What is doxing, and how can you protect yourself?

Posted on February 26, 2024 by digitaldexterity

The blog group loved this article from The Conversation, originally published on 13 February 2024. We hope you do too!

Rob Cover, RMIT University

The Australian government has brought forward plans to criminalise doxing, bringing nationwide attention to the harms of releasing people’s private information to the wider public.

The government response comes after the public release of almost 600 names and private chat logs of a WhatsApp group of Australian Jewish creative artists discussing the Israel-Hamas war.

As a result, some of the people whose details were leaked claim they were harassed, received death threats and even had to go into hiding.

While we wait for new penalties for doxers under the federal Privacy Act review, understanding doxing and its harms can help. And there are also steps we can all take to minimise the risk.

What is doxing?

Doxing (or doxxing) is releasing private information — or “docs”, short for documents — online to the wider public without the user’s consent. This includes information that may put users at risk of harm, especially names, addresses, employment details, medical or financial records, and names of family members.

The Australian government currently defines doxing as the “malicious release” of people’s private information without their consent.

Doxing began as a form of unmasking anonymous users, trolls and those using hate speech while hiding behind a pseudonym. Recently, it has become a weapon for online abuse, harassment, hate speech and adversarial politics. It is often the outcome of online arguments or polarised public views.

It is also becoming more common. Although there is no data for Australia yet, according to media company SafeHome.org, about 4% of Americans report having been doxed, with about half saying their private emails or home addresses have been made public.

Doxing is a crime in some countries such as the Netherlands and South Korea. In other places, including Australia, privacy laws haven’t yet caught up.

Why is doxing harmful?

In the context of the Israel-Hamas war, doxing has affected both Jewish and pro-Palestinian communities and activists in Australia and abroad.

Doxing is harmful because it treats a user as an object and takes away their agency to decide what, and how much, personal information they want shared with the wider public.

This puts people at very real risk of physical threats and violence, particularly when public disagreement becomes heated. From a broader perspective, doxing also damages the digital ecology, reducing people’s ability to freely participate in public or even private debate through social media.

Although doxing is sometimes just inconvenient, it is often used to publicly shame or humiliate someone for their private views. This can take a toll on a person’s mental health and wellbeing.

It can also affect a person’s employment, especially for people whose employers require them to keep their attitudes, politics, affiliations and views to themselves.

Studies have shown doxing particularly impacts women, including those using dating apps or experiencing family violence. In some cases, children and family members have been threatened because a high-profile relative has been doxed.

Doxing is also harmful because it oversimplifies a person’s affiliations or attitudes. For example, releasing the names of people who have joined a private online community to navigate complex views can represent them as only like-minded stereotypes or as participants in a group conspiracy.

A person using a laptop and smartphone simultaneously — There are steps you can take online to protect yourself from doxing without having to complete withdraw. Engin Akyurt/Pexels

What can you do to protect yourself from doxing?

Stronger laws and better platform intervention are necessary to reduce doxing. Some experts believe that the fear of punishment can help shape better online behaviours.

These punishments may include criminal penalties for perpetrators and deactivating social media accounts for repeat offenders. But better education about the risks and harms is often the best treatment.

And you can also protect yourself without needing to entirely withdraw from social media:

never share a home or workplace address, phone number or location, including among a private online group or forum with trusted people
restrict your geo-location settings
avoid giving details of workplaces, roles or employment on public sites not related to your work
avoid adding friends or connections on social media services of people you do not know
if you suspect you risk being doxed due to a heated online argument, temporarily shut down or lock any public profiles
avoid becoming a target by pursuing haters when it reaches a certain point. Professional and courteous engagement can help avoid the anger of those who might disagree and try to harm you.

Additionally, hosts of private online groups must be very vigilant about who joins a group. They should avoid the trap of accepting members just to increase the group’s size, and appropriately check new members (for example, with a short survey or key questions that keep out people who may be there to gather information for malicious purposes).

Employers who require their staff to have online profiles or engage with the public should provide information and strategies for doing so safely. They should also provide immediate support for staff who have been doxed.

Rob Cover, Professor of Digital Communication and Co-Director of the RMIT Digital Ethnography Research Centre, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Library strategy and Artificial Intelligence

Posted on August 14, 2023 by digitaldexterity

by Dr Andrew M Cox, Senior Lecturer, the Information School, University of Sheffield.

This post was originally published in the National Centre for AI blog, owned by Jisc. It is re-printed with permission from Jisc and the author.

On April 20th 2023 the Information School, University of Sheffield invited five guest speakers from across the library sectors to debate “Artificial Intelligence: Where does it fit into your library strategy?”

