The chronicals of digital citizenship: 2015

Thursday, 25 June 2015

Section for parents

1. A Mighty Girl Your go-to site to find empowering and inspirational books, toys and movies for girls of all ages. Founded by two American women who were tired of searching for the right gifts for their nieces, A Mighty Girl puts all their girl-powered picks in one place.

2. Art Games This delightfully interactive and fun website is hosted by Buffalo, New York’s Albright Knox Art Gallery. Kids from 4 to 12 will have a blast creating their own masterpieces and playing art-spirational games.

3. BBC Kids Your mini anglophile will be all over the Canadian online home to the BBC Kids TV channel. The website offers ups listings, a selection of tv shows and games from across the pond.

4. Brain Pop This American site offers fun and educational animated videos and games to help reinforce the school curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12. (Check out Brain Pop Jr. for grades K to 3.) A subscription is required to access the entire site but there is still plenty of content available for free.

5. Build It’s a virtual Lego set for the little Lego lover in your life. Lego and Google Chrome teamed up to create a site for master builders of all ages to build their own creations. And no clean up required!

6. Canadian Geographic Kids This is a great resource for fun and learning about all things Canada. It’s the online home for kids of the popular Canadian Geographic magazine and offers games, videos, animal facts, kid-friendly articles, avirtual atlas and more.

7. CBC Kids There’s games and videos galore starring your kidlet’s favourite CBC Kids characters. Enjoy peace of mind knowing the CBC offers quality programming for young and old alike.

8. DOGOnews Kids can catch up on current events with news stories written just for children. Started by a San Francisco mom, DOGOnews is a great resource for homework, projects and curious minds.

9. Doodle.ly This is essentially and ultra-simple virtual sketchpad that any creative kid would love. You can choose to publish the drawings on the site or older kids can share them to Facebook or Twitter. It’s also an iPhone and iPad app!

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Digital Commerce

Digital Commerce primarily refers to the activity of buying and selling goods or services through digital channels, however can also incorporate the entire process of developing, marketing, servicing, selling and ultimately paying for products.

Importance of commerce
Ecommerce proved its importance based on the fact where time is essence. In the commercial markets, time plays an important role to both the business and consumers. From the business perspective, with less time spent during each transaction, more transaction can be achieved on the same day. As for the consumer, they will save up more time during their transaction. Because of this, Ecommerce steps in and replaced the traditional commerce method where a single transaction can cost both parties a lot of valuable time. With just a few clicks in minutes, a transaction or an order can be placed and completed via the internet with ease. For instance, a banking transaction can be completed through the Internet within a few minutes compared to the traditional banking method which may take up to hours. This fact obviously proves that Ecommerce is beneficial to both business and consumer wise as payment and documentations can be completed with greater efficiency.
http://webdesign.vinsign.com/what-is-ecommerce-importance.html

Plagiarism guideline
Plagiarism is due to when an individual does mot acknowledge that the work that they have written is not of their work. Can also be known as unauthorized collaboration of work. Work is not see a plagiarism is the individual references with details of where the information comes from.

Online auctions and tips
Online auctions are places that people can go and order to buy or sell goods or services online for a small fee. Anyone can sell an item and anyone can bid on an item.https://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/commerce/auctions/study.php

Tips to online auctions is that:

· One should do research about the product they wish to purchase.

· One should have a limit of how much will be spent.

· Keep their eye on the dead line.

· Pay up quickly to avoid losing the product.

· Last but not least enjoy the experience.

Digital Law

Digital Law is defined as the electronic responsibility for actions, deeds which is either ethical or unethical. Digital responsibility deals with the ethics of technology. Unethical use manifests itself in form of theft and/or crime. Ethical manifests itself in the form of abiding by the laws of society." It is basically about what you are and are not allowed to do while surfing and using the Internet

Everybody should respect the law and abide by it. Not following the law can result in serious punishment. Examples of this behavior are like hacking into people’s personal details, pirate software, downloading music illegally and creating viruses or Trojan horses. http://coe.k-state.edu/digitalcitizenship/

Identity theft is becoming a rising problem. Studies show that one in five families have been victims to this in the U.S. The thieves can steal your credit card number allowing them to buy or rent various products using your information. The worst thing is that you don't realize what is happening until you are sent bills or receive calls about different transactions. It takes months to restore all of your information and secure it all. Therefore everyone should take precautions.

Spoofing generally means to convince people to provide personal or financial information that lets the hacker commit credit card/bank fraud or other forms of identity theft. Spam criminals often use spoofing as an attempt to get into someone else's computer.

