The Digital Tattoo Project is a collaboration between the UBC Library, the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, UBC's Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, and the University of Toronto Mississauga Library.
We are a students-as-partners project. Our content is created and curated by our Student Coordinators with collaborative assistance from the Strategic Co-Leads. Our content seeks to engage students and community members in the evolving and on-going conversations about online identity.
Our Goals
The goal of this site and the Digital Tattoo project is to raise questions, provide examples and links to resources to encourage you to think about your presence online, navigate the issues involved in forming and re-forming your digital identity and learn about your rights and responsibilities as a digital citizen. We want you to be able to make your own informed decisions about your digital identity.
Here are many ways to use the resources and connect with the community associated with the digital tattoo project:
- Explore the issues associated with each theme on the site: Academic and Professional Life, Copyright and Open Access, Privacy and Surveillance.
- Follow the blog and post a comment to share your thoughts and experiences.
- Try our Wayfinding Quiz if you're unsure of where to start.
- Start a discussion on Twitter: use a hashtag to collect the conversation and be sure to include us in the Tweet @DTatUBC
- Facilitate an "in-person" discussion in residence, at your school, with your colleagues, using the collection of teaching resources we've assembled.
- Navigate using the tag cloud, which includes the digital literacies we're hoping to help you build.
Of course, we would love your feedback on our site. If you are an educator or a student please don't hesitate to contact us to share your story!
- We try hard to present a balanced point of view. Obviously, the Privacy and Surveillance section will have more of a focus on some of the downsides of digital life, and the Academic and Professional Life sections – the upsides. If you think we could do a better job, tell us. We encourage your comments and feedback.
- The content is developed by students. From time to time the working group (students and project staff) edit content to keep it timely, relevant and to add new pieces where something is missing.
- We moderate and publish the comments we receive. Sometimes we get comments that we need to think carefully about (and maybe respond privately to). If your comment hasn’t been published – that’s why. We’re doing our best to be respectful of you and responsible to our audiences.
- The content on this site is evolving. Just as we and our students are evolving in our understanding and experience with some of the issues we are attempting to address. You may see pages that are sketchy in the detail. If you can help to fill it in with a great example (your own) or some points to consider, please comment on the page.
Only current students at a post-secondary educational institution are allowed to submit content. If you are interested in submitting a contribution post to our website, please read our guidelines for article submissions.
UBC’s Digital Tattoo Project uses Google Analytics. This helps us understand what's interesting (or not) to our readers and we use that information to help us edit and improve the site. Cookies are used for traffic analysis and progress-tracking only. You can opt out of using cookies by changing your browser settings, though this may diminish site functionality. Your IP address will also be logged in the UBC server when you submit quizzes. You can choose to make your IP address anonymous by using a free proxy server. See our section on Anonymous Browsing for more information about cookies and steps you can take to manage your privacy. We respect your privacy and will never transfer your personal information to third parties except as required by law. Social media buttons are subject to policies of the respective parties.
- We have made some changes to how we reference sources in our articles. Formerly, we used hyperlinked footnote numbers in brackets, as well as a reference list at the bottom of the page. We found this was not the most accessible way to reference sources online—footnotes are not ideal for screen readers.
- Going forward, we will reference sources by hyperlinking text in the sentence. Not only is this more accessible, it is also more eye-catching and easier to read.
- Do you have any questions or thoughts about how we reference our sources? Send us an email or contact us via social media to let us know what you think.
