A little shameless self-promotion here. A few weeks ago I was talking online with some other ed-tech people, and Alvin repeated his assertion that if you Google “Alvin technology” he comes up as the first link. That, of course, led us to all to start Googling ourselves, an activity that was fun until I arrogantly pointed out that when you Google “John Schinker,” every link on the first page is about me. Ryan grumbled something about me having an unusual name, and we moved on to something else.
So tonight, I Googled myself to see how many links I’d have to go through to get to one that’s not about me. (I did warn you about the self-promotion, right? Besides, I’m sure you do this all the time.)
As it turns out, the 20th item in the list is not about me. I’m not one of the Iowa Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Edwards. Then, the streak continues for another 20 or so links until there are several that aren’t about me.
In the process of doing all of this, though, I was surprised to learn a few things. Cathy Evanoff wrote a nice article about their Read Across America activities back in March, in which I played a very small role. I apparently still have a personal home page (that I’m not going to link to), which was last updated before my six-year-old was born. And I was featured in a Computerworld article earlier this month about Linux in schools. Who knew? All I did was answer a couple emails, and there I am.
So… umm… thank you, all you nice people who have been saying favorable things about me on the Internet. Now, go Google yourself and see what you’ve been up to.
Posted on April 16th, 2008 by John Schinker
Filed under: 21:Globalization, Desktop Linux, Front Page
![[QR Code]](http://staff.bbhcsd.org/schinkerj/files/2010/06/jschinker_qr_sml1.png)
Well, now *I* had to go and do it, too. I’m pleased to say that though I am not a technical person in any official capacity, everything on the first page when you google “Debbie Schinker” is mine except hits 13 and 19. Moreover, 12 of the next 20 links are mine, too! So I’m almost keeping up with the Johnses. Maybe if I updated my blog more frequently…
Top this. When you search for my wife, every link is to her. Her parents had the foresight to give her a unique first name, Ann-Janene (with a hyphen). She shortened it to Anjie. Apparently she is the only person on the planet with her name.
On the first day of class, I have my freshmen look each other up online. After that we work to get everyone’s name to the top of the list with links to educational projects and experiences. I had a student with the same name as a fugitive serial killer. That’s plain old bad luck.
Having a unique name helps a lot in a Google search. If you search for my first name, I am listed in the top fifty. There are only 35 million “Alvin” references as opposed to a billion “John” links. I remember an article a few years back about naming trends. Apparently the Internet is beginning to affect the way people name their kids. Some people are buying the domain name of their children at birth. To make that possible, they have to pick a name that hasn’t been purchased.
I guess name popularity makes me one in a billion
That would make an interesting activity, though, especially for an online class where students aren’t likely to know each other. Assign each participant the name of another participant, and have them write a biography of that person based on what they can find online.
Sometimes the Internet can be brutal. I have a friend whose name is the same as a pretty crude slang term. So while she has a fairly substantial online presence, Googling her name also brings up some pretty inappropriate stuff.