With the significantly increased amount of our time spent online, Digital Citizenship has become an important concept for characterizing the quality of behaviour in these online communities. One definition of Digital Citizenship is: “The quality of habits, actions, and consumption behaviour that impact the effectiveness of digital content and communities.” Good digital citizenship is a self-regulated behaviour that should help to sustain and improve the online digital communities that you are a part of.
“Digital Natives” is a term used to describe the generation born roughly between 1980 and 1994 because of their familiarity with, immersion in, and reliance on ICT. Whereas, Digital Immigrants, those born prior to 1980, are considered to lack the natural technological fluency of the digital natives and have to adapt to the new skills and tools.
Regardless of which category you fall in, good Digital Citizenship depends on all of the factors that we have discussed in this module: Ethics, Netiquette, Observing Copyrights. The following summarize some of the desirable actions and habits of good digital citizens:
Use: use digital technology to gather information, communicate or just-have-fun
Engage: Engage in the larger world using social media. Crowdsource! Inquire!
Respect: others’ point of view on the Internet. Accept what they say as meaningful and then explain why you may disagree
Give: Give authors credit for the work you use
Voice: Respectfully voice your opinion through digital channels
Seek: Research and Find different voices and points of view on a topic
Inclusive: Include all who wish to join
Listen; Listen to what others are saying. Engage in active listening techniques
Credibility: Determine if the source is credible. Establish your own credibility through authenticity and transparency
Master: Master the use of the computer, mobile and other digital tools
Create: Create a blog, wiki or other platform to voice your opinions of findings
Participate: participate in other cultures through the internet
Stand: Stand against cyber bullying and other negative online behaviours
Network: Network with experts in your field. Skype, Google Hangout with expertsUse the digital medium to bring experts to the virtual classroom
Identify: be able to identify internet scams and spams
Maintain: Maintain your privacy. Do not share too much personal information, and other private information
Set: Use your privacy settings appropriately
Limit: Limit your time spent online, sitting. Move around, don’t forget to exercise
Explore: Explore what other students are doing around the world. Have fun and embrace new technlogical abilities
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