IP Spoofing" is a technique used to get access to computers, where the intruder sends a message to a computer with an IP address telling them that the message is coming from a trusted machine and person. To stop IP Spoofing packet filtering is a programm that blocks other packets getting into your network. This prevents an outside attacker from gaining access to an internal machine.

Software Piracy is copying and selling of unauthorized computer software, movies etc. This happens a lot in the Mexico, China, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil and Zimbabwe but many other countries are also involved. Most of these countries have Copyright Infringement Laws but many citizens do not abide by them however some countries are more strict about them than others.

There are 4 types of software piracy;

Industrial Piracy: An individual or group attempts duplication and distribution on a large scale for profit.
Coporate Piracy: Unprotected contents are shared through net works such as peer-to-peer, LAN and Internet.
Reseller Piracy: Involves computer hardware companies selling ma chines with illegal copies of software preloaded on their hard drive.
Home Piracy: Includes everything from trading disks with friends to running a not-for-profit bulletin board for the purpose of illegal software distribution.

Computer hacking is the practice of changing computer hardware and software. People who are involved with such activities are often called hackers. Since the word “hack” has long been used to describe someone who is not able to do their job very well. Some hackers claim this term is offensive, since they are very skilled in their topics.Computer hacking is most common among teenagers and young adults, although there are many older hackers as well. Many hackers consider computer hacking an “art” form. They often enjoy programming and have expert-level skills in one particular program.

Digital Security

Cyber-crime; types, what they are and how to prevent it:
Hacking: hacking is a crime where one person breaks into someone else’s personal computer using a variety of software and access the information they have stored on it. The owner of the computer doesn’t know that their computer is being hacked and it can be done from another computer.

Theft / piracy: piracy is when someone illegally downloads music, movies, TV series, games and software from the internet. This violates copyrights of the original creators / owners.

Cyber Stalking: Cyber stalking is a kind of online harassment where the stalker sends the victim a series of emails and online messages. The stalker usually know the person they are stalking. They make the victim’s life miserable with all the messages.

Identity Theft: With this kind of cyber crime the thief hacks the victim’s online banking account in order to get useful information like debit/credit card details to buy things online in their name or transfer the money from one account to another.

Malicious Software: These are Internet-based software or programs that are used to disrupt a network. The software is used to gain access to a system to steal sensitive information or data or causing damage to software present in the system.

Child soliciting and Abuse: This is also a type of cyber crime where criminals solicit minors via chat rooms for the purpose of gaining pictures for child pornography.
(Anon. N.d. Cross Domain Solutions. Accessed 17 May 2015. http://www.crossdomainsolutions.com/cyber-crime/)

Ways to prevent becoming a victim of cyber crime:
• Anti-virus management
• Intrusion detection
• Firewall management
• Identity management
• Routing and encryption
• Directory management
• Asset management
• Configuration management
(Anon. n.d. Cross Domain Solutions. Accessed 17 May 2015. http://www.crossdomainsolutions.com/cyber-security/)

Digital Communication

The new "it" everyone is playing, Clash of Clans. Young and old is enjoying this game about war and strategy.

3.1 Clash of Clans is a game that requires a lot of strategy and planning on the player’s side. To progress in this game you have to attack other player’s villages and basically steel their money. You build mines to get gold to build your village and clan and to upgrade on your clan making buildings. The higher you are in the game the more successful you will be. To win an attack you have to attack your opponents defense first, like the canons and archer’s towers. After this you can get the gold without getting killed.

3.2 When you join a clan you attack other clans and win gold and trophies. Within the clan you get a leader and elders, who makes the decision to attack. You can also request troops (the other players in your clan sends you soldiers from their village) to help defend your village when it’s being attacked by other players. It is like being part of a virtual family.

3.3 The communication in this game is based on how well you know the members of your clan and how comfortable you are with them. When it comes to having war, it is sort of professional because having to go into war is a serious issue for the dedicated players. But most of the time there isn’t really a lot of communication, but this differs from clan to clan.

3.4 Players can communicate with each other by sending messages. In a way it can educate the youth about digital citizenship but on a very small scale. For example, the players have to be responsible for the messages they send to other players and not send inappropriate messages that could offend other players. They must also consider the digital footprint they leave behind with the use of this game. Most of the things they do on this game can be traced back to the player need be.

