Themes of Digital Citizenship

1. Themes of Digital Citizenship

2. Digital Access • Defined as full electronic participation in society • The need to work towards equal digital rights and supporting electronic access • Digital exclusion stifles growth in society • First step to good digital citizenship

3. Digital Commerce • The electronic buying and selling of goods • An understanding that a large share of the market economy is being done electronically • However, many illegal and immoral transactions are also being made • Users need to learn how to how to be effective online consumers

4. Digital Communication • Electronic exchange of information • The digital age has exploded with ways for people to communicate • People can now stay in constant contact with one another • Now, people must be taught how to make appropriate decisions concerning this new wave of online communications

5. Digital Literacy • Process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology • A renewed focus on what technologies must be taught and how it should be used must be made. • Learners must be taught how to learn in a digital society

6. Digital Etiquette • Electronic standards of conduct or procedure • This area is probably where the most pressing issues occur • People must be taught the correct way to act online before they gain unrestricted access to the digital world

7. Digital Law • Electronic responsibility for actions and deeds • Deals with the ethics of technology in a society • Users need to understand that stealing or causing damage to other people’s work, identity, or property online is a crime

8. Digital Rights & Responsibilities • Those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world • Digital citizens are extended the same basic set of rights in the digital world as in the physical one (free speech, right to privacy, etc.) • However, users must also help determine how the technology is to be used in an appropriate manner

9. Digital Health & Wellness • Physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world • Eye safety, repetitive stress syndrome, and sound ergonomic practices are issues to be addressed in a new technological world • Users must also be taught about the psychological dangers such as Internet addiction

10. Digital Security (self-protection) • Electronic precautions to guarantee safety • In any society, there individuals who steal, deface, or disrupt other people, even in the digital community • Users must take digital security just as seriously as securing their homes • Items like virus protection, data backup, and surge control are necessities in today’s world

11. More Information • For more information, please visit the following site • http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html