Naming in a Digital World: Creating a Safe Persona on the Internet

Overview

Featured Resources

From Theory to Practice

 

OVERVIEW

Naming takes on new meanings in digital settings—as students build personas through e-mail addresses, screen names, and online profiles, they can be unaware of the ways that others may read the information they share. Students begin this lesson by researching and discussing their own names. They investigate the role that situation and audience play in how names, such as nicknames or full names, are used. Next, they determine which of their names would be appropriate in a variety of different situations and then apply that idea to email, deciding which email addresses would be appropriate for each situation. Students use an online game to see what they can tell about another person from looking at their email address and then review online safety information. Finally, students choose a specific name that they would (or do) use to represent themselves online and create a profile for this online persona.

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FEATURED RESOURCES

What’s in a Name? Interactive: Students can use this online tool to find resources about naming conventions.

Keeping Kids Safer on the Internet: Tips for Parents and Guardians:  This resource from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children explores the benefits and risks of a variety online tools,  including email, texting, social networking, and gaming, and offers tips for keeping kids safe as they use them.

Online Profile Tips: Students can use these tips for creating safe online profiles for their class assignment as well as in real contexts.

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FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

There are lots of sayings about names, and most of them are, at best, only partially true. In “Exploring Heritage: Finding Windows into Our Lives,” Jessica Matthews-Burell explains, “By investigating the etymology and significance of our names, we realize that name-giving practices vary from one culture to another” (33). When Diana Mitchell asked students to explore naming, they were “fascinated to hear how different racial and ethnic groups had different naming traditions” (65).

Like cultural groups, digital settings have their own naming conventions. In fact, naming takes on new meanings in digital settings—as students build personas through e-mail addresses, screen names, and online profiles, they can be unaware of the ways that various audiences will read the aliases, names, and other information that they choose and share. This lesson asks students to think critically about what they communicate to their audience when they choose a name for an online space and to consider how and when the names they choose are appropriate for specific audiences of readers.

Further Reading
Matthews-Burell, Jessica. “Exploring Heritage: Finding Windows into Our Lives.” Voices from the Middle 10.4 (May 2003): 33–36.

Mitchell, Diana. “Tapping into Family Stories and Themes to Heighten End-of-Year Engagement.” English Journal 87.4 (April 1998): 65–69.

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