"With great power, comes great responsibility". That quote from the spiderman comic book series came to mind when I saw a play on words with it used on the Common Sense Media site dealing with digital citizenship. After investigating this site, other sites and reading a few articles - I realized that I wanted my blog post about Digital Citizenship to have a superhero feel to it. Sooooo - being a good digital citizens, instead of googling computer graphic images and just copying and pasting without giving credit, I went to copyright free photo imaging souce called Morgue file and downloaded an image for free. I then went to a great photo editing site call Pic Monkey and added in my words, graphics, and comic book overlays.Now you know the secrets to my cool graphic, you are very welcome.
In my research on Digital Citizenship the three things that really stood out to me were digital access, digital security, and digital etiquette. I intentionally selected the superheros for each word. Let me explain:
Digital Access, as defined by Mike Ribble , basically states that everyone should/deserves to have access to digital resources and that there should be no digital exclusion. Working in a low socio-economic school system, this really hits home to me. It is so frustrating to see the amazing opportunities that other students who are in 1:1 schools systems have at their finger tips. My school has 1 ipad cart. yep. One entire middle school arm wrestling over an ipad cart. I think it is our job as educational leaders/teachers to fight for resources for our students. That fight might be in the form of writing grants or even going to local businesses to have them offer funding. I would like to see the wall of digital access SMASHED (get it? because HULK SMASHES) down and more equatable situations.
Digital Security is my second most important digital citizenship quality. Superman represents this aspect. DUH, I mean what is more secure and steadfast than superman? well assuming you aren't Lois Lane waiting for him to come home for dinner.
I don't think anyone can stress enough the importance of security when on the web. Not only can people access your personal information they can access you and your loved ones. Just today I had a student in my class walk over toward my computer with their phone and cord in hand. He said "Mrs. J - I am going to plug my phone in and let it charge on your computer". I responded to him with "Student Name, I happen to like my job so I need you not to do that, please." As he looked at me funny I asked him where had his phone been this week? He responded with "my pocket". I laughed and said "no not physically, cyberally?" (yes I think I just made up that word - its mine - and I thought I would never contribute to the tech industry). I continued on to explain to the student that I had no idea where he had been on that phone and that he could have picked up a virus that he then by plugging into my computer would share with the entire school system. No thanks buddy, I like to eat.
Lastly for me in regards to digital citizenship is Digital Etiquette. Just like in life, how you act depends on the setting you are in at the time. Your church voice and mannerisms are going to be drastically different than your Saturday football game approach. In fact, I believe in church you will be apologizing for the things you said about your teams coach and his mama the day before. Just like in a parent teacher conference meeting - it would be unacceptable for you to sit in silence and just watch, never contributing to the goal of the meeting. That same principle goes for online communities that you are involved in. You need to participate and contribute toward the goal. Also your presentation of your electronic self is important. How tense do you get when you receive an EMAIL IN ALL CAPS? I immediately go into "ohhhhhh nooooo sheeee didn't mode" before I even know what the content or gist of the email was about. You have to remember that you cant tell tone or feeling online and stay calm. That is why I used Captain America to represent this trait. He always seems to stay calm and gather his facts first before acting.
Hopefully my three most important digital citizenship traits help you in your quest to navigate online!
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