The speakers were:

Nick Poole, CEO of CILIP
Neil Fitzgerald, Head of Digital Research, British Library
Sue Lacey-Bryant, Chief Knowledge Officer; Workforce, Training and Education Directorate of NHS England
Sue Attewell, Head of Edtech, JISC
John Cox, University Librarian, University of Galway

A capacity 250 people had signed up online, and there was a healthy audience in the room in Sheffield.

Slides from the event can be downloaded here . These included updated results from the pre-event survey, which had 68 responses.

This blog is a personal response to the event and summary written by Andrew Cox and Catherine Robinson.

Impact of generative AI

Andrew Cox opened the proceedings by setting the discussion in the context of the fascination with AI in our culture from ancient Greece, movies from as early as the start of the C20th, through to current headlines in the Daily Star!

Later on in the event, in his talk John Cox quoted several authors saying AI promised to produce a profound change to professional work. And it seemed to be agreed amongst all the speakers that we had entered a period of accelerating change, especially with Chat GPT and other generative AI.

These technologies offer many benefits. Sue Lacey-Bryant shared some examples of how colleagues were already experimenting with using Chat GPT in multiple ways: to search, organise content, design web pages, draft tweets and write policies. Sue Attewell mentioned JISC sponsored AI pilots to accelerate grading, draft assessment tasks, and analyse open text NSS comments.

And of course wider uses of AI are potentially very powerful. For example Sue Lacey-Bryant shared the example of how many hours of radiologists time AI was saving the NHS. Andrew Cox mentioned how Chat GPT functions would be realised within MS Office as Copilot. Specifically for libraries, from the pre-event survey it seemed that the most developed services currently were library chatbots and Text and Data Mining support; but the emphasis of future plans was “Promoting AI (and data) literacy for users”.

But it did mean uncertainty. Nick Poole compared the situation to the rise of Web2.0 and suggested that many applications of generative AI were emerging and we didn’t know which might be the winners. User behaviour was changing and so there was a need to study this. As behaviour changed there would be side effects which required us to reflect holistically, Sue Attewell pointed out. For example if generative AI can write bullet point notes, how does this impact learning if writing those notes was itself how one learned? She suggested that the new technology cannot be banned. It may also not be detectable. There was no choice but to “embrace” it.

Ethics

The ethics of AI is a key concern. In the pre-event survey, ethics were the most frequently identified key challenge. Nick Poole talked about several of the novel challenges from generative AI, such as what is its implication for intellectual freedom? What should be preserved from generative AI (especially as it answers differently to each iteration of a question)? Nick identified that professional ethics have to be:

“Inclusive – adopting an informed approach to counter bias
Informed & evidence-based – geared towards helping information users to navigate the hype cycle
Critical & reflective – understanding our own biases and their impact
Accountable – focused on trust, referencing and replicability
Creative – helping information users to maximise the positive benefits of AI augmented services
Adaptive – enabling us to refresh our skills and expertise to navigate change”

Competencies

In terms of professional competencies for an AI world, Nick said that there was now wider recognition that critical thinking and empathy were key skills. He pointed out that the CILIP Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB) had been updated to reflect the needs of an AI world for example by including data stewardship and algorithmic literacy. Andrew Cox referred to some evidence that the key skills needed are social and influencing skills not just digital ones. Skills that respondents to the pre-event survey thought that libraries needed were:

General understanding of AI
How to get the best results from AI
Open-mindedness and willingness to learn
Knowledge of user behaviour and need
Copyright
Professional ethics and having a vision of benefits

Strategy

John Cox pointed to evidence that most academic library strategies were not yet encompassing AI. He thought it was because of anxiety, hesitancy, ethics concerns and inward looking and linear thinking. But Neil explained how the British Library is developing a strategy. The process was challenging, akin to ‘Flying a plane while building it”. Sue Attewell emphasised the need for the whole sector to develop a view. The pre-event survey suggested that the most likely strategic responses were: to upskill existing staff, study sector best practice and collaborate with other libraries.

Andrew Cox suggested that some key issues for the profession were:

How do we scope the issue: As about data/AI or a wider digital transformation?
- How does AI fit into our existing strategies – especially given the context of institutional alignment?
- What constitutes a strategic response to AI? How does this differ between information sectors?
How do we meet the workforce challenge?
- What new skills do we need to develop in the workforce?
- How might AI impact equality and diversity in the profession?

