Data Mining

What is Data Mining?

Data mining is "a set of methodologies that are used in analyzing data from different perspectives and dimensions for finding out previously unknown hidden patterns," (SmartDataCollective). Data mining on various search engines can help anyone gather information on any person with a digital footprint. These digital footprints, or digital tattoos, can be from self-created social media accounts or companies putting other peoples information on the internet. Your trace of digital tattoos create an online persona which may resemble or differ from your in person persona. 

Google

Upon beginning my first Data Mining search into myself, I started with the tried and true, Google search. I searched my first and last name with quotations. I learned this can get more accurate results. This search gave me three full pages of information about myself at various stages of life. 

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Although this was not my first time Googling myself, it was the first time I have deep dived into the results. One surprising result I found was a online pamphlet from my synagogue that was highlighting my new arrival into the temple. I had no idea they released this information online. One of the most common results that came up was from my time in high school and when I played high school aged softball. I found student written articles, newspaper written articles, and statistics about my time in high school. This reminded me of a search result I came across in college. I had stumbled across a college recruiting video my team made for me as I was looking for colleges. My 18 year old self was so ashamed of this video I emailed and asked them to take it down. Upon Google searching myself now at 24, I see the video is no where to be found. 

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YouTube

Next up, I searched my full name into YouTube. A YouTube channel titled with my full name appeared. This YouTube channel was created in college when I made two class related videos. I have a total of 19 views on the channel. All other video's listed under this search are not related to me. I changed the search to "Ms. Davega" and this resulted in nothing. 

PeekYou

Following up my Youtube search, I looked up my full name on PeekYou. The results that came from this were more detailed. This search gave my address from growing up with the house number starred out. It listed my age, correctly identified relatives, and an additional location of the city where I used to live in college. They did cite some incorrect email accounts from AOL and Hotmail since I have never had accounts from those websites. 

Twitter

My full name searched on Twitter resulted in a variety of findings. I found mentions from my high school years, college years, and our current class. These search results from high school made me CRINGE. I would not want students or parents reading these awkward and out of context mentions. The minds of 15 year olds...

Truth Finder

This people finder website accurately listed my age, parents, and cities I have lived in. It incorrectly stated I have lived in Tennessee. 

Linkedin

I made a Linkedin in college and I have barely used this account compared to my peers in other career fields. I am familiar with the account that came up as I made the account. I am reminded during this data dive that I should update it more...Linkedin suggest only one person I was familiar with for me to connect with. These suggestions look different when I am signed into my Linkedin account or I am signed into my Google account on the browser. 

UnMask

Finally, I searched my full name on UnMask. This search came up with the least amount of information. They only listed my parents names and city where I lived growing up. 

Reflecting

I found this exercise to be insightful but concerning. I am the type of person who likes to be in the dark about what information is out there on the internet. This doesn't mean I am careless with my private information, however, I do realize with all of the forms, companies, and people we interact with, information will be released whether we want it to or not. I was pleased to not find any Chicago addresses listed anywhere. I was confused to not find any obituaries or Ancestry.com findings since I have an account with them. I think I will continue to engage in this practice more in the future. As a teacher, I think I should be more aware of information that is online for parents and students to see. Additionally, since I found a few false pieces of information, I would want to monitor this to make sure there is never any damaging false information put out there. 

Should Data Mining be Taught?

I think data mining should be taught in a middle or high school setting. I think teachers should have students engage in a project that is similar to what we engaged in. Prior to the age at which this content is explicitly taught, parents should engage in frequent, meaningful conversations about privacy and safety online. Parents and families are usually the first people to give students access to the internet. One flaw I could see occurring with explicitly teaching students how to data mine is the bullying repercussions it could have between students. I can imagine the cruel ways students could treat students if they found upsetting or private information on other students. This could include prison or jail records, birth certificates, parent social media accounts, and more. 

How could teachers prevent students from digging into their peers lives? 

How could teachers prevent bullying from student findings?