During to process of reading my peer’s blogs, I learnt a lot of things about influential people and their obstacles. I read about people that stood up for what was right, overcame huge barriers, and overall, changed the world. Some of them did things never done before; others went against insurmountable foes. I also learned about my peers a little bit, in their posts, they connected themselves to their chosen person with their beliefs, interests, and future goals. Their posts had quotes, pictures, and comments that I found intriguing and made their paragraphs interesting. I found that having pictures in your introductory post made it more interesting and engaging. Personal connections also made the posts sound more passionate and gave it more depth. In complete honesty, I found posts about people I feel more connected to a bit more interesting than others, though I did enjoy reading all the blog posts, nevertheless. In the comments I received, I got helpful feedback, which I will remember for projects in the near future. Seeing other people’s blogs also gave me a better idea of what visuals are good as well as how much I should write. I noticed that pretty much everyone had different writing styles and tones. In the future if I had an assignment that might need a specific tone, I could try to match those. There may also be peers that have chosen people similar to mine, therefore if I need help with something related to their field of work or such, I could ask for help from them. Overall, I enjoyed reading my peer’s posts and I look forward to learning more about their eminent people.
Eminent Person Introduction
“It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm.”
-Florence Nightingale
My eminent person is Florence Nightingale, an English statistician, social reformer, and founder of modern nursing. Something that draws me to this person is how she was able to make such a difference that affects us to this day. She enforced workplace safety, making hospitals a place where sick could heal, instead of being harmed. By enforcing sanitary laws like washing hands, changing bedsheets, ventilating wards, and providing decent food and water, hospitals were safer for patients and doctors. A connection I share with Florence is that we are both interested in healthcare or medicine. She was a nurse and specialized in preventative medicine, I am interested in pharmaceutical sciences and psychiatry. Those interests may not be closely related, but their purposes are to help a patient get better. We both strongly believe in our opinions, during the Crimean war, nurses were not respected and the tension between the doctors and nurses caused a negative energy to thrive in the wards. After the war, she opened nursing schools and made nursing into a respected profession, she is an inspiration to nurses all over the world today. I may have not done something as powerful as she did, though I will stand by my thoughts and what I believe is right. I believe Florence exemplifies my goals in TALONS as I am willing to challenge myself through this program, and though it may be uncomfortable, I am willing to pave my own path, so I can achieve my goals like Florence did when she went against her family’s opinion on nursing. Throughout her lifetime, she helped and healed others, I think this exemplifies my own goal of having a career that will help people around me. A barrier that separates me and my person is geography and time, she was born 187 years before me and in a completely different country. Florence was born into a wealthy family that expected her to get married to a rich partner at a young age and live her life with her family. Instead, she went against their wishes and become a nurse, unlike her, I have not had a dream big enough to make such a difference in both my own and others’ lives’. A way for me to address these barriers is learning to empathize with Florence, these barriers are a learning opportunity for me too, the more I learn, the better I can understand her.
Florence had contributed to her field in many ways, in addition to writing over 150 pamphlets, reports, and books on healthcare, she established basic sanitary laws that are the foundation to modern medicine. Also known as “the Lady with the Lamp,” Florence will be remembered as the first nurse who set rules that make hospitals the safe places they are nowadays. As mentioned before, Florence was born into a rich family who disliked the idea of Florence pursing nursing, they disliked it to the point they forbade her to do it. During the Crimean war, her and her nurses were sent to care for the wounded, the male doctors though, did not appreciate their presence, creating tension. Her work and research during the Crimean war led to improved health conditions and lowered the death rate of wounded soldiers. After the war, she established schools for woman who wanted to pursue nursing and turned it into respectable profession. Florence dedicated her life to helping others, she wanted to make hospitals a clean space, and turn nursing for a profession that was looked down upon, to one that people admired. Florence believed in the Miasma Theory, even after that theory was proven wrong, she believed in it until she passed. The Miasma Theory stated that diseases like cholera and chlamydia were transmitted by air from rotting matter. She is worth learning about as her actions are why hospitals are places where people heal, and why nursing has become an admirable profession. She would’ve been a good role model for this pandemic, demonstrating resilience, care of others, and courage. A lesson from her story could be to be ready to help others in need. All her work impacts us today and I believe she is worthy of being called eminent.
My next step in research will be to learn more about the profession of nursing, and how it has changed over the years.
Digital Footprint Assignment
1. How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities? Give at least two examples.
Some positive effects my digital footprint could have, are showing my open-mindedness and bravery. I could be caught up in an argument or such, and I could be seeing both sides of the argument and making sure to listen to both opinions. My footprint could show my courageousness if I were to defend someone or something. If I were to upload pictures of my hobbies and interests, employers may find certain things favorable. A negative effect my digital footprint may have is if I were to recklessly post something. Over 70% of employers nowadays use social media as a screening tool. If I was reckless with what I posted on social media, I could lose my job which would have an influence on any future jobs I want as well.
2. Describe at least three strategies that you can use to keep your digital footprint appropriate and safe.
One of the most obvious strategies is the THINK acronym, using this acronym before you post could prevent things from embarrassment to harassment. If you were to post something, be sure it is something you are ok showing to strangers. Changing your privacy settings is another strategy, if you do not want strangers to judge what you post, or you do not want your posts to impede your professional life, then change your settings to only show posts to specific people. Remember that anything and everything will be remembered by the internet, if you were to post something, then find it embarrassing you would probably delete it. Unfortunately, there is a good chance people have already seen it, and maybe even taken screenshots to share to other people. Just because you deleted something does not mean that others can not find and retrieve it.
3. If you could go back in time, is there anything that you would do differently online? Think of what advice you would pass on to your younger self or other students.
I was always quite careful when it came to social media so I would often take precautions when being online. When I was younger, any social accounts I had were private so strangers could not see my posts. I would tell my younger self about the THINK acronym and encourage her to use it before she plans to post anything. I would also tell her that the internet always remembers, if she were to post something, she should make sure she is ok with others seeing it. If she were to delete that post, then she should know that it might not be truly gone.