Digital+Citizen

=Digital Citizen= Ryan Garrison



What is a Digital Citizen?
Digital citizenship is a concept that suggests that although a person is technically non-existent in the virtual realm, he/she should still act as though he/she is in order to better utilize the internet for good things. The benefit of being on the internet is that for the most part, a person can go to whatever site he/she might like to, comment anonymously, and do anything with the internet with little to no accountability. Digital Citizenships is a coalition that strives towards a higher road which suggests that instead we, as internet users, should consider ourselves a digital citizen, and like a good citizen, act morally proper. Digital Citizenship is especially stressed in the business, teaching, and even home sectors of life. As a proper teacher, I need to be concerned with what I may post on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or any other sort of social media site in the awareness that it could cost me my job or a future job. Beyond this is moving towards educating the next generation about the proper ways to use the internet in order to be a proper Digital Citizen. The Digital Citizenship website offers resources that can be used by parents and families to educate the children about how to properly use the internet and not participate in negative activities.

It even goes beyond just internet and can reference any sort of technology that if used improperly could reflect badly upon the person or could be detrimental to others. This could range from a video defaming another person, to a viral picture text of a person in a compromising photo, to "sexting" which is when a people text sensual things back and forth to each other. All things related to text messages allow the person to isolate themselves behind a number and therefore creates no accountability unless the situation is taken very seriously. These are things that the younger generation needs to be educated about in order to avoid a possible catastrophe later on down the road that could cost them their job or livelihood.

A good digital citizen also respects the property of others which on the internet can be purely intellectual. Although there is the obvious problems with torrenting files and illegal music downloads, there is also an ever-present issue of intellectual property which can easily be plagiarized. Digital Citizenship also emphasizes that although everyone can access all the information they may want it does not mean that the proper sources should not be cited. It is technically a crime to not cite the sources so it is important that this is also emphasized to the everyday digital citizen.

The website digitalcitizenship.net has some great resources to explain what it is that needs to be better monitored and maintained in order to be a good Digital Citizen.

Sources: http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/ http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/digital_citizen2.jpg

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