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Digital Citizen
What you will learn in this lesson
What you will learn in this lesson
- Who are Digital Citizens?
- Online Communications
- Positive Online Engagement
- Bad Digital Citizens
- The Bigger Picture
Have you heard of the word 'digital citizen'?
Have you heard of the word 'digital citizen'?
A digital citizen is a person who has the skills and knowledge to use digital technologies confidently so they can understand what they see online, engage positively and communicate with others.
You remember Angela, right?
You remember Angela, right?
Just like you, Angela is a digital citizen. In the previous lesson, you have seen her digital footprint from her posts.
Take five minutes to reflect on your digital footprint. What do you think about your digital footprint?
Are you more aware about it now?
What precautions are you taking now regarding your footprint?
Enter your thoughts in the provided space!
As a citizen, Angela has always followed the rules and respected other people's rights. By doing so, she can live the best life she can. For example, she can go to school, spend time with friends and buy the things she needs or want.
Being a digital citizen is a lot like being a citizen in real life!
A good digital citizen can confidently use their knowledge in digital technologies so they can understand what they see online, engage positively, communicate with others and create digital content themselves.
There are 8 things that a good digital citizen should be able to do. Click on each icon in the picture below to know more!
However, do not let this overwhelm you. What a good citizen ultimately means is to use the internet effectively while treating everyone else with the respect you expect to receive. A big part of this is knowing how to communicate online with others in the digital world.
Online Communication
Online Communication
Online communication or digital communication is a two way street. This includes chatting with friends via instant messaging, sharing some news on social media, posting a photo and gaming.
Let's take a look at a conversation between Angela and her friend, Baby. What language do you think they are using?
Animation credit: Canva
In the online world, you communicate using digital language. Digital language are either emojis, text, videos, images, GIFS, audio recordings or a combination of all of these.
In fact, we are using digital language right now as you are reading this! (I am using texts and images to get across my digital message to you regarding lesson 3).
The way we communicate online can reflect our personality. But our online self can be quite different to our-real self.
Do you think you behave differently when you are online? Or do you behave the same way?
Whichever it is, there is one thing that will must remain the same regardless of your personality online or offline: being respectful and polite to others.
In the digital world, just like in the real world, we need to be aware of our digital manners or etiquette. There is a fancy name for this. What do you think is it called?
Yup! It might sound weird but that is the correct term. Now, let us have an interaction with Angela's friend, Boi. To start, click on on 'Sure!' (the green button) and type in the provided box when prompted. Even though in this activity Boi is a chatbot, remember to follow the netiquette!
If you were to choose an emoji to describe the emotion you felt during the discussion with Boi, describe your feelings and explain why. What are the things you think can do better to improve the discussion?
Write down your thoughts down below!
Little things like saying 'thank you' and 'please' is also helpful in the digital world. Think about Boi.
Again, when communicating with people, think about how you would like to be treated. If you prefer that people are respectful of your ideas and values, then that is very likely how other people feel too.
Don't be like Boi who does not even try to understand or listen to your suggestion! All Boi wants to do is to reject your ideas! He didn't even say thank you at the end! Boi is a classic example of bad online communication.
Positive Online Engagement
Positive Online Engagement
Click on the 'i' icon to read the elaboration of each picture. Remember to read the pictures by following the arrow! Start by reading the picture on top left.
Respecting others is another way to help you have the best online experiences and interactions as possible. Each person using the internet has their own values, feelings and desires.
Accepting and respecting the differences is an important part of being a responsible digital citizen.
In conclusion, there are 3 things you need to do when communicating with others:
1. Respect and accept the differences in opinions.
2. Practice good netiquette!
3. Remember your personal code - don't do things to others that you don't like other people doing to yourself.
Besides following the 3 rules to communicate respectfully with others, you also need to know how to practice positive online engagement.
Besides following the 3 rules to communicate respectfully with others, you also need to know how to practice positive online engagement.
Why you might ask? Well, it can help you to understand, help and connect with others online - making the online world more positive and safe!
Why you might ask? Well, it can help you to understand, help and connect with others online - making the online world more positive and safe!
There are five ways to practice positive online engagement. Click on each numbers to know more!
There are five ways to practice positive online engagement. Click on each numbers to know more!
The picture below is an interactive picture. Click on the each number to learn on ways to practice online engagement.
Bad Digital Citizen
Bad Digital Citizen
We have talked about the need to create a safe online environment and how we, as good digital citizens, can build and maintain such environment. However, if there are good digital citizens, there will also be bad digital citizens.
Let's look at these 4 situations that Angela has found herself to be in.
Situation 1
Situation 1
Image credit: Canva
Angela has just turned 19! She posted her birthday party picture on her Instagram. Suddenly, she received this message from a stranger...
Why do you think the stranger would send her that message?
Animation credit: Canva
Situation 2
Situation 2
Angela has a fitness blog. She posted this picture with the caption 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.'
A few minutes after, a user named 'Timmy' commented at that post, saying it is boring and 'posting my own personal pictures is more interesting'.
Why do you think the Timmy would say that?
Situation 3
Situation 3
Try and read this conversation Angela had with her new online friend. Is there a red flag?
Animation credit: Canva
Situation 4
Situation 4
Angela saw a job post for students that she is interested with. She have decided to contact the person who posted it to learn about the possibility. Is the response weird to you?
Animation credit: Canva
Now that you have taken a look at all 4 situations that Angela was in, try and match them in the activity provided.
The picture below is an interactive picture. Click on the moving button to learn more about the situation faced by Angela.
Try this quiz to know how you can avoid dangerous conversations and situations. Click start to begin.
The Bigger Picture
The Bigger Picture
Yes, being a good digital citizen is important and a responsibility that every digital citizen must be. However, it is just part of the bigger picture. There are actually other things to consider when engaging online.
The picture below is an interactive picture. Click on each plus sign (+) to learn more!
Before you finish...
Before you finish...
In the space below, can you give tips to Angela on how to create a positive online environment?
Background image credit: Canva
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