Personal information available online is known as a digital footprint. While many have a digital footprint, few if any, know what it encapsulates or how to control it. Technology and personal information are becoming more intertwined as technology becomes more integrated with everyday activities. Personal information can be defined as details that apply to a person such as race or shopping habits. Shopping habits are considered personal information by many corporations who spend money to track, or even predict purchases of individuals, whereas more traditional forms of personal information are details like gender, birthdate, and home town. With a wide breadth of personal information available, not all of it is equally valuable or personally unique. This project is dedicated to determining the content and size of a digital footprint, and assessing its impact for an individual by defining the discoverability of that content.

Digital footprint designates data left behind a user movement in the digital environment or with the interaction with it. We distinguish active and passive digital footprint, together creating the digital identity of a user. The biggest benefit of the digital footprint for a user is the personalization of internet content. It also creates the reputation of a user on the internet. Other parties can utilize a digital footprint for purposes of marketing, science, HR research, and criminology. Digitial footprint can be actively affected and limited by users and different strategies for managing it exists. The aim of this thesis is to analyze user behavior of students in digital environment and their knowledge of digital footprint. It's focused on the relation between users knowledge about digital footprint existence and his real behavior. To fulfill the main purpose of the thesis researched questions are stated and the strategies of user behavior and managing their data are investigated afterwards. The knowledge of students and their real behavior with an accent on their motivation and reasons are determined in semi structured interviews. The relation between knowledge and real behavior has been found, as well as a strong influence of this relation on a user behavior strategy online.

The purpose of this study is to develop, present and assess a skillsdevelopment module in pre-recorded digital performing arts (PRDPA) that may enable performing artists to become practitioners of pre-recorded digital performing arts. The module is encapsulated within the South African educational paradigm. A secondary function of the pre-recorded digital performing arts module is to enable young performers to introduce themselves to an online audience, promote themselves as performing artists and enhance their online presence and digital footprint. The proposed skills-development module potentially enhances agency and an entrepreneurial mindset while democratising the domain of performance in the workspace and entertainment industry. The research consists of three parts. The first part of the research is located in two domains to design a module in pre-recorded digital performing arts. The study draws on the domain of mediality, which includes online presence, digital performance and pre-recorded digital performing arts; and on the domain of education, which includes social constructivism, and teaching and learning in a social network environment. The second part requires the presentation of the module to a select group of participants with the support of a continual feedback loop. The third part is the assessment of the module through an analysis of prerecorded digital performing arts videos created by the participants. To do so, I analyse the pre-workshop videos and the videos created as part of the workshop by the workshop participants, as well as the responses of a group of experts, to the material generated by the participants before and after the presentation of the module. This analysis is supported by a module evaluation by participants. The research concludes that there is a noticeable difference between the two videos created by each participant and that the skills-development module in pre-recorded digital performing arts is effective. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Drama / PhD / Unrestricted

Middle school students misuse social media without understanding the negative influence on their global digital footprint and lives. Research does not provide insight into how students develop digital citizenship skills for positive digital footprints and appropriate social media use. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore students' growth as digital citizens while participating in one digital citizenship project using global collaboration and social media. The conceptual framework included Ribble's theory of digital citizenship and Siemens's theory of connectivism. Research questions asked how students' digital citizenship developed when they were engaged in social media and global collaborative projects. Participants included 7 middle school teachers and 1 project administrator. Structured interviews and Wiki data were analyzed using an iterative open coding technique to identify rich, thick themes and patterns. The findings showed global collaborative projects and social media served as catalysts to motivate students as they took action as digital citizens, overcame barriers to digital citizenship, used social media for learning and collaboration, and adopted less ethnocentric views of the world. Students compared other cultures to their own, considered the welfare of others online, and modified their online behavior in favor of positive global digital footprints. Students used social media responsibly, were academically motivated by an authentic audience, and shared their academic learning with others in their local and extended communities. Reform of middle school curricula to include global collaborative projects and instruction in digital citizenship may bring about positive social change as students learn to be responsible users of social media.

