In the technologically-advanced world we live in today it is very hard to keep a low profile, while also enjoying the benefits of social media. Everything we post, or anyone posts about us, ends up becoming what is known as our digital footprint. As discussed in the HuffPost article we read for class, “a passive digital footprint is created when data is collected without the owner knowing,” and it is because of this that personal information can get out so easily. Not only do we have to worry about the things we are posting and what people could potentially do with them, but we also need to remember that we don’t always know what is being released by others about ourselves. As discovered by my stalking abilities, it was incredibly easy to find information on the Internet about my two professors, Professor Teaff and Professor Adobney.
Born on June 16, 1974, Professor Teaff was raised in Gloversville, NY. It was here that she attended Gloversville High School, where she graduated with the Class of 1992. Following her High School career, she then attended Fulton-Montgomery Community College for two years, followed by the State University of New York at Potsdam for another two years. After graduating in 1996, Professor Teaff continued her education at Virginia Commonwealth University for two years in 1997. Her work experience began with a two year venture at VMI before heading back to school in 2003 to study Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. In addition to attending USC, Professor Teaff began at W&L in 2003 where she continues to work as a Librarian today. Professor Teaff can be described as a quiet, quirky, spider-loving person who has loved Duran Duran since she was eight years old. She also demonstrates her support for Ohio State Football through the many pictures she has previously posted to her timeline.
Although it was fairly simple to find information about Professor Teaff, it was even easier discovering information about Professor Abdoney’s personal life. Professor Abdoney was born on June 16, 1976, which I may add is the day as Professor Teaff just two years later! Raised in Tampa, Florida, she attended H.B. Plant High School. In 1996, Professor Abdoney began school at the University of Florida, where she studied Philosophy, Anthropology, and Secondary Education, and was a member of Alpha Xi Delta. She continued her education in 2000 at the University of South Florida, where she too, studied Library and Information Science. In July of 2001, Professor Abdoney became a Science & Interlibrary Loan Librarian and Assistant Professor at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. She left in May of 2005 to become an Instruction Coordinator, Science Librarian and Associate Professor at W&L in February 2006, where she has been working since. Both Professor Abdoney and Professor Teaff actually gave a lecture together at the Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference in May of 2019. In addition to her work, she also enjoys crafts, making bags and clothing out of different fabrics and including a signature label that says “made by mary” with a picture of scissors below it. Living at 112 Myers St Lexington, VA, she maintains a vegetable garden, in which her son Emmett enjoys helping her with; they have recently grown pumpkins! Also, it seems that her and her husband enjoy spices, as seen in a picture of their spice cabinet on Flickr.
I have only known Professor Teaff and Professor Abdoney for the two weeks since classes have started and I feel like I already know so much about them. In just thirty minutes of searching for them, I was able to discover so much. This demonstrates just how powerful the Internet can be and how much is out there that I, and probably many others didn’t know existed.
