The digital landscape that we live in for a good part of our daily lives is filled with many possibilities as well as pitfalls. Digital communities create opportunities for networking, collaboration and 100s of ways to creatively express yourself. But like any community in order to be a positive citizen one needs to be a contributor as well as a consumer. Positive citizens also think smart and stay safe whether in their online communities or offline.
In the last 20 years the web has morphed from a one way ‘read’ web (1.0) to a ‘read/write’ web (2.0) to what is now seen as a semantic web (3.0) that connects us and all our information in a extremely comprehensive and complex unseen network. Of course the biggest issue with this evolution is with more opportunity comes more responsibility and understanding. The digital world has morphed so fast, many have had a hard time keeping up with the changes and understanding the new digital communities. Because digital communities are so vast and the web is so connected it means that our children, as well as ourselves, need to think even more about our actions. After all, digital communities leave a permanent digital footprint.
Knowing the pitfalls is important. But it is also important to understand that citizenship is citizenship. The way we act and treat others online shouldn’t be any different then how we act and treat others in person. That is what we need to get our students and children to understand. We also need to continue having open conversations with them about good citizenship and the qualities that make good citizens, whether we are face to face or not.
It comes down to good character and empathy. You may ask, ‘How do I get teenagers to think about something other then themselves?’ I think it starts with good modeling, honest conversations, peer mentoring and creating school communities that truly are based on compassion and caring for one another. Not an easy task, but certainly possible. For more information and specific ideas check out this post: ‘3 Strategies for using empathy as an antidote to cyberbullying.‘ and check out edWeb for their archived webinars, discussions and resources.
Want to read more? Check out these other resources for further information and please feel free to comment below on ways you are creating positive communities and contributing citizens.
Character Education in the Digital Age
Infographic: Citizenship in the digital age
Other related posts: It’s not about the app