Yes / Big data has been discussed extensively in existing scholarly works but scant consideration is given to customers’ willingness to generate and leave big data digital footprints on social media, especially in the light of the profusely debated issue of privacy and security. The current paper endeavours to address this gap in the literature by developing a conceptual framework. In doing so, this paper conducts a systematic review of extant literature from 2002 to 2017 to identify and analyse the underlying factors that influence customers’ willingness to leave digital footprints on social media. The findings of this review reveal that personal behaviour (intrinsic psychological dispositions), technological factors (relative advantage and convenience), social influence (social interaction, social ties and social support) and privacy and security (risk, control and trust) are the key factors that influence customers’ willingness to generate and leave big data digital footprints on social media. The conceptual framework presented in this paper advances the scholarship of technology adoption and use and provides useful direction for future empirical research for both academics and practitioners.

El uso creciente de dispositivos móviles, infraestructuras inalámbricas e Internet está cambiando nuestra vida diaria, no solo la manera en que nos comunicamos o compartimos información, sino también cómo nos relacionamos con el entorno. A través de nuestras interacciones con estas tecnologías, accedemos y generamos una membrana de información que se cierne sobre los espacios donde vivimos y que visitamos. Sin embargo, esta capa de información solo modela de manera imperfecta la realidad debido a una digitalización tosca y a limitaciones tecnológicas, que hacen peligrar la interacción humana. Por otro lado, la presencia de esta información geográfica ubicua generada por los usuarios abre nuevas perspectivas para la comprensión de las actividades humanas en el espacio y el tiempo. Esta tesis acepta el reto de investigar estos aspectos de las interacciones humanas con la información geográfica ubicua. Con un enfoque cualitativo y cuantitativo, discernimos las implicaciones de la integración de información geográfica ubicua y las resultantes estrategias de los usuarios para hacer frente a la incertidumbre espacial. Entonces, explotamos esta contribución para analizar enfoques novedosos con el objetivo de inferir actividades espacio-temporales de individuos y grupos respetando su privacidad. Demostramos la aplicabilidad de nuestras soluciones en los ámbitos de la investigación de mercados y el urbanismo. / The increasing use of mobile devices, wireless infrastructures, and the Internet is changing our daily lives, not only in the way we communicate with each other or share information but also how we relate to the environment. Through our interactions with these technologies we access and generate an informational membrane, hovering over the spaces we live in and visit. However, this information layer only imperfectly models the reality due to coarse digitization and technological limitations, challenging the human interaction. On the other hand, the presence of this user-generated ubiquitous geographic information opens novel perspectives in understanding human activities over space and time. This thesis takes on the challenge of exploring these aspects of human interactions with ubiquitous geographic information. Through qualitative lenses, we discern the implications of the integration of ubiquitous geographic information and the resulting users strategies to cope with spatial uncertainty. Then, we exploit this contribution to explore novel approaches to infer individuals and groups time-space activities with respect to their privacy. We demonstrate the applicability of our solutions in the domains of market research and urbanism.

Title of the dissertation: Misuse of ICT users digital footprint: library education as a prevention of privacy invasion Author: PhDr. Pavla Kovářová Supervisor: Ing. Martin Souček, Ph.D. Digital footprints, within the meaning of digital information informing about a particular person, belongs to the basic of the information society. They can help (e.g. as a proof of professional quality), but also hurt (e.g. documents of inappropriate behaviour, information misused in information attack) a man whom they relate. Managing digital footprints is becoming important for increasing amount of people. Libraries can promote knowledge of procedures for the effective management of digital footprints by information literacy lessons, which is a prerequisite for their application. PhD thesis describes the theoretical, but especially the research level. Activities of Czech libraries in education are mapped for the correct setting of lessons. Questionnaires showed that the topic continues with the current activities and interest in libraries. Knowledge of librarians and library and information studies students about digital footprints was subsequently tested. Knowledge has been proven, however only to a basic, limited level, but they are enough for four lessons designed for children in elementary school in the dissertation....

