The Importance of Being a Good Digital Citizen

The theme stays present in "Untangling the Web" as it does with the first two books we read for class. Each has its own purpose but the relaying message to regard what your posting and how your posting it. In this book, created by Steve Dembo and Adam Bellow, they introduce many factors that started the internet information era. These included things such as web tools, folksonomies, and site curation. Followed up by three examples of popular educational curation sites. 

Symbaloo, the first example, is a simple to operate site that organizes its information in large icons similar to the layout of apps on a mobile device. The is clearly designed for educators at a elementary level since both the teacher and students can navigate this format quickly. Most children younger than middle school have an easier time with indicating icons rather than a long list of website links.

Diigo, the second curated site from chapter one, this site is more intensive but also geared towards educators. This site is valuable since users can highlight, comment, and add notes to all the content that is being bookmarked. Diigo does give each individual the option of making it a private or public site, that way you can see what other educators from your same school or in a similar department are saving to reach the most useful information. Almost parallel to paper.li, your personal library on Diigo presents a chronological list of all the things you have elected to save along with the content that has been added. Paper.li on the other hand has the added posting feature with every new paper created it updates all the socials connected to your account to let your followers know. This is a key feature on Paper.li and there are many articles that help you utilize these connections like this one by Jay Palter.

Educlipper, the last website example from the book, is a more advance way to find and share educational resources. It is more involved than the other two curation sites, educlipper allows users to clip content from anywhere on the web, create auto-citations, and tag the content with labels aligned to K-12 areas of study. Teachers at a high-school grade level would be smart to use this sites since they can create a class room account that allows them to monitor whatever it is their students are posting. Similar to the Microsoft application OneNote, teachers and students can work collaboratively, and put all content in one common location. This is helpful to both the educator and the student, since neither one has to be physically in the classroom but can still be actively participating.

As defined by edutopia.org, "Digital citizenship" is an umbrella term that covers a whole host of important issues. Broadly, it's the guidelines for responsible, appropriate behavior when one is using technology. But specifically, it can cover anything from "netiquette" to cyberbullying; technology access and the digital divide; online safety and privacy; copyright, plagiarism, and the digital law, and more.

               

In relation to becoming a prime digital citizen, this week we were joined by Patrick Burns, who works for the careers center at Stockton University. He introduced all the available resources we have at our disposal that cater to students at Stockton. Some of these tools are career counseling, assistance with job/intern search, and the schools own connecting site "handshake." He explained the importance of building your online portfolio and the multiple professional outlets that are looking for employees everyday. Two websites he mainly focused on were LinkedIn and Indeed. Just like any other social media sites they connect you to thousands of people based off of interest, location, and if you have any mutual friends. Since these sites are being reviewed everyday by potential employers or coworkers, it is important that one keeps their profile neat and professional.

Their are many articles now on the internet as well as TED talks that try to get the viewer to understand just how important your online activity can be. As well as some other lessons taught during the last class are similar to the ones in this article by teach thought. Justin Boyle explains 12 tips to help better improve your digital footprint.  Number two on the list says to "use privacy settings." The default setting for many social sites is automatically public, any user should make those adjustments on their account and switch it to private. This allows only your friends to see your profile. In the last class we learned just how public you information can be. Every photo you share can show the exact time and location of where it was taken when you allow your location with apps. This as well needs to be adjusted, without the alterations your smartphone can track every step you take. 

Number six on the list of things to improve your profile says to try Googling yourself and see what you discover. This was a method we practiced in class using the feature on Google settings "Incognito Mode." Once you select this setting it opens the tab in a new window and hides all profiles and accounts relating to your computer. After I searched my name on Google I found 700 other Facebook accounts by the name of "Sarah Daly." After digging for a couple of minutes I was able to locate myself but the only information that was presented was my last place of employment and the school I attend. It was interesting to see after only a couple minutes of searching I was able to find myself, this goes to show how public social media really is.