Final Blog Post. Sad Day.

Hey y’all, it’s been fun. It was pretty cool listening to myself from the beginning of the semester, I feel like so much has happened since then and that I have learned and changed so much. It’s been a fun trip. Here we go.

Digital citizenship, at the start of the semester, to me meant just how an individual portrays themselves online and how they socialize and act as well. It was a simple 15 second definition of a phrase that holds so much more meaning than that.

Digital Citizenship now means so much more to me. It is not only how a person acts or portrays his or her self-online, but also HOW they act. I now understand the HOW part, thanks to UNIV349.

First off, you cannot be a digital citizen if you do not participate, and that is a key point I learned. Simply going online to post sad Facebook posts about my ex-girlfriend or something is not true participation and it is not being a digital citizen. Being a digital citizen means sharing, providing, understanding, learning, etc. on the internet. The internet holds such a broad sea of information, and is such a strong tool, that it is ridiculous not to utilize or share in it. Posting about current political debates, sharing ideas about how to handle ISIS, learning more about a child’s unfortunate sickness through a digital community is true digital participation, but it doesn’t stop there.

The world is changing, for better or for worse, and social media will play a huge part in it. The current digital war between ISIS and Anonymous is a prime example of the future. The internet wasn’t really used like a weapon like it is between these two organizations. It is a real first glimpse, that the public has seen, about Cyber War. This too is a form of digital citizenship, although not the best type of digital citizenship with ISIS. ISIS has grown so big and powerful due to its utilization of social media. They are recruiting via twitter, setting up plans via social networks, and spreading their crazy ideas through the internet and it is showing how powerful this global tool can be. Anonymous who already leaked multiple cheaters via the Ashley Madison username war, are taking down this tool that ISIS uses to recruit and plan. It’s just exciting to watch.

Digital citizenship is also about furthering a person’s critical and creative thinking skills. This brings me back to Michael Wesch’s TED talk about being knowledgeable and knowledge-ABLE. We are taught in schools how to be good citizens for example: pay your taxes, don’t hurt people, be honest, and a multitude of other ideas, but many people aren’t taught how to be good digital citizens. It is something that I have made a conscientious effort to further my own digital citizenship and my further academic and professional career. And that is to pay attention to social media and the web and other people’s ideas. I can reach out globally to millions of people in the world to either learn ideas, network, or even spread hope by donating money or helping volunteer organizations. I think paying attention to what people say in social media is a key component to understanding the world and how people feel about different topics. I learned that I can learn just as much from social media and videos or articles people share, as I can from academic journals.

These are all just some ideas that I have learned, and will continue to take with me through my life. And this all to me is digital citizenship.

Thanks for reading.