Workshop discussions

Following the presentations from the speakers, those attending the event in person were given the opportunity to further discuss in groups the professional competencies needed for AI. Those attending online were asked to put any comments they had regarding this in the chat box. Some of the key discussion points were:

The need for professionals to rapidly upskill themselves in AI. This includes understanding what AI is and the concepts and applications of AI in individual settings (e.g. healthcare, HE etc.), along with understanding our role in supporting appropriate use. However, it was believed this should go beyond a general understanding to a knowledge of how AI algorithms work, how to use AI and actively adopting AI in our own professional roles in order to grow confidence in this area.
Horizon scanning and continuous learning – AI is a fast-paced area where technology is rapidly evolving. Professionals not only need to stay up-to-date with the latest developments, but also be aware of potential future developments to remain effective and ensure we are proactive, rather than reactive.
Upskilling should not just focus on professional staff, but all levels of library staff will require some level of upskilling in the area of AI (e.g. library assistants).
Importance of information literacy and critical thinking skills in order to assess the quality and relevance of AI outputs. AI should therefore be built into professional training around these skills.
Collaboration skills – As one group stated, this should be more ‘about people, not data’. AI requires collaboration with:
- Information professionals across the sector to establish a consistent approach;
- Users (health professionals, students, researchers, public etc.) to establish how they are using AI and what for;
- With other professionals (e.g. data scientists).
Recruitment problems were also discussed, with it noted that for some there had been a drop in people applying for library roles. This was impacting on the ability to bring in new skillsets to the library (e.g. data scientist), but on the ability to allow existing staff the time to upskill in the area of AI. It was discussed that there was the need to promote lifestyle and wellbeing advantages to working in libraries to applicants.

Other issues that came up in the workshop discussions centered around how AI will impact on the overall library service, with the following points made:

There is the need to expand library services around AI, as well as embed it in current services;
Need to focus on where the library can add value in the area of AI (i.e. USP);
Libraries need to make a clear statement to their institution regarding their position on AI;
AI increases the importance of and further incentivises open access, open licencing and digitisation of resources;
Questions over whether there is a need to rebrand the library.

The attendees also identified that the following would useful to help prepare the sector for AI:

Sharing of job descriptions to learn about what AI means in practice and help with workforce planning. Although, it was noted how the RL (Research Libraries) Position Description Bank contains almost 4000 position descriptions from research libraries primarily from North America, although there are many examples from RLUK members;
A reading list and resource bank to help professionals upskill in AI;
Work shadowing;
Sharing of workshops delivered by professionals to users around the use of AI;
AI mailing lists (e.g. JISCmail);
Establishment of a Community of Practice to promote collaboration. Although it was noted that AI would probably change different areas of library practice (such as collecting or information literacy) so was likely to be discussed within the professional communities that already existed in these areas.

Workshop outcome

Following the workshop Andrew Cox and Catherine Robinson worked on a draft Working paper which we invite you to comment on @ Draft for comment: Developing a library strategic response to Artificial Intelligence: Working paper.

In-person versus Online: A Conversation

Posted on February 6, 2023 by digitaldexterity

by Peggy Hsu, Liaison Librarian, Federation University Australia, and Kayleen Wardell, Team Leader Client Services, Southern Cross University Library

Authors’ contact details: p.hsu@federation.edu.au and kayleen.wardell@scu.edu.au

Open laptop with gallery view of online meeting participants, on a desk next to a pottery cup — Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.

Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.”

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring. 1954

It’s starting to happen again. Attending events in person and seeing friends and colleagues from other institutions face-to-face.

Kayleen and I both attended the ‘CAUL: Enabling a Modern Curriculum Conference’ in early September 2022, which had both online and in-person days to the program, so it felt like the appropriate time to interrogate and debate our thoughts on ‘in-person versus online professional development’.

Webinar fatigue

Peggy: I. Love. Webinars.

I can see a webinar from anywhere in the world. With webinars, I don’t hurt my neck or back if I’m seated sideways, and *whispers* I can run to the bathroom with my headset on and still listen to the webinar. Plus, the links and attendee chat are often interesting.

Kayleen: I. Love. In-person events.

I enjoy being in the same physical space with others and engaging with them on a very visceral level. I am energised by their enthusiasm and love working together on activities at the event. This can be exhausting, but not as much as ‘webinar fatigue’.

Connections and networking

Peggy: I am an introvert with ‘weird hearing’. I strain to filter all the conversations happening around me, plus I feel weird sidling up to a group, inserting myself and then having said difficulty hearing the conversation. Ugh!.

I also forget names, like really quickly. I’m sorry and embarrassed now.

Kayleen: For me, the most amazing part of an in-person event is meeting the people who until that moment had only been faces on a Zoom screen.

And during the breaks, it’s great to engage in ‘face to face’ serendipitous or ‘water cooler’ conversations. Especially when standing in front of the vast array of teas, trying to work out which flavour you want to try, and then finding out that the person standing next to you likes that same tea. A conversation then ensues about the other things that you have in common. Pure gold!

Costs: Money or Time (Travel)

Peggy: I’m about 90 minutes from Melbourne, so not that far. For me, the event should ideally be longer than the time it takes travelling and if it’s on the other side of Melbourne, add another hour. Plus, why are universities not near train lines?

