While I don’t spend my entire life online, I do actively participate as it lets me communicate with the academic community across the globe. I believe that creating, maintaining, and updating a digital presence will allow me to control my online narrative. This way, I have more of an impact on what pops up first when someone performs a Google search for my name and work.
I want the focus when “Martina Svyantek” is searched for to be on MY person and MY work (in all the myriad ways I do work), not on random things that seem completely disconnected. I want my professional development and achievements showcased on the first few pages of results, as opposed to risking that random and awkwardly associated things arise. I want a cohesive whole.
Here are some of the online locations where I am curating my identity:
My iPhD work is new and exciting, but can also be very isolating at times. I am slowly developing a small community where I can share unfinished works and get feedback, regarding both content and style. Twitter has become a networking tool where I can connect to others also engaged in Disability research and activism.
LinkedIn also helps with networking, as well as providing yet another location for listing achievements. ORCID is a much more static representation that lists my published works.
I document much of my professional life and development online (via Twitter, blogging, and this ePortfolio), as I want to be very clear about what future coworkers and employers can expect from having me as part of the team. I work hard, but also in a lot of different ways; I’m taking interdisciplinary topics and interdisciplinary methods, using them in uncharted territories such as this ePortfolio prelim.
Additionally, I use my blogging practice as a reflective tool to both engage in my coursework as well as figuring out how the multiple threads of my work and interests tie together. This initially began as a repository of required blogging for courses, but it has been a useful tool for developing my public voice. If you are interested in these short bursts of thought and connection, please feel free to explore Still Editing as well, focusing on the #disability, #ethics, and #access tags.
Martina Svyantek 