Your Digital Dossier

Consider these questions as you review the examples below. Try the quiz from the left menu: What Have You Learned? after you’ve spent some time with this section.

Andy’s digital dossier (below) highlights the beginning formation of a digital identity – from birth.

Video created on Youtube by Digital Natives

Your digital dossier is under construction long before you begin to post your own content online. What impact do you think that has on your identity formation? Do you find it interesting that your digital dossier continues to grow even after your death?

Managing Your Digital Dossier
As the video illustrates, almost all of us (especially those born in the last 20 years) will have some form of digital dossier. Some of the information in that dossier will be publicly accessible and some will be private and protected by the agencies who generate the records or information. Do you know how to manage the parts of your dossier that you have control over? Here are some considerations:

• Who will manage your digital dossier when you die? There are companies (like Legacy Locker) that will take this on for a fee. Is this important to you?
• How much access will you have to your medical records when your doctor goes digital? Listen to CBC’s interview with Richard Alvarez, CEO Canada Health Infoway, on electronic health records (5:00) for some enlightening information on the risks and benefits of electronic health records.
• What does a Google search on your name tell you about the kind of info that is publicly available about you? Are you OK with what you find? If not, you may want to review the Protect section of this site.