Kayleen: I must admit that there are probably not many positives about the cost of travelling to an event in person. Unless the event is just around the corner or your boss is paying the bill. However, adding other activities to the trip, such as visiting colleagues in other libraries, can make it worthwhile.

Equity

Peggy: This article from Scientific American had some great points to make on equity provided by online events.

Easier access for disabled or people with children.
Environmentally friendlier, if you have a budget for travel.
Lastly, online is great for diversity.

The information that really blew my mind though was research reported by Allseated that at online scientific conferences, female attendance increased by 253% and genderqueer attendance “jumped by 700%”.

Kayleen: Peggy has raised some excellent points around specific elements of equity for attendees at online events.

There is also some great information provided by the Australian Human Rights Commission on hosting in-person meetings and events to improve the experience of attendees.

Wrap-up

There are positives and negatives to in-person and online-only events. Hybrid seems to be the way forward, but the technology may not be ready in terms of pricing, access, and ease of set-up. Still, worse, we might be stuck in a binary where the only perceived options are in-person or online, and we aren’t displaying pandemic adaptability and innovation.

References

Allseated. (n.d.). The Return to In-Person Events: What’s Changed. Allseated. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://allseated.com/blog/the-return-to-in-person-events-whats-changed/

Australian Human Rights Commission. (2021). Hosting accessible and inclusive in-person meetings and events. https://includeability.gov.au/resources-employers/hosting-accessible-and-inclusive-person-meetings-and-events

Liu, G. (2020, August 21). The Surprising Advantages of Virtual Conferences. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-surprising-advantages-of-virtual-conferences/

MyHub. (2022, May 24). Water Cooler Conversation: The Essential Guide For Hybrid Workplaces. https://www.myhubintranet.com/water-cooler-conversation/

Robinson, E. (2021, April 21). Study explains ‘cocktail party effect’ in hearing impairment. OHSU. https://news.ohsu.edu/2021/04/21/study-explains-cocktail-party-effect-in-hearing-impairment

The National Press Club (n.d.). Live, Virtual or Hybrid Events – Which Approach Is Best? The National Press Club. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.press.org/live-virtual-or-hybrid-events-which-approach-best

Wilson, A. (2021, September 15). What is Webinar Fatigue and how do we manage it? Lernium. https://www.learnium.com/2021/09/15/what-is-webinar-fatigue-and-how-do-we-manage-it/

Crypto scams will increase over the holidays – here’s what you need to know to not fall victim

Posted on November 21, 2022 by digitaldexterity

by Ashish Nanda, CyberCRC Research Fellow, Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University; Jeb Webb, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University; Jongkil Jay Jeong, CyberCRC Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University; Mohammad Reza Nosouhi, CyberCRC Research Fellow, Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University, Deakin University, and Syed Wajid Ali Shah, CSCRC Research Fellow, Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation, Deakin University

We loved this article from The Conversation, originally published on 14 November 2022

Each year, as the festive season arrives, we must also keep an eye out for potential scammers trying to ruin the fun. This is because scammers become more active during the holidays, targeting us while we have our guard down.

So far in 2022, Australians have lost around half a billion dollars to scams, which is already significantly more than had been lost by this time last year. The majority of these losses – around $300 million – have involved investment or cryptocurrency scams.

Researchers from Deakin University’s Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation had a opportunity to interview recent victims of these scams. Here is what we found.

Anyone can fall for a scam

I was shocked and could not accept that this happened to me although I was very careful […] I was numb for a couple of minutes as it was a large amount of money. – (26-year-old female office manager from South Australia)

These scams have become highly sophisticated and criminals have become less discriminating about whom they target. This is reflected in recent victim demographics, showing a wide variety of backgrounds, a more even distribution across several age groups, and an almost even split on gender.

So, how can you spot these scams and where can you get help if you have fallen victim?

If it sounds too good to be true, it might just be a scam

I was dumbfounded, to say that ground shattered under my feet would be an understatement, it will take me a very long time to recover from it, financially and mentally. – (36-year-old female, legal practitioner from Victoria)

Most crypto scams involve getting the victim to buy and send cryptocurrency to the perpetrator’s account for what appears to be a legitimate investment opportunity.

Cryptocurrency is the currency of choice for this type of crime, because it’s unregulated, untraceable and transactions cannot be reversed.

Victims of such scams are targeted using a number of different methods, which include:

Investment scams: scammers pretend to be investment managers claiming high returns on crypto investments. They get the victim to transfer over funds and escape with them.

“Pump and dump”: scammers usually hype up a new cryptocurrency or an NFT project and artificially increase its value. Once enough victims invest, the scammers sell their stake, leaving the victims with worthless cryptocurrency or NFT.

Romance scams: involves scammers using dating platforms, social media or direct messaging to engage with you, gain your trust and pitch an amazing investment opportunity promising high returns, or ask for cryptocurrency to cover medical or travel expenses.

