Being a Digital Citizen
Hey Guys! For this week’s blog we needed to connect two works that are associated with digital citizenship. One source was a Tedtalk by Michael Wesch and an article titled Turning Students into Good Digital Citizens by John K. Waters.
One things that immediately popped out to me after reading the article and watching the Tedtalk was that both hit on this point of actually ENGAGING in social media outside of normal communication. In the Tedtalk Mr. Wesch talks about how social media is one of the only forms of media that allows for two-way conversations. What he means by that is when TVs first came out the programs were written by the few to be watched by the many; however, with the invention of social media almost everyone can participate online and have a voice to speak their own opinions. In connection with the article it draws a point on how the idea of literacy in the 21st century is going to change from simple reading and writing to having the ability to communicate effectively online.
Another aspect of both the article and video that caught my attention was the how sharing information has changed. The article says this interesting point that when it comes to participating on social media you have the ability to transcend borders and communicate globally with people that you would have never met any other way. In relation to that the Tedtalk discusses this video on youtube about a man you held up a “free hugs” sign in a mall that went viral. After the video went viral many people were copying what the man did all over the world and if it was not for social media and the video being shared on a global scale the world never would have known about this man and what he did.
One example that I have was something I found on twitter last night that has to do with hate terrorist attacks in Paris. You can find the video here. The video is about a muslim man in Paris who puts up a sign that says “Hug me if you trust me, I’m told I’m a terrorist”. This video really hit me hard because since the attacks many Muslim people have been discriminated against simply because they share the same religion as a group of fanatics. This link; however, is my example on how things can be shared across the world since I never would have say it if a friend of mine never retweeted it.
Another example that I found that pertains to engaging in social media that I found was simply this class #UNIV349DC. In our group discussions in class we have learned that members of our class have been able to communicate with people all over the world to gather knowledge on our topics. Students have talked to people who are directly affected by the refugee crisis and even people that are suffering discrimination for being part of the LBGQT (I think that is right) community. If it was not for this class and having us engage on social media for our topics none of us would have ever made this connections that we have made online.
