Online Reputation
When I was on an internship, the director, Alexandre De Brevern, told me that I was invisible online. It is not reassuring because people can not verify who you are, what you have done or whether you are trustworthy. Indeed, to have a professional presence on the internet is important, both for yourself and for representing your institution, laboratory or company.
Why online presence matters in science
Online visibility plays a role in:
- Credibility: colleagues and supervisors can see your profile
- Traceability: your contributions can be associated with your name
- Network: identification by peers for collaborations or opportunities
- Institution: you are the ambassador of your University, Lab or Company.
A lack of online presence is not necessary problematic, but it creates a feeling of shadowness around you.
Consistency of your e-identity
Ensure that relevant information exists and is always consistent. Constent items of your identify:
- Full name used consistently across platforms
- Affiliation (lab, university, institution)
- Research interests or domain
- list of scientific publications
Online Platforms
Academic profiles
- ORCID:
- Google Scholar: for publications and citations
- ResearchGate: for sharing papers and visibility
- Institutional page e.g. my CNRS profile
Professional networks
- LinkedIn: professional identity and networking
- Twitter: sharing public work updates, following academic communities and networking
Others
- GitHub: for computational or bioinformatics work
- Kaggle: to showcase data science skills
- Leetcode: practicing algorithmic problem-solving and coding interview questions
- Stackoverflow: to ask and answer technical questions related to coding
- Personal website: curriculum vitae, publications and contact
- Contributions to community of interest e.g. bioinfo-fr for french bioinformaticians
The Digital Halo Effect
The Digital Halo is composed of 4 parts:
- Content: what you publish.
- Credibility: signals of expertise and trustworthiness
- Community: people you are connected with
- Controversy: attention generated through online discussion
The Digital Halo will be the items returned by search engine about you to the users who are typing your name. Publications and professional networking help strengthen this halo, while incomplete, misleading, or irrelevant content can weaken your online reputation as a professional.
References
Digital halo: Strategies for building online personal reputations
Mark Chong and Sangeet Choudary
Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing. 2014 Nov 01. DOI: 10.69554/YNTA5061.
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