Phishing scams: an old but still effective scam involving malicious emails or messages with links to fake websites promising huge returns on investment or just outright stealing credentials to access users’ digital currency wallets.

Ponzi schemes: a type of investment scam where the scammers use cryptocurrency gathered from multiple victims to repay high interest to some of them; when victims invest more funds, the scammers escape with all the investments.

Mining scams: scammers try and convince victims to buy cryptocurrency to use in mining more of it, while in reality there is no mining happening – the scammers just make transfers that look like returns on the investment. Over time, the victim invests more, and the scammers keep taking it all.

Although methods evolve and change, the telltale signs of a potential scam remain relatively similar:

very high returns with promises of little or no risk
proprietary or secretive strategies to gain an advantage
lack of liquidity, requiring a minimum accumulation amount before funds are released.

Where to seek help if you’ve been scammed

I felt helpless, I didn’t know what to do, who to reach out to, I was too embarrassed and just kept blaming myself. – (72-year-old male, accountant from Victoria)

If you think you have fallen victim to one of these scams, here is what you need to do next:

inform the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) here or reach out to relevant authorities as per advice on the ScamWatch website
reach out to your friends and family members and inform them of the scam; they can also be a source of help and support during such times
as these events can have a psychological impact, it’s recommended you talk to your GP, a health professional, or someone you trust
you can also reach out to counselling services such as LifeLine, beyond blue, Sucide Call Back Service, Mens Line, and more for help and support.

If you ever find yourself in a difficult situation, please remember help and support is available.

Finally, to prevent yourself becoming the next statistic over the holiday period, keep in mind the following advice:

don’t share your personal details with people online or over a call
don’t invest in something you don’t understand
if in doubt, talk to an expert or search online for resources yourself (don’t believe any links the scammers send you).

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Declutter your digital writing – for inclusion, clarity and better reader experience

Posted on September 12, 2022 by digitaldexterity

Originally posted on Deakin University Library’s DigiBytes blog

By Rachel Wilson and Kat Cain of Deakin University, republished with permission from the authors

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Decluttering is not just about your digital files, your cutlery cupboard, or your work desk – it also is a handy approach for digital writing. Clutter distracts from the clarity of your writing. Unnecessary words, complicated sentences, and redundancies can all mess up the flow of your writing. Which means your core message or learning point is lost within the word noise.

Decluttering is a great strategy for writing in many different contexts, using plain language in digital spaces like blogs, guides, websites is critical and inclusive. It means your content is readily understandable, scannable, and straightforward. Most of all it makes your content more useful to your learner or reader. Check out this Evolving web post for a good breakdown of why decluttered writing works so well for inclusion and why plain language matters.

Strategies, concepts and tools to help

Here are three key tips that can get you started in decluttering your digital writing. They can help you tighten your prose, your email, or your module text. In fact, these writing skills can be applied everywhere, not just writing web page content.

Tip 1: Consider your audience

Who are you writing for?

Undergrads
Professional staff
Industry
Researchers and academics

Different reading levels are OK for different audiences. Vocab will change depending on the context.

Grade 7-8 for your average audience
Grade 10-12 for experts in your subject matter

Tip 2: Use tools to Marie Kondo your content

Using editing and grammar tools can give you a strong idea on how readable your content is, how clearly your message scans.

Word Editor – built into Microsoft Word
Grammarly
Wordtune
Hemingway
Listen to write approach – hear your words spoken and edit accordingly

Tip 3: Keep it clean and uncluttered

There are a number of things you can do to keep your digital page clean. Avoid jargon and go for simpler wording where you can. Also carefully consider image use on your digital page as it can dilute your message. Use headings, lists and ‘calls to action’ to make your content more structured and scannable. Don’t cover too many topics in the same space!

Key take away

Don’t strive for perfection in your digital writing – we love iterative improvements. As Leo Tolstoy said “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content” (Anna Karenina).

via GIPHY

Hybrid working post COVID: how young professionals can optimise their time in the office (and why they should)

Posted on July 18, 2022 by digitaldexterity

By Gemma Dale, Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Law, Liverpool John Moores University

This week, we are republishing an article originally published in The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

During the pandemic, around 100 million people in Europe switched to working from home – nearly half of them for the first time. This shift was rapid, with employees quickly noticing the benefits of remote work. These can include freedom from commuting, more time for personal wellbeing and increased productivity.

You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, here.

As we move on from pandemic restrictions, we’ve seen a strong, global demand for more flexible forms of working, particularly to retain an element of remote work. While some employees want to work from home permanently, most want what’s coming to be regarded as the best of both worlds: hybrid working. Only a minority of workers now want to return to the office full time.

One group which may be particularly keen on hybrid working is young professionals. And for this group, time spent in the office could be especially valuable.

