You have engaged in many different activities for this course – completing assignments, doing research, communicating with classmates, etc. In the process, you have created many digital traces (also called digital footprints or digital shadows) – computational data that remain on servers or other computers around the world as a result of your actions. Some of these have societal benefits – for example, your edit to Wikipedia is making the world better for future users of that system. However, some of these traces have no clear benefits to society, but nevertheless still consume energy, allow companies to track your behavioral patterns, etc.

For this assignment, please list at least THREE different types of digital traces that have been produced as a result of your work in this course. (The Wikipedia edit and your responses to discussion boards would be two examples; since I’ve told them to you, you can’t use them in your list.) For each type of trace, please write a paragraph (75-100 words) that discusses the location and nature of the trace (e.g., where is the computer on which it is being stored? Who owns it? What information is stored because of your activity? Is any personally identifiable information stored?) and includes the corresponding URL if the trace is accessible online. Each paragraph should also include a brief description of how you would go about removing the trace (if at all possible). You do not need to remove the trace, but rather just list the steps required to do so.

1. Online profile: https://sites.google.com/d/1bb4oX8gM8YgfEG51j7Syuk…

2. drawbacks of social media participation (please see attached blow)

3. Meme assignment (please see attached below)