Today’s connected world affects our children much more than it us. With the second digital generation growing quickly the time is right to ensure that a proper understanding of the digital environment is taught.

Inclusiveness is a word bandied about with increasing regularity by the political parties. But the travesty of the The digital britain paper has missed a huge trick – in mistakenly concentrating on what we should’t be doing with our bandwidth. Instead it should serve the communitity and our children to grow up in a switched on, 24/7 world where protecting their digital persona is as important as in the real world.

With issues such as cyberbullying becoming regularly reported and the increase in facebook and twitter membershiop continuing to explode, now is the time to teach those who will grow up in this digital world how to look after themselves online. The importance of trust and honesty and the ability to promote and project a confident, knowledgeable face to the world is crucial to help with this

Knowing what to do when an individual is being harassed, where to turn, what recourse there may be will make sure everyone can be confident about how to harness the digital power we now carry around with us in our pockets. In 20 years digital power has gone from carrying a suitcase sized mainframe with a novel’s worth of information in it to having the world’s library at your fingertips. With this power comes responsibility.
A confident digital britain of the future needs to lead the way to switching on a new generation of savvy, knowledgeable, aware, confident digital kids.

Instead of concentrating on the forever delayed analouge switch off of 2012 why not concentrate on handing the keys to a better life now.

Compulsory ‘how to handle cyber bullying’ courses would be a start. Being aware that everyone isn’t who they say they are online is the another step to developing a digitally literate generation. One who understands their place at the heart of the information culture and who can grow up knowing how to handle our connected society, where its perils and pitfalls are, as well as its growth opportunities.

Reputation is the 4th R it is time to implement it in our schools and colleges

With that in mind, the team at Halpern Cowan commissioned its first Digital Literacy Report for 2009, looking at how UK consumers are engaging with the internet. What we’ve found is that there is a real lack of understanding and basic digital literacy amongst UK consumers when it comes to conducting themselves online.

Most notably for me, the Digital Literacy Report found that one in four (23%) single British adults admitted there are pictures of themselves online that they wouldn’t want their bosses or colleagues to see, whilst over a quarter (28%) of 18-35 year olds admitted they have posted inappropriate content on services such as Facebook and Twitter that they have later gone on to regret.

As a result, it is clear that young professionals out there looking to establish themselves in a career are jeopardising their future chances with a careless approach to what is being posted about them online.

Consider as well that 47 per cent of those asked confessed to searching someone online before meeting with them, be it in professional of personal circumstances, that means that an individual’s misdemeanours are even more likely to found online by the very people they least want to see them.

This is a serious situation. We can expect to see young British professionals losing out in business and in their personal lives unless this apathetic approach to the internet is properly addressed.

Some seem to think, ‘I don’t need to be proactive.’ This is a dangerous attitude to have. As an individual it is easy to search for you online and see what you are doing, so if you have someone posting pictures of you on Facebook doing something you don’t want shared with the world, or you’re posting things on chat sites without a second thought as to its impact, you need to prepare for the consequences.

With more and more people being directly affected by their actions online, getting sacked for an inappropriate picture on Facebook or being judged by friends for a stray comment on Twitter, we need to improve people’s understanding of their consequences online and the impact it can have on their reputation.

Your reputation affects you, what people think about you and your ability to get on in the world accordingly. With a proactive approach the internet can be used to improve your reputation, but internet users must understand that promoting and protecting their online presence is now a major factor in achieving their professional and personal objectives.

A recent poll conducted by prospect magazine and complied by YouGov gives us a window into where the “twittering classes” as a group sit on the scale of liberal to authoritarian. My gut feel before looking at the stats would err toward the liberal but that’s likely to be coloured by my work within creative, media and technology.-Most of the savvy people within these groups are likely to be more digitally active if not politically and concious of broader social issues such as the environment, culture, the arts, education etc…

The poll found that Twitter users are less liberal than those who vote for the liberal democrats, but more so than either people aged 18-34 or Labour voters

We have already seen twitter users develop a groundswell of support for various issues and causes, through thousands of tweets, blogs and online protests; Iran, The Guardian / Trafigura gagging order. The homophobic rant regarding Stephen Gately in the Daily Mail etc…

These statistics could make interesting reading given that the parties contesting the UK general election in 2010 will rely heavily on the internet to spread their messages to the wider public. The general feeling up until now is that the conservatives and their supporters have been considered to lead the digital communication space. In contrast it is the left wing with a strongly liberal and civil libertarian bias that is leading the way.

To put the whole thing into perspective, one other stat from the research stands out – upto three quarters of the population don’t use twitter and don’t think it much use outside general chit chat and gossip. that is where the first digital battle lies, in changing attitudes toward how and when communication is spread and making people aware of the change in the balance of power. If we can get more people on board to understand the power of social networks as a force for dialogue and for change, then things could get interesting in May 2010

A hung parliament with Labour and the Liberal Democrats forming the next government anyone?

A very real and scary stalking case shows how harassment
Has moved in a very real sense to the digital sphere

Facebook and MySpace are places where individuals can hang out, chat and communicate amongst friends and colleagues. But there are also hidden dangers to having your name, age, interests likes and dislikes out there for anyone to see.

