Data Mining my Digital Tattoo

When someone dies in the movie Coco, they go on to live an afterlife in the Land of the Dead. However, they can only reside there as long as someone in the Land of the Living remembers them. As the last person in the Living World begins to forget, the soul becomes weaker. When the final memory is lost, the soul undergoes the final death and fades into nothingness.

Gif source: Makeagif.com

Creating my Story Through Digital Tattoos

Like many people from various cultures, I want to be remembered by others. I want at least one person to remember my name and the impact I left behind. In today’s technological world, that can be a reality. Everything is online. Plus, I have the ability to discover what people know about me through my digital tattoo. A digital tattoo tells a story about me. It is composed of the online information posted online, including the purchases I make, the websites I give my email to, the searches I type, and the details I post on my social media accounts. My actions and communication, both good and bad, are permanent and can define my online identity forever. These data can be very personal. Once posted online, with or without my knowledge, it will be impossible to control and keep private. 

Data Mining for Information on my Digital Tattoo

I conducted a data mine on my digital tattoo to see what personal information people can find on me. I used free resources, did not pay for additional results, and used a few perimeters during my search. Because I am not married, I use different variations of my government name, including my full name (Jessa Mae Mendiola), a shortened version of my first name (Jessa Mendiola), my middle initial, and my whole middle name. I gave my current city and state when asked for my location. I conducted a personal search using Google Chrome and Safari. Below are the results of my exploration:

No Success

USA Public Data Search 

I searched with my full name, a shortened version of my first name, middle initial, and full middle name. I could not find myself at all. 

My Life

Like with USA Public Data Search, I could not find myself with all the variations of my name. The only person they could find was a person named Marlene A. Mendiola. She is 43 years old and lives in Chicago. I am not related to her. 

PeekYou

PeekYou did not provide any information about me. When I searched “Jessa Mae Mendiola, Illinois, USA,” they found “Mae Mendiola, San Jose, CA.” Again, I am not related to her in any way. When I searched for “Jessa Mendiola,” they gave me people with different similar first (Jesse, Jessica) and last names (Mendoza).

Spokeo

I could not find myself on Spokeo using the different variations of my name. However, I had more success with the profile name of my public art Instagram account: jmaearts. If I decided to pay for more information, I would have access to my social media profile, photos, dating profiles, contact details, address history, and family background. 

Some Success

Family Tree Now

I immigrated from the Philippines and barely knew my family history before my grandparents. For some reason, I hoped Family Tree Now would give me information on my extended family, but it did not help much. Family Tree Now provided accurate information on my full name, date of birth, age, and email address. It also listed my immediate family, their age, and date of birth. The possible associates included my uncle and my aunt. They also provided the address (and a map of it), too.

Image Source: Family Tree Now

People Finders

People Finders provided my name, my age, where I lived, the names of my immediate family members, and my associated names. 

Image Source: People Finders

Instant Checkmate

Instant Checkmate provided my age and the town that I lived in. Surprisingly, they also linked me to my uncle, Timoteo Mendiola, who lives in the Philippines. 

Image Source: Instant Checkmate

Radaris 

I could not find myself with my full name (Jessa Mae Mendiola). However, when I used a shortened version of my name (Jessa Mendiola), Radaris listed my resume with my job title at Saratoga Grove Retirement Center and Michaels. These were my first two jobs in high school and early college years. It also listed my Associate Degree from the College of DuPage. The only thing they got wrong was the location and listed social media profiles. 

Image Source: Radaris

The Success

Image Source: Blog Author's Google Search

In the art world, I go by my full name. In every other aspect of my life, I go by "Jessa." When I searched for “Jessa Mae Mendiola” on Google, I got 638 results in 0.44 seconds. Most of my results lead straight to my art persona, which is very public. The first three websites are my art website, BFA (Bachelor’s in Fine Arts) Thesis, and art Instagram account. It also lists my afflicted art groups, including Sinag, Filipino American Artist Directory, and Riksha. Some publications and articles on art shows are also listed, including Avenue 50 Studio, Art In These Times, Dainty and The Divine, Quality Time, Kitchen Table Stories Exhibition, and Araw ng Mga Patay. Surprisingly, a few links to some of my art activities in High School have included: the 2015 Illinois Arts Education Week Poster and the Hinsdale Central Photo Pinterest account. My website from an art class at the University of Illinois is one of the results, as well. Although Google got most things correct, it did not get everything right. They had the wrong YouTube and TikTok accounts, which may be because my accounts on these platforms are private. 

When I searched for the shortened version of my name (“Jessa Mendiola”) most of the results that comes up are of Jessy Mendiola, a Filipina actress from the Philippines. However, my art website and art show publication still appeared within the same search. 

I redid the same searches on Safari, and received similar results. 

Reflection

I am not surprised that my art identity is extremely public because I consciously made it that way. My Instagram art account is public, I have a public art website, and I have been in shows that created press releases and articles for the general public. I consented to have a public art persona because I know that creating an online presence is a way for others to discover me. In fact, have worked with other organizations and artists because they found my art online. 

The one thing that surprised me was the fact that some of the results included information on my art life during high school. While I am not ashamed of the work I did during that time, I would rather be known for the things I created during and after college. 

However, I like to keep my personal life private. I want to control what I choose to keep to myself and what I decide to show to the world. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. It can be a surprising reality to know that what I would consider private data is laid bare for everyone to see. To be more specific, I did not voluntarily input information on all the sites I used to analyze my digital tattoo. I understand that my address, siblings, family members, and work are public information, but I was still shocked to see information from an old resume online. You might think to yourself, “What is the problem? The information about you on these sites is pretty minimal.” While that is true, I only used the free portions for these sites. I wonder what I would find if I paid a little money to access the full reports on me. For now, I am content and relieved that my digital tattoo is generally positive.

I believe that data mining and digital tattoos should be taught to students by the parents and the school. Students live a large part of their lives online, and parents and students must be aware of the actions that can impact a digital tattoo of a child. According to a 2016 statistic, 92% of American children have an online presence before they are two years old because their parents posted them online. Today's students must understand how to be safe and responsible online. They need to understand the permanence of personal information and shared images. Schools and parents can help students create a positive online presence because a digital tattoo is directly tied to one's reputation. Digital tattoos can impact their life. Anyone can access information from the sites I explored. Colleges, universities, and employers with money can access the full digital tattoo report about students, which impacts the admission and hiring process. No one has the option to be private anymore, so the best parents and schools can do is to teach students how to control aspects that they can. 

References

McTaggart, R. (2016, April 30). The digital tattoo: Think Before you Ink. Education Technology Solutions. https://educationtechnologysolutions.com/2015/03/the-digital-tattoo-think-before-you-ink/

Zumpano, N.C.  (2021, October 10). DigitalTattoosPart2 [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/lbOz0EGzXog?si=Dw0ThF_5SL6t6qe-.