Here I am providing a brief explanation of some of the terms you may come across when I, or others, talk about building a digital presence on the web. Although I feel my use of these terms is similar to how others are (currently) using them, this may not always be the case. Anyway, here is how I am using the following terms:
Public
If you have material on the web with a link that allows public access to the material then anyone can access that material. This does not mean that everyone will access it. Sometimes a person will have to know the url in order to find the material and without this information will not be able to find the link. Search engines and other applications looking at indexing public data on the web will be able to access the information, whether they do or not will depend on the search engines indexing methodolgy.
Private
If you have material on the web with a link that allows private access only then people will have to enter a username and password, at some point, in order to access the material. It is less likely that a search engine and/or application looking at indexing material will find the information.
Closed
Closed, in the sense that I am using it here, indicates material that a person puts on the web that is already available in either a public or private forum. That is, a person has not disclosed something about themselves that (at least some) others would not already know.
Open
Open, in the sense that I am using it here, indicates material that a person puts on the web that others, public or private, did not know about the person. It indicates a high level of self-disclosure.
The open/private/public dichotomies
Public-open
This dichotomy indicates a high level of self-disclosure in the public domain. Examples of blogs where this is often achieved are:
Jeff jarvis - Buzz Machine, Penelope Truck - the brazen careerist both blogs are public, and set a benchmark for being open about personal matters.
Private - open
This dichotomy indicates a high level of self-disclosure in the private domain. This is often the case on social networking site
Pervasive
In a broad sense I use the term pervasive to cover the wide range of places someone can be "located" on the web. I also include the use of a range of media at these locations. I am not sure of any benchmark here, but I occasionally post a list of where I am currently located - and it seems to be growing.
Enduring
By enduring I mean that a presence at any location, in any of the key media formats, will be long term. Long term is hard to define, but I see a minimum period of 50years, then moving into the 100s.
Diversity
I use this term to denote the range of media that can be developed, and the range of options for locating media that have been developed. In my view diversity links directly to the level of pervasiveness of material placed on the web. It is easy to fall into a trap of focusing predominantly on one or two media forms, and then perhaps selecting one or two web locations to put material. As I have noted in many places, this not only leads to a restriction on how material might be accessed, it also results in the materia'ls ultimate existence being put at risk.
Links
The web works by linking material together, using a system of unique urls. The aim with the digital presence project is to ensure that a person is linked systemtically with the material they have either produced and/or have been involved with.
Permalink
A permalink is the name for a link that will not change over the life of the website that produces it. For example, if you have a permalink for a comment that you made for an article in the New York Times, for as long as the Times exists you will be able to enter that link into the url address box and always go to the comment you made for that article. Clearly, permanent links are an essential part of developing a presence on the web that will endure over a long period of time.
Influence
No argument that material on the web can influence others. What is developing are new ways of trying to measure this level of influence, and are some people more likely to be "influencers" than others. From the point of view of weaving people into the web a really interesting area to exlplore.
Active posting of material
Active posting relates to material put intentionally onto the web to say something about a person either now or in the future. An entry into Facebook is usually a passive comment; a statement about oneself in 1000memories is an active posting.
Passive posting of material
Passive posting relates to material that is placed on the web as part of another activity, such as emailing, using a social networking site, tweeting and so on. In general this is the type of material that most people will have on the web and/ or are likely to want to ultimately archive. It is also the material that other applications are most likely to access to build a profile of a person's activity.