Young people and remote work

Surveys undertaken during the pandemic indicated that generation Z (those born after 1996) were more likely to say that they were struggling with work-life balance and post-work exhaustion than older generations.

There are several possible reasons for this. Younger people may find it more difficult to establish a good homeworking set up, depending on their living arrangements. Those early in their careers may have smaller professional networks, leading to greater isolation. Or they may simply have less experience managing the boundaries between work and life outside of work, which can be made more difficult when there’s no physical office to leave at the end of the day.

Despite this, emerging evidence suggests that younger workers want remote and flexible work rather than a return to the office full time. Surveys vary, but generally indicate that around two-thirds of members of generation Z working in office jobs want a hybrid working pattern in the future – and they’re prepared to move employers to find it.

According to a recent survey by management consulting company McKinsey, employees aged 18–34 were 59% more likely to say they would quit their current role to move to a job with flexible working compared with older employees aged 55–64.

Younger workers are interested in flexible working arrangements.Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

It’s worth going into the office sometimes

Remote and hybrid working can bring many benefits. For employees, remote work provides the opportunity to reallocate costly and sometimes stressful commuting time into activities that support work-life balance and health. Indeed, more than three-quarters of hybrid and remote workers report improved work-life balance compared with when they worked in an office full time.

Meanwhile, hybrid work provides autonomy and choice for employees. They can combine time at home for focused and independent work with time in the office for collaboration and connection. A hybrid working model can be good for productivity, inclusion and motivation.

However, the belief that work is best done in an office environment is pervasive – and young people in particular are thought to need to go into the office to build professional networks and to learn.

There could be some truth to the idea that young people early in their careers uniquely benefit from going into the office. Research conducted prior to the pandemic has associated being out of sight while working remotely with also being out of mind. Notably, people who work exclusively at home are less likely to receive promotions and bonuses.

Conversely, being with colleagues in person has been associated with greater career advancement. In part, this is probably because being physically present in the office appears to signal commitment to the organisation.

Can hybrid work address the risks of fully remote work and preserve the rewards associated with face-to-face interactions in the office? Only time will tell.

Working at home has its benefits. Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Finding the right balance

Before 2020, remote work was still relatively rare. Hybrid working at scale is a new concept.

But throughout the pandemic, perceptions about working from home have improved globally. The latest UK data suggests nearly one-quarter of working adults are now hybrid. So in the future, we’ll need to understand more about the impact of remote work both on organisations and the people who undertake it.

The challenge for younger employees is to identify an effective working pattern that suits both them and their organisation – and supports their career goals. As tempting as it may be to ditch the commute as often as possible, younger employees may instead wish to consider a more strategic approach.

When in the office, they should focus on personal visibility, and building and maintaining relationships with colleagues and managers. Networking and learning must be the focus of working in-person, and wherever possible, online meetings or independent work should be saved for remote working time.

Combine this with good wellbeing practices when working from home, especially around switching off from work, and hybrid might just deliver on its promises of better work for everyone – young and not so young alike.

This article is part of Quarter Life, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.

You may be interested in:

Long social distancing: how young adults’ habits have changed since COVID

Working in the metaverse: what virtual office life could look like

Six misunderstood concepts about diversity in the workplace and why they matter

Welcome back!

Posted on January 20, 2022 by digitaldexterity

Welcome back readers!

We are so happy to be back, and we’ve been viewing a lot of messages around New Year’s resolutions this year. The basic premise seems to be:

Take care of yourself, and don’t expect too much.

How can we do this when we are bombarded by online news and social media posts? Here are a few tips:

Minimise distractions by turning off any notifications on your phone from news, sports and games feeds.
Try using the ‘Do not disturb’ feature (for example, in Microsoft Teams) so that you can focus on things that really do require your attention.
Emphasise quality rather than quantity when it comes to digital relationships. Only follow or connect with those who add value (happiness, or meaning) to your life.
Use your screen-time settings to create boundaries around how long you want to be online – that way you can avoid the endless scrolling late at night when you’re tired and need to switch off.
Schedule your screen time as a regular appointment so that you get into the habit of keeping to time. This will help you choose to look at what is important to you, while putting a time restriction on the scrolling!
Use your online calendar to communicate your availability to colleagues at work, so they know when you can be interrupted. For example, Microsoft Outlook has a ‘Show As’ feature that depicts your time as ‘free’, ‘working elsewhere’, ‘tentative’, ‘busy’, or ‘out of office’. Make sure your team is familiar with the different indicators.

There are lots of other ways to take care of yourself when engaging with digital technologies. You could find a YouTube channel that plays focus music or ambient noise, which will help you to de-stress. You could Google yourself and tidy up your online profile and privacy settings to make sure your digital security is spot on.