Reference page

Bibliography

·        Digiteen's Grouping of the nine elements (Digitized, 2014)

·         Dutton (2004)

·         www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements. html [Accessed 22 April 2015].

·         Copyright 2015. Mike Ribble. All rights reserved. Site Created by Go Daddy Custom Design Group

·         The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd 2015 Page 25 of 175

·                     2015.‘Clash of Clans’ Builder Strategies: Top 10 Tips & Cheats | Heavy.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://heavy.com/games/2014/09/clash-of-clans-builder-strategies-tips-cheats-layout/. [Accessed 16 May 2015].

·                     . 2015. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://bestgames.biz/download/Clash-of-Clans-Super-Guide.pdf. [Accessed 16 May 2015].

·                     Mermaids aren’t real: Animal Planet’s fake documentaries misrepresent ocean life.. 2015. Mermaids aren’t real: Animal Planet’s fake documentaries misrepresent ocean life.. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/mermaids_aren_t_real_animal_planet_s_fake_documentaries_misrepresent_ocean.html. [Accessed 15 May 2015].

·                     Uncover the Evidence | Mermaids | Animal Planet. 2015. Uncover the Evidence | Mermaids | Animal Planet. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/mermaids/videos/mermaids-evidence/. [Accessed 17 May 2015].

·                     Western Cape Social Capital Network: Overview | Western Cape Government. 2015. Western Cape Social Capital Network: Overview | Western Cape Government. [ONLINE] Available at: https. [Accessed 17 May 2015].

·                     The Knowledge Capital of Nations | the MIT Press. 2015. The Knowledge Capital of Nations | the MIT Press. [ONLINE] Available at: http. [Accessed 17 May 2015]

·                     Human Capital and Business Growth Must Represent Two Sides of the Same Coin - Forbes. 2015. Human Capital and Business Growth Must Represent Two Sides of the Same Coin - Forbes. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2011/07/25/human-capital-and-business-growth-must-represent-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/. [Accessed 18 May 2015].

Digital Etiquette

Digital Code of Conduct

1. Behave in a ethical way in the digital world as I do the real world.
2. Use technology in an appropriate manner.
3. DO NOT break any laws or rules dealing with the use of technology.
4. Be responsible when using technology.
5. Respect yourself and others when using technology.
6. Do not use technology in a harmful or degrading manner.
7. Have consideration of, and respect for, school and peer technological resources and use them appropriately.
8. Act safely in the digital world to prevent disruption or harm to myself and others.
9. Have a balanced, healthy lifestyle relationship with technology.
10. Protect yourself and others by reporting digital abuse of people and property.
11. Ensure the privacy of your own information.
12. Do not invade anyone’s digital profile and do not abuse it.

Penalties
1. When you do not adhere to these requirements you will not be able to use this institutes technology any longer.
2. Based on your actions and the seriousness thereof, a hearing will be held to determine whether or not you will be allowed to finish your course at this institute.
3. If your actions has serious consequences you will be asked to pay a fine to correct your wrongs.

Enforcing and Managing
In the beginning of each school year the Digital Code of Conduct will be discussed with the students and on the registration contract both student and parent/guardian has to read and sign this. The devices at the college will be kept an eye on for any suspicious doings from the students.

(Anon. n.d. Digital Code of Conduct. Accessed 16 May 2015. http://go.vsb.bc.ca/schools/johnoliver/About/Pages/Digital-Code-of-Conduct.aspx)

Digital Literacy and Information Fluency

In 2013 Animal Planet aired a documentary about the discovering of mermaids and everything in the history that shows that mermaids might really actually exist.

The purpose of this site and series is to inform people about the discoveries that are made by scientists and normal everyday people across the world. People would like to know about new creatures that are being discovered, like mermaids. People think they have the right to know about what is going on in the world, and we do. It is not everyday that someone discovers a mythical creature.

Some people believed that there are such things as mermaids and other people think it’s all one big hoax to make money off of innocent people that will believe anything they hear. Most of the scientists that didn’t see the corpse of the mermaid, didn’t believe in it but the people who saw the corpse or any other evidence of mermaids believes in it.
Most of the videos you can see is man made with technology - computers, photoshop etc. but some of the pictures and videos look like the real deal. The videos by Animal Planet were made to explain how mermaids may have existed all a long and how they may have evolved. These videos is based on a theory and not real life or facts.

My opinion about this site is that some of the videos can be real but for the other I can see that it is fake. I will believe it if I see it with my own eyes in front of me, but I do believe that there are creatures out there that must still be discovered or that will maybe never be discovered like unicorns, mermaids, fairies, minotaur, aliens etc. for now we have to believe in what is real and what we know that God created. For the rest, it will stay mythical.

