You have engaged in many different activities for this course – completing assignments, doing research,
communicating with classmates, etc. In the process, you have created many digital traces (also called
digital footprints or digital shadows) – computational data that remain on servers or other computers around
the world as a result of your actions. Some of these have societal benefits – for example, your edit to
Wikipedia is making the world better for future users of that system. However, some of these traces have
no clear benefits to society, but nevertheless still consume energy, allow companies to track your
behavioral patterns, etc.
For this assignment, please list at least THREE different types of digital traces that have been produced as
a result of your work in this course. (The Wikipedia edit and your responses to discussion boards would be
two examples; since I’ve told them to you, you can’t use them in your list.) For each type of trace, please
write a paragraph (75-100 words) that discusses the location and nature of the trace (e.g., where is the
computer on which it is being stored? Who owns it? What information is stored because of your activity? Is
any personally identifiable information stored?) and includes the corresponding URL if the trace is
accessible online. Each paragraph should also include a brief description of how you would go about
removing the trace (if at all possible). You do not need to remove the trace, but rather just list the steps
required to do so.