Above all, remember to forgive yourself if you happen to get lost in a digital rabbit hole on Facebook or YouTube. You’re still an okay person! None of us is perfect, and we’re all coping with less-than-ideal circumstances at the moment.

In the meantime, are you enjoying the blog? Would you like to know more about one of our topics, or do you have ideas for different posts? Or perhaps you would like to write a post yourself?

Please drop us a line at digidexbloggroup@lists.caval.edu.au and we will send you our blog post template, which includes short guidelines on style, tone, length, and so on. We would love to make this year more about you, our readers, and we value all of your feedback.

Good luck to all, and remember to be kind to yourself! And in tricky moments always remember there is coffee coffee coffee ….

gif by Gilmore Girls @gilmoregirls https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohA2VFMnx7Fdd6SXu/giphy.gif

RMIT Pride Week 2021 – How the Library supports LGBTIQA+ inclusion

Posted on November 22, 2021 by digitaldexterity

By Frank Ponte AALIA (CP) Academic/Research, Manager, Library Services (Teaching), RMIT University Library, frank.ponte@rmit.edu.au

Gender Spectrum collection image of 5 people representing the LGBQTI community

Photo in the Gender Spectrum Collection was taken by Zackary Drucker under CC-BY-NC-ND

In August this year, RMIT Library participated in University Pride week. A group of passionate individuals across the Library, and subsequently badged as the Library Pride Working Group, came together and tailored Library services exclusively for LGBTIQA+ students.

Due to lockdown, the group met online and used Teams to communicate and host weekly meetings, used planner boards in the O365 environment to track progress, and SharePoint to archive digital resources, documents and PowerPoint slides. This event was created and delivered within a four-week timeframe.

The service offering aligned with the Library’s sustainable and digital-first approach and included:
1. Introductory recording – outlining the week’s events 4:51 min
2. Live webinar – How the Library Supports LGBTIQA+ Inclusive Teaching. (Recording available internally only).
3. LGBTIQA+ Library Guide
4. Finding LGBTIQA+ resources in the Library’s digital collection and OER’s: 1:55min
5. Shared #RMITPride Spotify List
6. Online RMIT Pride Film Club – A selection of 5 online films in consultation with University Pride Committee with supporting online post-film group chats.

The service offering was informed by the Ward-Gale model for LGBTQ-inclusivity in higher education. This model provided a clear best practice framework and cumulative approach to LGBTIQA+ inclusivity. The model is defined by three pillars, moving from basic awareness to transformative practice:

Pillar 1 – Language: This is how students will risk assess the safety of a situation. They will review the language people use and how they use it. It is also a simple way to make curriculum more inclusive. The inclusion of a statement in an online course shell about what constitutes abusive or discriminatory language is a great starting point.
Pillar 2 – Role Models: Heterosexual and LGBTIQA+ students value all staff being open about their sexuality. It gives them confidence that the institution respects LGBTIQA+ equality. For LGBTIQA+ students specifically, it establishes ‘safe’ people to talk to should they encounter problems.
Pillar 3 – Curriculum Content: Ward and Gale found that failure to work with teaching materials that engage with diversity provides an environment where only some experience is valued. This is where open educational materials can assist. Because of the adaptable nature of these resources, it provides educators opportunities to be more inclusive in their curriculum design.

Ward-Gale Model for LGBTQ-inclusivity in Higher Education. Compares Language, role models and curriculum content against increasing awareness, additive approaches and transformative approaches. — *Table 1: The Ward Gale Model for LGBTQ-Inclusivity in Higher Education by Dr. Nicola Gale:* **Source: Ward, N., Gale, N. (2016)** **LGBTQ-inclusivity in the Higher Education Curriculum: a best practice guide. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.** *Table reproduced with permission from the authors*.

Learning and Future Focus:

The use of a best practice framework like Ward and Gale (2016) provided clear parameters to work within. The flexibilities that OER affords academic staff will be highlighted as ways to engage in LGBTIQA+ inclusion when developing curriculum content. Such as the inclusion of LGBTIQA+ images or selecting open textbooks.
Due to the short timeframe in delivering the Library service offering, the working group relied on the goodwill of colleagues as volunteers. To be truly representative and reflect the diverse genders, sexes and sexualities’ of the institution, there needs to be a concerted effort to recruit a diversity of skills, perspectives, and voices.
RMIT University is proud to support the staff and students within our community who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning or asexual/agender (LGBTIQA+). An important aspect of why we deliver library services is to reflect belonging, inclusion and diversity. In this regard, the LGBTIQA+ student voice is a critical inclusion that will reflect the future library service offering.
In 2022, the Library’s physical spaces will be utilised to host events to foster student belonging and inclusion. A key part of engagement with the Library is to ensure that students are aware of the Library’s physical resources as well as its digital. To ensure there is a connection, the Library will use QR codes to seamlessly transition library users from their physical location to the digital.
An important aspect of belonging and acknowledging the past is by collecting, preserving and celebrating the institution’s history. RMIT Archives will be an important partner in the future to chronicle an accurate picture of the University’s LGBTIQA+ story.

