Documentation:Digital Tattoo Curriculum/Case Studies Informationandtechnology Students/Stereotypes and Screenshots

Stereotypes and Screenshots (CCT/WRI 410)

Table DiscussionIn groups of 3-4:

1. Read the case study and consider your response to the essential questions posed below.

2. Discuss each question below with your group, using the resources to support your responses.

3. Take notes on your discussion to share when the large group reconvenes.

Themes Addressed

Professional and personal boundaries
Interconnectedness of small communities
Client trust
Off-duty professionalism

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop and upon further reflection, students will:

Identify key aspects of professionalism for guiding online behaviour
Describe how accountability operates in the context of private messaging
Discuss how assumptions based on unclear language and appearance can be damaging, especially in a professional setting

Essential Questions

As you read the case study, consider your response to the following questions:

How would you handle the following scenario if you were the student?

How would you handle the following scenario if you were the boss?

Case Study

Image: Untitled by Guillaume Issaly via Unsplash License

Kai has recently begun their 6-week placement working remotely as a social media marketing intern at a company in a small town in Ontario. The company for which Kai is interning is the major employer of locals in the area and is often hired by clients to run their social media accounts.

Coming from Toronto, Kai is a bit apprehensive about the placement, and is feeling a little lonely and isolated after all the COVID restrictions.

At the start of their WRI/CCT 410 course, Kai set up a Discord server for classmates to work, chat, and hang out together. They have a few different channels, including one that Kai and a few of their close friends use as a group chat of sorts, though all chats are visible to all members of the group. This smaller chat especially has helped Kai feel more connected. There is an unspoken assumption that this group chat is a safe space to talk about their work lives, especially now that they are all doing their internships.

Since everyone in the course comes from the ICCIT program, they are all well aware of the impacts that social media and their digital identities can have on their professional lives. This Discord server is meant to be a place for students to share their experiences and vent about their frustrations, thus keeping negative feelings out of their public posts on social media. Kai is aware of the increased scrutiny that supervisors and future employers will have for their social media accounts and has been taking steps to reflect professionalism online.

Three weeks into their internship, Kai has a Zoom meeting with a potential new client named Ana. Ana is hoping that the company Kai works for will help her to set up and run social media accounts for her new vegan cashew cheese business.

During the meeting, Kai observes that Ana is an older woman who has bright blue dyed hair and is dressed in avant garde clothing. She tells Kai that she has lived in her small town for her whole life except for one year in which she took a job in Toronto. This is where Ana first met, in her words, “people like you”. Ana explained that she moved back to her hometown because she did not like the high price of city living and wanted to be closer to nature. Kai learns all of this while asking questions to determine which social media package would be best for Ana’s new company.

Recognizing that Ana is just starting out in her business, Kai decides to offer her the most basic and least expensive social media package in order to save her some money.

They start out by explaining that due to the nature of Ana’s business, the cheapest social media package may be best for her. However, Ana becomes defensive at this, asking Kai why they think that she would want something cheap. She asks Kai if they think that her business is not good enough for a “real” package and demands that Kai takes her more seriously.

Kai attempts to explain that they were just trying to help her save money, seeing as Ana said she left Toronto because of the high cost of living, but Ana interrupts them and asks them to bring their supervisor over. However, Kai knows that their supervisor is busy and cannot contact her in time.

Apologizing, Kai tries to explain again that they in no way devalue Ana’s business and that they were just trying to save her some money. However, Ana interrupts again and starts getting visibly upset. She says: “Of course, I should have expected you to be cheap.”

Kai does their best to remain calm and professional, telling Ana that she can have any package that she likes and that there was no intention of undermining her. They wrap up the meeting with Ana having purchased an upgraded social media package. Kai tries to get on with their day, but the conversation weighs heavily on their mind throughout the rest of the workday.

After their shift is over, Kai retells this encounter to their close friend group on Discord.

A screenshot of Kai's conversation with their friends

Unbeknownst to Kai, another friend in the group chat knows someone in the small town where the company Kai works at is located. This friend, Safiya, screenshots the chat and sends it to her friend that lives in that city. After reading the screenshot about the client’s blue hair and vegan cheese business, given the small population size and description of the client, Safiya’s friend knows exactly who Kai is talking about.

With good intentions, this friend-of-a-friend tries talking to people they know about making Kai feel more welcome in the community. Since this is a small town where many people work for Kai’s company, the news of the incident makes its way around to Kai's Placement Supervisor, Carol, pretty quickly. This news also gets circulated to Ana herself, who gets upset when she hears that Kai was talking about “people like her”. Ana lodges a complaint about this incident with Carol.

The next week, Carol arranges a private meeting with Kai to discuss this incident. Carol says to Kai, "Hey, so I heard that something upsetting happened to you recently in a client meeting? Something to do with Ana? I’m really sorry to learn that you had a stressful interaction. I’d like to discuss it, as Ana reached out to me to complain about what you said about her online. We should have a meeting with the three of us to discuss what happened and how we can fix this." She also tries encouraging Kai by saying, "I want you to feel supported here, but we have to make sure our clients feel supported too. Do you want me to reach out to your Experiential Learning Officer and Instructor? I’m sure Kayla or Kathleen would be happy to talk to you about what happened here."

Kai is both taken aback by Carol's knowledge of the situation and unsure how to respond. Kai feels pretty justified in venting about the situation on Discord and wasn't expecting a screenshot to be circulated, especially to their supervisor. Kai doesn’t know how their supervisor found out about their interaction with Ana - did Carol see the Discord chat or did Ana record their Zoom meeting?

Now, Kai is worried about their internship, how this will affect their job future, how they will be perceived professionally, and if they have violated the client’s privacy.

Discussion Questions

1. What key components of professionalism should guide one’s use of social media? How could these ideas have been used to guide Kai's actions in the scenario described above?

        You can use the following resources to help you answer:

           * ICCIT Code of Conduct
           * Privacy and social media in the workplace | Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
           * Student Guidelines for Respectful Online Conduct | University of British Columbia Equity and Inclusion Office

2. What problematic assumptions and language can be seen from Kai and Ana’s interaction and Kai’s Discord messages?

3. To what extent are private social media accounts truly private? What factors are important to consider when communicating with others online?

4. Social media is an asynchronous, one-way form of communication: how did these factors affect the way in which Kai and Ana’s words were interpreted by them and others? List some potential parameters that could be used to guide direct, and in-direct, interactions with colleagues and classmates online.

5. In what ways could collaborative online social tools have been used positively in this scenario?

Additional Resources

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