For Your Information
The new politics of personal information
QDOS
at 10:40am on Thursday, 13th December 2007
The FYI pamphlet was big on the need for ideas that can help people manage their personal information - and the trail of information we leave behind us that is often called our 'digital footprint'. That footprint tells other people a lot about the kind of things a person likes and, ultimately, the sort of person they are.
So I thought it was worth mentioning Garlik's new tool 'QDOS', which looks like a really interesting and accessible way to start thinking about, and managing, that digital footprint. It gives you a score and graphic that represents your presence online, and offers ways you might change it. In their own words:
"Our digital presence...increasingly opens up new opportunities and influences real world decisions made about us. We now have a means of measuring and therefore managing the way we look online, we call it digital status. QDOS is how we measure it. QDOS is a mirror that reflects your presence in the digital world. It's designed to give you a starting point to manage and take control of your online status and be seen how you want to be seen."
It's great to see this sort of language matched with a tool that is accessible, and builds on the intuitive ways that people themselves use the internet - socially, as a creative tool. There's no dry language about digital identity and identity theft here - it sticks to the way that people themselves think about what happens online. So it's not about stopping things happening, but finding ways that people can have more influence over what does.
As the recent Ofcom report helps to suggest, that centres on the social values people get from creating and reflecting their (digital) identities. As these practices mature, it has become evident that it is sometimes difficult if not impossible to separate virtual from real identities. The details we give away about ourselves in shaping the former influence how people understand and react to the latter. So, as co-founder and CEO of Garlik Tom Ilube says in his chapter for our forthcoming collection on privacy UK Confidential, our online presence is just as much about promotion as it is protection. Could be interesting to see how this idea develops.
I just read that Barack Obama has overtaken Hillary Clinton in the state New Hampshire. My first QDOS searching revealed Barack is wiping the floor with Hillary with his QDOS score, too - he scores 10632 to her 7361. I'm going to spend some time figuring out what that means.
So I thought it was worth mentioning Garlik's new tool 'QDOS', which looks like a really interesting and accessible way to start thinking about, and managing, that digital footprint. It gives you a score and graphic that represents your presence online, and offers ways you might change it. In their own words:
"Our digital presence...increasingly opens up new opportunities and influences real world decisions made about us. We now have a means of measuring and therefore managing the way we look online, we call it digital status. QDOS is how we measure it. QDOS is a mirror that reflects your presence in the digital world. It's designed to give you a starting point to manage and take control of your online status and be seen how you want to be seen."
It's great to see this sort of language matched with a tool that is accessible, and builds on the intuitive ways that people themselves use the internet - socially, as a creative tool. There's no dry language about digital identity and identity theft here - it sticks to the way that people themselves think about what happens online. So it's not about stopping things happening, but finding ways that people can have more influence over what does.
As the recent Ofcom report helps to suggest, that centres on the social values people get from creating and reflecting their (digital) identities. As these practices mature, it has become evident that it is sometimes difficult if not impossible to separate virtual from real identities. The details we give away about ourselves in shaping the former influence how people understand and react to the latter. So, as co-founder and CEO of Garlik Tom Ilube says in his chapter for our forthcoming collection on privacy UK Confidential, our online presence is just as much about promotion as it is protection. Could be interesting to see how this idea develops.
I just read that Barack Obama has overtaken Hillary Clinton in the state New Hampshire. My first QDOS searching revealed Barack is wiping the floor with Hillary with his QDOS score, too - he scores 10632 to her 7361. I'm going to spend some time figuring out what that means.
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