Social engineering (SE) attacks are one of the most common cyber attacks and frauds, which causes a large economical destruction to individuals, companies and governments alike. The attacks are hard to protect from, since SE-attacks is based on exploiting human weaknesses. The goal of this study is to identify indicators of resilience against SE-attacks from individual computer space data, such as network settings, social media profiles, web browsing behaviour and more. This study is based on qualitative methods to collect information, analyse and evaluate data. Resilience is evaluated with models such as theory of planned behaviour and the big five personality traits, as well as personal and demographic information. Indicators of resilience were found in network settings such as service set identifiers (SSID) and routers, web history, social media use and more. The framework developed in this study could be expanded with more aspect of individual data and different evaluation criteria. Further studies can be done about this subject with tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. / Sociala manipulationer är bland de vanligaste cyber attackerna och bedrägerierna som orsakar enorma ekonomiska skador varje år för individer, företag och myndigheter. Dessa attacker är svåra att skydda ifrån då sociala manipulationer utnyttjar mänskliga svagheter som ett medel till att stjäla pengar eller information. Målet med studien är att identifiera indikatorer av motstånd mot sociala manipulationsattacker, vilket ska göras med hjälp av individuell data, som kan bestå av nätverksinställningar, sociala medieprofiler, webbaktivitet bland annat. Denna studie är baserat på kvalitativa metoder för att samla, analysera och utvärdera data. Motstånd mot social manipulation utvärderas med hjälp av relevanta teorier och modeller som har med beteende och personligheter att göra, sedan används även personlig och demografisk information i utvärderingen. De indikatorer som identifierades var bland annat inställningar i routrar, webbhistorik och social medianvändning. Det teoretiska ramverket som utvecklades för att utvärdera motstånd mot sociala manipulationsattacker kan utökas med fler aspekter av individuell data. Viktiga samhällshändelser och sammanhang kan vara en intressant faktor som är relaterat till ämnet. Framtida studier skulle kunna kombinera detta ramverk med tekniker som maskinlärning och artificiell intelligens.

The Windows registry serves as a valuable resource for both digital forensics experts and security researchers. This information is invaluable for reconstructing a user's activity timeline, aiding forensic investigations, and revealing other sensitive information. Furthermore, this data abundance in the Windows registry can be effortlessly tapped into and compiled to form a comprehensive digital profile of the user. Within this dissertation, we've developed specialized applications to streamline the retrieval and presentation of user activities, culminating in the creation of their digital profile. The first application, named "SeeShells," using the Windows registry shellbags, offers investigators an accessible tool for scrutinizing and generating event timelines based on specific criteria like file access patterns and system navigations. It boasts analytical features that can identify potentially suspicious events through a heat mapping system. In the context of our research, we've also crafted another application designed to collect and deduce a user's extensive activities by solely accessing the Windows registry. This program effectively sidesteps security software by utilizing native Windows application programming interface (API) to interact with the registry, granting unrestricted access to valuable information. This trove of data, often referred to as the user's digital footprint, holds the potential to either investigate or compromise both the user's privacy and security. Finally, we propose a custom-developed application that utilizes both software-based encryption and advanced hooking techniques to protect users' personal data within the registry. Our program is designed to create a more secure and discreet environment for users, effectively fortifying it against privacy and security threats while maintaining accessibility to legitimate users and applications.

This paper starts by an explanation of the context of personal branding and online personal branding and the problem identified by the authors. Thus, the purpose of the study is to investigate on the perception of students towards online personal branding through their own personal brand and with the perspective of matching employer’s expectations. A section reviewing online personal branding and related literature is provided in order to describe among others, the several components of the elaboration of an online personal brand and the different employers’ expectations towards this brand. Next, a section describing the different methods used in the study is implemented. The data of this paper is gathered through 13 semistructured interviews based on an operationalization of the different concepts presented in the theoretical framework section. The results are then presented in the empirical investigation section following recurrent identified themes bring by the respondents: The need to fit the norm, to stand out and of control. Then the data is analyzed through the theories and is therefore following the different components of an elaboration of a personal brand including the different items related to employer’s consideration and practices. Then the conclusion is drawing in order to answering the research question as well as providing some acknowledgement and recommendations. This paper has permitted to describe the perception of student towards online personal branding with the perspective of matching employers’ expectations. This perception is a rather incomplete online personal brand, consisting of a normalized image of the self, a tool for a certain self-realization towards a limited audience and a have a certain perception of an overall control of this online personal brand.