Inappropriate contact online is not just an annoyance and simply blocking the individual concerned may not be enough. Unfortunately this is a by product of our information age. At last the law seems to be catching up with the reality.

This story from the London Metro Newspaper tells how A 23 year old man has been given a suspended 12 month prison term and a lifetime restraining order after bombarding a 20 year old college student with aggressive and threatening messages.

It is becoming harder and harder to stave off people who are hell bent, for whatever reason, in harassing us online. The channels are growing quickly and more and more of us are available 24/7 on social networks, blogs, twitter, email and mobile devices.

New rules must be put in place to combat unwanted attention. It is heartening to see the law taking this issue seriously but it is not enough. Facebook, MySpace and the other social network giants need to adhere to a code of conduct, better still, to be leading the initiatives. The ‘carrier’ defence that is left over from the telephone networks is from a bygone age and can no longer hold sway

All of this means individuals need to be aware of their digital footprint, to know that any information that is put online can be used against them as well as for them.

This places us squarely in a conundrum. Do we throw caution to the wind and have an open network of people inviting anyone to connect, join in and communicate with us? Or do we close the digital avenues of communication only letting select known people through our internet filters. A difficult choice in an age of openness.

So she decides to head off around the world for a year or two, miss most of the recession and come back when its all blown over and things are back to how they should be. another graduate sees the same picture and hunkers down in a crap job for crap money in a crap location. Which one has the upper hand an which one is more likely to end up with a great job further down the line?

One school of thought is that any job is good and once one door opens any number of opportunities will present themselves. The individual concerned has shown clear thinking in getting a head start on her contemporaries and is better placed.

The other says that showing a creative approach to a less favourable job market shows a willingness to bring original ideas to the table, a trait that is in demand. I know both these people and have thought both ‘difficult choice’ and ‘no brainer’ at different times. Any thoughts?

Personally I have no trouble starting writing, it seems to flow quite easily, and I never have any issues with getting what’s on my mind down on paper. Where I run into problems is second, third and fourth draft. That’s where it all slooooooooooows down for me. I can happily leave a piece that I started and never touch it again for ages, well forever actually.

This is how I try to deal with the dreaded second draft

1. Try not to finish any work that’s flowing in one session, much easier to come back to something when you have a fair idea of how it’s going to end to get you started again.

2. Don’t write any passages out in full, use frameworks, keywords etc.. To keep the mind flowing and not focussing on any one subject too much (the old look at it by not looking at it trick – works wonders for me)

3. Write on paper first, I used to do this all the time, preferring to lay out everything in front of me and piece the ideas together. It’s quite a natural process when you think about it, similar to laying out the plans for a building or website before diving straight in.

4. Distraction. I find distracting myself quite easy at the best of times. When I’m writing I find making tea, reading the newspaper, and not doing any writing quite motivating. It might sound a little odd but the thought of a looming deadline and a possible repeat of countdown can do wonders for your get up and go

5. Never write after 10pm. This is the one I find hardest to stick to, being a bit of a natural night owl, however, anytime I write after 10 my eyes start bulging, sweat starts pouring down my face and the veins in my forehead start trying to meet in the middle – sure signs that I should stop writing, and perhaps go easy on the chilli sauce.

Much better to be pro-active and have a half-decent reputation strategy in the first place. the basics don’t take long at all to do: be consistent, tell your story and use the big internet shop window for what its good at – making you visible online.

Nearly a quarter of web users believe there is content on the internet about them and they wouldn’t want to be seen by their employer. Today, more than ever, you need to be visible online, and more importantly you need to be seen in the best light possible by those who could offer you land your next job or contract.

In the competitive job market you have to be unique, be aware of market trends and the most up to date with new techniques and technologies. but today that isn’t anywhere near enough to get you where you want to be. What you really need is to have an effective personal reputation management strategy – and to use the internet to amplify it.

As the great philosopher Socrates said: “Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of”

The Internet is now the defacto way of presenting the information you would like seen about yourself to the world. Social networks and online communication tools such as forums, blogging, viral marketing are now essential in managing your online presence how you are perceived by potential employers or customers.

All businesses take time to protect their names, their brands, and reputations now it is becoming increasingly important for individuals. Anyone who is concerned with their personal reputation (and really, who doesn’t need to impress prospective employers, clients or customers?) needs to take control of their personal reputation to actively protect and promote their online presence.

Managing your personal reputation in a tough job market could make all the difference in your job hunt. Here are some basic tips to help;

Clean up your online profile across any social media networks you use. This means taking down any pictures of you that don’t show you in the best light (for instance on a stag night…)
You can create personal and professional profiles on social networks to separate the personal and professional you
Also ask friends or colleagues to remove any unprofessional images, or videos that they might have uploaded on the internet
The internet is your shop window and your best chance to show a prospective employer what you can do, showing an professional attitude to how you are percieved online will help to enhance trust in your judgement, and put you ahead of many of your peers
Use social network tools to maximise your visibility through writing short and punchy executive summaries about you, your interests, background, status and achievements