders.com thought that I have lived in Elk Grove Village at some point in my life, but that is not true. My mom grew up there, so maybe they thought that I had lived there at one time, but I have not. I have actually moved to Algonquin, IL recently (in February), and none of the sites that I visited listed that as my current place of residence, which was also interesting. I wonder how long it will take for my new address to be recognized digitally. I have changed all of my accounts to my new address as of February, so I was surprised that these sources did not know that information yet. Intelius.com also accurately listed the places that I have worked in my professional work life. I began as a paraprofessional at Eastview Elementary School in Bloomingdale, but only worked there for a few weeks before getting hired as a full time teacher at Gilberts Elementary school.
Overall, my thoughts about the information that is able to be accessed online are mixed. While I do not have anything to hide, I still feel uncomfortable knowing that anyone can access information on me, such as where I live, just by knowing my first and last name. However, it is good to be knowledgeable on the fact that this information is out there for the public as a reminder that my presence on media should remain appropriate and professional. Most of my social media accounts having privacy settings which limits what can be shared out publicly, but I really don't post anything inappropriate on social media anyways. I try to post things that I would not mind my students seeing if they stumbled across it online somehow. I think that students should be taught how to "data mine" their digital presence at a young age because it is important for them to understand that everything that we put out in the digital world, doesn't ever really disappear. It shouldn't be taught in an approach to scare students, but to inform them of how public their information is, in attempt to explain the importance of using digital sources and social medias appropriately.
This article is an interesting read on perspectives about data mining within education.