( Anon. n.d. Animal Planet - Mermaids. Accessed 5 May 2015. http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/mermaids/)

Having a digital footprint means that everything you do on the internet can be traced back to you whether or not you have deleted it, it will stay on the internet forever. Employers can trace your digital footprint to see what kind of person you are and if they want you to be a part of their company, and if you left a bad digital footprint it will influence their decision in employing you.

(Anon, 2015: 54-55)

Digital Citizenship and Digital Access

The center of social capital is social networks and their value. Social capital are the values of all social networks. Social networks refers to the people you know or are a part of your social group.
(Anon. N.d. About Social Capital. Accessed 16 May 2015. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/programs/saguaro/about-social-capital)
My perception of social capital is the amount of friends you have and how they are of a value to you.

Knowledge capital is an intangible asset that consists of the skills, experience and information of the workers of a business. Knowledge capital has nothing to do with the physical factors of production, but has everything do to with the worker’s skills, information knowledge etc. when a business has workers with skills, information knowledge and experience it gives the business a competitive advantage above other businesses.
(Anon. N.d. Knowledge Capital. Accessed 16 May 2015. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/knowledge-capital.asp#ixzz3aK1QmqYn )

Human capital does not only consist of one thing but a collection of a lot of things such as intelligence, wisdom, skills, talents, knowledge, training etc. that a person have. These traits and the extent of these traits will determine the success and wealth of a person.
(Anon. N.d. Human Capital. Accessed 16 May 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital)

Digital Rights and Responsibilities

Rights and Responsibilities
All the students has the right to an education, but it is their responsibility to come to class, do their homework and assignment and to study for tests.
All users must protect VC's E-Resources from unauthorized access. Specifically, all users must:
• Take responsibility for the security and integrity of information stored on any personal or assigned desktop, laptop, or handheld system;
• Take care to access E-Resources only from secure environments and to log out of sessions before leaving any computer unattended;
• Take all appropriate precautions when accessing confidential or restricted College data to protect the data from unauthorized disclosures and from threats to its accuracy or integrity;
• Comply with requests from the IT Staff and other authorized personnel to cease use of E-Resources that compromises the E-Resources or the College; and,
• Cooperate with system administrators during investigations of improper use.

AUP for IIE and penalty guideline
The College makes E-Resources available to support its academic and administrative goals, and uses of E-Resources to advance those goals take precedence over all others.
The staff of the Varsity College's Information Technology department ("IT Staff") is responsible for the administration of this policy.

This Policy applies to all information-technology and other electronic resources of Varsity College ("E-Resources"), including without limitation:
All computers, systems, equipment, software, networks, and computer facilities owned, managed, or maintained by the College for the handling of data, voice, television, telephone, or related signals or information;
Any access or use of the College's electronic resources from a computer or other system not controlled or maintained by the College; and,
The creation, processing, communication, distribution, storage, and disposal of information under the College's control.

All use of VC's E-Resources must comply with:
• All College policies, procedures, and codes of conduct, including those found in the student, faculty, and employee handbooks;
• All laws and regulations applicable to the user or the College; and,
• All relevant licenses and other contractual commitments of the College, as modified from time to time.

(http://robyngigc.weebly.com)

Friday, 12 June 2015

The five fluencies

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

The nine(9) elements of digital citizenship

Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship
Digital citizenship can be defined as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use.

1.   Digital Access:   full electronic participation in society.
Technology users need to be aware that not everyone has the same opportunities when it comes to technology. Working toward equal digital rights and supporting electronic access is the starting point of Digital Citizenship. Digital exclusion makes it difficult to grow as a society increasingly using these tools. Helping to provide and expand access to technology should be goal of all digital citizens. Users need to keep in mind that there are some that may have limited access, so other resources may need to be provided.  To become productive citizens, we need to be committed to make sure that no one is denied digital access.

2.   Digital Commerce:   electronic buying and selling of goods.
Technology users need to understand that a large share of market economy is being done electronically. Legitimate and legal exchanges are occurring, but the buyer or seller needs to be aware of the issues associated with it. The mainstream availability of Internet purchases of toys, clothing, cars, food, etc. has become commonplace to many users. At the same time, an equal amount of goods and services which are in conflict with the laws or morals of some countries are surfacing (which might include activities such as illegal downloading, pornography, and gambling). Users need to learn about how to be effective consumers in a new digital economy.

