Digital Citizenship

                                                                                  

My Digital citizenship is about my responsibility as a citizen in a virtual world using various information technology tools. The norm of behaviors that I exhibit toward my fellows E-citizens in a digital society define my framework of digital citizenship. My digital participatory in a numerical society is based on a personal conviction of good behavior founded on mutual respect, and promoting safer digital environment for learning to everyone.

My digital access has become much easier and cheaper. I use internet constantly to stay abreast with my academics and my family overseas. Public libraries offer free limited hours for its patriots to use internet. One can find free Wi-Fi hot spots around town. Even though competition is tense among communication companies to attract more clients, I find my 5 GB for a reasonable price is not enough for me to stay connected to the digital world. I find myself obliged not to use high stream data applications such as you tube. As I travel overseas, the environment and location become a factor to stay a digital citizen. I had to purchase a new cell phone that conform to the regulation of the host country, visit cyber cafes more often and get use to the French system keyboards to stay connected to the digital world. In spite of the mentioned obstacles, In spite of the mentioned obstacles, I still consider myself having digital access to be a digital citizen      

A part from my experience on internet access, the article Teaching Digital Citizenship in the elementary classroom talked about digital access as the first of the nine elements of digital citizenship. The author stated that the opportunity should be granted to everyone to have access to internet. The article mentioned on digital access that Digital Citizenship is fundamental in development of society.    

My perspective of digital citizenship is based on respecting other digital citizens. My comments online are usually brief and to the point. I treat online users with mutual respect that promote progress in digital communication. As I further my education and widen my professional learning network, I become more participant in the digital world. Being aware of the visited online sites and their heir audience does affect the digital citizen. My feeling do not get hurt when reading aggressive comments by taking several precautions. Firstly, as a responsible digital citizen, I never respond to a harsh comment by the same. Avoiding digital communication conflict help the parties to not engrave the situation. As Dale Carnegie says in his book on how to influence people in one of his principals: “Show respect for other person's opinion. Never say you're wrong”. I believe it is a golden advice from one of the expert on how to deal with people. Even though his principals were meant to be used for communication in the real world, I think as a digital citizen, we should treat our digital audience as we meet them face to face. In addition,      

I like to read people’s reactions on issues that contribute to personal and professional growth. People react to issues in various ways in a digital society. As an adult who uses the information technology, I respect others opinions in the digital world. Even though

Sometimes, the expressed views are not in line with my opinion, I view it as an opportunity to exercise rational. As a responsible adult digital citizen, in the same article mentioned above Teaching Digital Citizenship in the elementary classroom, the author framed three of the nine elements of digital technology under Respect, Educate and Protect or REPs. These elements are digital access, digital etiquette and digital laws. Even though we have full access to internet and we laid out ground rules or laws for numerical world, we still have to treat others with respect to protect ourselves.

Having considered respecting digital citizens can only enhance the digital environment, it is also reasonable to look at confronting the fear of lurking dangers that could prevent digital citizens from being part of digital participatory culture. Mr. Garth Holman, in his video Fostering Digital Citizenship and Student Legacy shows how a person can leave his or her digital footprint accessible to other parties. The web, twitter, student record,..etc. All have been archived. This wealth of information as digital archive that is shared with others about people's activities online could raise concern on the danger of lurkers. Parents and teachers should make kids aware of what is on the web, how to use internet and how to leave positive digital footprint. Mr. Holman gave several examples on how his students use what they learn in class about being a digital citizen and how they apply it in their real life. For example, students search information about their parent digital footprint. A student shares what is on class with the other digital citizens. The parents and teachers should contradict the fear and concerns on what might represent lurker dangers by educating students to build a good digital footprint or a legacy that is positive for other people to see.