It took some digging to actually find information about myself on the internet. I typed in Heather Strong, Heather A. Strong, and then Dr. Heather Strong and it was only when I included the “Dr” with my name that I actually found some links to information about me. Above I have included three snap shots of what was available on Dr. Heather Strong (me) above.
When I initially typed in “Heather Strong” I found links about a Canadian curler from St. John’s Newfoundland and also links about a woman who was murdered in Florida in 2009 (yikes!)
I have realized that I have a very minimal digital identity. I no longer have a facebook account or twitter account (closed those about a year ago because I didn’t find them to be a productive use of my time) and all that I have left is an instagram account where I only post pictures of my family for friends and family and only follow pictures of friends and family. Even though I only post pictures for personal use I am very conscientious of the content and make sure that my posts reflect who I am.
Here is information that I found about myself that is a true reflection of who I am (written in third person):
Dr. Heather Strong was previously appointed as an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Redeemer University College in Ontario in 2012. She left her role as Assistant Professor of Health Sciences in 2012 for family reasons. Dr. Strong served as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Health Sciences from 2014- 2015.
Dr. Heather Strong is a crossfit enthusiast. You can regularly find her working out at the V02 Performance Training gym in Nelson BC. For fun, she likes to go on “date” WODs (work out-of-the-day) with her husband Jeff.
In fall 2016, Dr. Strong spoke at the Nelson Fall Fitness Forum on the topic of “improving body image and mental health in the exercise environment”.
Recently, Dr. Strong has started a blog on word press where she is instructing LDRS 591: Scholarly Inquiry for the MA Leadership program at Trinity Western University.
Now that I am regularly posting information about my course on word press I am very conscious of what I am communicating and how I am communicating information online. I am definitely aware of my “professional” presence online.
Shaffer (2016) wrote on his blog that “people are finding ways to cut back on the unnecessary aspects of their lives to focus more of their time, energy, and money on a short list of things that really matter”. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and I would say I began this pruning process a few years ago. With four kids who have multiple after school activities, a husband in ministry, an academic job, an interest in physical activity, I have very little “spare” time. Honestly, I have found that I don’t have time for social media or much of an online “presence”. I like that my digital identity is minimalist. However, I am still thinking about whether or not to put more information about myself and my research interests and ideas on my new blog.
Reference:
Shaffer, K. (2016, December 31). Digital minimalism – being deliberate about digital identity. [Web log post]. Retrieved from
https://pushpullfork.com/digital-minimalism-being-deliberate-about-digital-identity/