3.   Digital Communication:   electronic exchange of information.
One of the significant changes within the digital revolution is a person’s ability to communicate with other people. In the 19th century, forms of communication were limited. In the 21st century, communication options have exploded to offer a wide variety of choices (e.g., e-mail, cellular phones, instant messaging). The expanding digital communication options have changed everything because people are able to keep in constant communication with anyone else. Now everyone has the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with anyone from anywhere and anytime. Unfortunately, many users have not been taught how to make appropriate decisions when faced with so many different digital communication options.

4.   Digital Literacy:   process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology.
While schools have made great progress in the area of technology infusion, much remains to be done. A renewed focus must be made on what technologies must be taught as well as how it should be used. New technologies are finding their way into the work place that are not being used in schools (e.g., Videoconferencing, online sharing spaces such as wikis). In addition, workers in many different occupations need immediate information (just-in-time information). This process requires sophisticated searching and processing skills (i.e., information literacy). Learners must be taught how to learn in a digital society. In other words, learners must be taught to learn anything, anytime, anywhere. Business, military, and medicine are excellent examples of how technology is being used differently in the 21st century. As new technologies emerge, learners need to learn how to use that technology quickly and appropriately. Digital Citizenship involves educating people in a new way— these individuals need a high degree of information literacy skills.

5. Digital Etiquette:   electronic standards of conduct or procedure.Technology users often see this area as one of the most pressing problems when dealing with Digital Citizenship. We recognize inappropriate behavior when we see it, but before people use technology they do not learn digital etiquette (i.e., appropriate conduct).   Many people feel uncomfortable talking to others about their digital etiquette. Often rules and regulations are created or the technology is simply banned to stop inappropriate use. It is not enough to create rules and policy, we must teach everyone to become responsible digital citizens in this new society.

6.   Digital Law:   electronic responsibility for actions and deeds
Digital law deals with the ethics of technology within a society. Unethical use manifests itself in form of theft and/or crime. Ethical use manifests itself in the form of abiding by the laws of society. Users need to understand that stealing or causing damage to other people’s work, identity, or property online is a crime. There are certain rules of society that users need to be aware in a ethical society. These laws apply to anyone who works or plays online. Hacking into others information, downloading illegal music, plagiarizing, creating destructive worms, viruses or creating Trojan Horses, sending spam, or stealing anyone’s identify or property is unethical.

7.   Digital Rights & Responsibilities:   those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world.Just as in the American Constitution where there is a Bill of Rights, there is a basic set of rights extended to every digital citizen. Digital citizens have the right to privacy, free speech, etc. Basic digital rights must be addressed, discussed, and understood in the digital world. With these rights also come responsibilities as well. Users must help define how the technology is to be used in an appropriate manner. In a digital society these two areas must work together for everyone to be productive.

8.   Digital Health & Wellness:   physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world.
Eye safety, repetitive stress syndrome, and sound ergonomic practices are issues that need to be addressed in a new technological world. Beyond the physical issues are those of the psychological issues that are becoming more prevalent such as Internet addiction. Users need to be taught that there are inherent dangers of technology. Digital Citizenship includes a culture where technology users are taught how to protect themselves through education and training.

9.   Digital Security (self-protection):   electronic precautions to guarantee safety.
In any society, there are individuals who steal, deface, or disrupt other people. The same is true for the digital community. It is not enough to trust other members in the community for our own safety. In our own homes, we put locks on our doors and fire alarms in our houses to provide some level of protection. The same must be true for the digital security. We need to have virus protection, backups of data, and surge control of our equipment. As responsible citizens, we must protect our information from outside forces that might cause disruption or harm.

Respect, Educate and Protect (REPs)

The concept of REPs is a way to explain as well as teach the themes of digital citizenship. Each area encompasses three topics which should be taught beginning at the kindergarten level. When teaching these ideas the top theme from each group would be taught as one REP. For example the first REP would be: Etiquette, Communication and Rights/Responsibilities. This would continue through REPs two and three. By doing this all students will have covered the topics and everyone would understand the basic ideas of digital citizenship.

Respect Your Self/Respect Others

- Etiquette

- Access

- Law

Educate Your Self/Connect with Others

- Communication

- Literacy

- Commerce

Protect Your Self/Protect Others

-Rights and Responsibility

- Safety (Security)

- Health and Welfare

www.cdigitalcitizenship.net/NINE ELEMENTS.html