In conclusion, the Library Pride working group showed passion, commitment, and managed to deliver a varied and successful program. This will be the underpinning of a successful Pride event in 2022.

Delighting in diversity in the digital domain

Posted on October 4, 2021 by digitaldexterity

By AJ Penrose, Multimedia Developer, Digital Learning, RMIT University Library. Contact: amanda.penrose@rmit.edu.au

The world might not actually be any more diverse than it’s always been, but goodness, doesn’t it seem that way?! Thanks to increased visibility, advocacy and celebration of our differences, diversity has become an important part of our digital lives.

retro housewife waves at husband and child from kitchen doorway

Fortunately, we’re becoming more aware that what we see around us shapes our expectations of society. We’re getting better at representing diversity (it’s been a while since I’ve seen a white, tie-wearing male kiss a housewife goodbye as he heads to the office… WandaVision excepted!) but we can do a lot more.

Image by ArtsyBee https://pixabay.com/illustrations/retro-housewife-family-greeting-1321068/

Here are some examples of inclusive practices that you can incorporate into your digital projects right now.

Inclusive language

Use non-gendered and non-Western names for the characters in your examples and activities. Online baby-name lists are a fabulous and readily available resource.

Include they/them pronouns along with she/her and he/his. You can do this when the gender of the person you’re referring to isn’t relevant, when you want the sentence to be inclusive of all genders, or if you want to represent a character as non-binary.

Representation

Describe or illustrate your characters using diverse:

physiological or mental functional capacities
genders, sexes and sexualities
cultures and traditions
ages
socio-economic backgrounds
body shapes, skin colours, hair and clothing choices

The great news is, with a little effort and a bit of practice, we can create inclusive, safe and welcoming digital environments, which benefit everyone.

Here are just a couple of screenshots from animations I’ve created recently. See if you can identify the ways I’ve included representation from the list above.

Female student with trans flag hair-clip using a laptop

Excited Indigenous student says he'll get on to them now

Red-haired woman holding up a picture of a woman wearing a mortarboard and hijab

Aqua-haired, tattooed tutor with glasses talking to blonde student with a prosthetic leg

Indigenous student being helped by a pink-haired librarian wearing a rainbow lanyard

Note that diversity itself isn’t the focus of any of these projects, it’s just there.

Why not review the project materials you’re working on right now and have a think about how you’re representing diversity? If you can do more, go ahead and make a change today!

Ko wai au? Who am I? Digital Identity for a career librarian

Posted on September 6, 2021 by digitaldexterity

By Kim Tairi, University Librarian, Auckland University of Technology. Contact: kim.tairi@aut.ac.nz or on Twitter and Instagram

Know your Why

As a career librarian I have always been an advocate for using social media to build robust and diverse professional and personal learning networks. I like to think of the networks that I belong to as circles of kindness and reciprocity.

This is my why. I use social media to learn, share and be part of communities of practice that are active in education, libraries, indigenisation and decolonisation and other issues I consider important.

Many of the people I have met virtually have gone on to become friends in real life. I am fortunate.

Private versus Open

I use my own name and have an open account. I rarely get trolled and if I do, my number 1 rule is don’t engage. You owe trolls nothing and you have every right to block with wild abandon.

My digital identity, that is, all the digital content that I have created and I am connected with, has grown organically. As an experiential learner, I like to play, make mistakes, try things and see what happens. This has led to some wonderful opportunities – conference papers, book chapters, speaking gigs and meeting incredible people.

Twice, I have been asked to consider deleting a post by a workplace. However, I have never received an ultimatum to take-down content, it has always been a conversation. In both cases I chose to delete the contested content.

I am always mindful that even with disclaimers about content and posts not being those of my employers, I am by reputation, associated with my place of work. If you are active on social media platforms, it is good practice to know your workplace social media policy and, recognise that your employer may look at the content you create with a different lens than you.

Social media is performative

As a senior leader in our profession, I acknowledge that I am always expected to display professionalism in public forums. I don’t always get it right but I try to be genuine, engaging, kind, creative, stylish and visible as an indigenous, intersectional feminist. I curate my content but try to be me at the same time.

Social media is a performative space: for example my online persona is an extrovert and tall. I am not. That is why I call myself 1.58m of Awesomeness on Twitter!

Actively manage your content

Set up Google alerts and Google yourself regularly. This will enable you to check your digital footprint. Finally, be intentional, mindful and respectful and social media will serve you well professionally.

You can find me online on Twitter and Instagram. Say kia ora!