annirosee-blog

[annirosee-blog]

The world of Digital Divide and Digital Equity

There are multiple ways to describe Digital Divide but the main way i think is that the Digital divide describes the technological split individuals experience based on multiple factors including limited resources, lack of education, economic impacts, and global repercussions (Pazurek & Feyissa, 2015). One of the main ideas of the digital divide is the growing gap between wealthy and underprivileged members of the society. Underprivileged people in our society suffer greatly due to the fact that they can’t access technology or don’t have a direct access like a lot of people do now a days. Since the world is changing into a digital world it is imperative that everyone has the ability to be digitally literate. 

Digital equity is about making sure students have equal access to technology like devices, software and the internet. It’s also very important that they have trained educators to help them navigate through these tools. “A lack of digital access is a lack of access to education period,”  (Terry Godwaldt 2017). 

This is very important since everything is online now. I mostly take online classes and I would be lost without a computer. Even in high school we got computers and had a lot of stuff due online. If we didn't get those computers students that didn’t have access would have suffered and would have gotten lower grades. We need to make sure that everyone has access and can do there homework. In an article that I read it points out that students have to do whatever possible to make sure they can do there homework. Whether its from sitting outside a building to get wifi for there phones or going to a library everyday to be able to complete there homework.  Even a lot of jobs only have online applications. So people that really need jobs and are from a lower income area can’t even apply for jobs. We live in societies in which inequality is ignored in education, science, and in the social media (Radovanovic, 2011). Access to technology is a important part of life. Without it people can’t achieve the life that everyone deserves. People can’t access basic needs like paying bills, access homework, apply for jobs and college, and multiple other basic needs.  The need for digital equality is important because it would close the gap in the digital divide and therefore lower the hinder on student’s to participate in collaborative activities. We need to do something about the digital gap. 

[annirosee-blog]

Are you a good Digital Citizen?

All of us are Digital Citizens. We all are online most of the day. Especially if we take online courses. But we need to start thinking about why we are posting the things we are posting and if they are appropriate things to post. That’s where Digital Citizenship comes in.  Dr. Pazurek quotes common sense media by saying that digital citizenship means “ “to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world” (Common Sense Media website, 2018) This plays in with learning about what we are doing online and if it’s a good idea.  One article I found very interesting pointed out  that “It is important for students to recognize that although technology gives us a lot of power, it also restricts us in many ways, and we need to question how the affordances of technology modify our communication and our behavior” (Literacyworldwide.com). 

There are a lot of different definitions of Digital Citizenship. One way I would define it would be the norm behavior while using technological elements. Or one interesting article I found defined it as “it’s about how we as individuals act in this environment” (Erin Mcneill 2016) This concept of digital citizenship focuses on being a digitally “right” citizen, who is knowledgeable on the do’s and don'ts of technology/social media. Digital citizenship has provided a well-recognized framework for addressing the challenges of inappropriate digital behavior throughout the world. 

One of the articles explains that there are nine themes of Digital Citizenship.

1.Digital Access

2.Digital Commerce

3.Digital Communication

4.Digital Literacy

5.Digital Etiquette

6.Digital Law

7.Digital Rights & Responsibilities

8.Digital Health & Wellness

9.Digital Security

All of these themes point out how people should behave and interact with technology. One of the key ones that stood out to me was #3 Digital Communication. It points out that now we can communicate with anyone from anywhere at any time and sometimes people weren’t taught the right way to act when and how to make appropriate decisions when faced with all the different digital opportunities.

Educators play a huge role in how digital citizens are created. Adults, need to be teaching students proper digital citizenship. Teaching kids about cyberbullying, plagiarism. Kids develop a good understanding of digital citizenship as teachers instruct them about a range of digital practices, “including how to access digital media, how to follow copyright and other laws, and how to improve security measures” (Gleason & von Gillern, 2018) Teachers need to teach them on how to avoid strangers online. That is one thing we have always been taught and it wasn’t a huge issue when we were kids as it is now.

I think we need to teach and learn more about being a better digital citizen. A lot of people don’t really think before they post something online and if it’s safe to post. We need to think more about theme #9 of Digital Security. Yes that is more about keeping people out of your computer and making sure people don’t give you viruses. But it also goes for the fact that people can get your information and steal things from your home or your credit cards. We need to think twice before doing stuff online. I also think that our responsibilities as digital citizens has changed greatly and that some generations don’t understand the need for the change in thinking about being a better digital citizen. 

Bali, Maha. “Literacy Daily.” International Literacy Association, Jan. 2016, www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2016/02/03/knowing-the-difference-between-digital-skills-and-digital-literacies-and-teaching-both.

Gleason, B., & von Gillern, S. (2018). Digital Citizenship with Social Media: Participatory Practices of Teaching and Learning in Secondary Education. Educational Technology & Society, 21 (1), 200–212.

Mcneill, Erin. “Linking Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship in the Public Policy Realm.” Media Literacy Now, 15 June 2016, medialiteracynow.org/linking-media-literacy-and-digital-citizenship-in-the-public-policy-realm/.

Ribble, Mike. “Nine Elements.” Digital Citizenship, 2017, www.digitalcitizenship.net/nine-elements.html.

[annirosee-blog]

Reflection Post #2: Social Media and Participatory Culture

The past two weeks we have been talking about digital literacy and Participatory culture theory. They both are very connected due to social media. The participatory culture theory helps us understand the number of different changes going on in technology in our world. 

Jenkins explains that “participatory culture describes what are sometimes very ordinary aspects of our lives in the digital age” (2016). I think this is very important to point out to show how much social media is apart of our lives. Social media is a great way for people to be able to express themselves in a way other then talking about it in person. You can express yourself in so many different ways thru social media like videos, blogs, pictures, memes. I also really  liked this explanation of participatory media. “our online experience increasingly involves methods of actively providing information about what we are doing, or what we think of something” (Hinton & Hjorth, 2013). It makes me think about how we interact with people and explain ourselves through social media. We can share a snapchat or Instagram story that will tell about day in snippets. We post political or ideas about lives on twitter or Facebook. We can post quotes that explain what we are feeling like that day. There are so many different ways we interact and show what we are doing and how we are feeling with people thru social media. 

I sometimes feel like I am addicted to social media. But who isn’t nowadays! I use multiple social media platforms. For example: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and VSCO.  My favorite social media platform to use is Instagram. I love seeing all the different photos of peoples lives and travel photos people post. It also fun to see peoples feeds grow and see how the person has changed through-out the years as they post more and more. I also use Instagram a lot to send funny memes and posts to my BF and friends. Its fun to be able to share things like that over social media and not having to wait till you see them to share it.  I even made a Instagram account for my dogs Aspen and Arya.  My family all has an Instagram account so that they can stay updated with my life and my two dogs. They can see all my Cheerleading posts and see my life at college. I also use Facebook a lot to keep updated with family and friends that I’m not super closes to anymore. I’m able to post more updates and more photos on my Facebook vs on Instagram where you post snippets of highlights of your life. But Facebook I also make sure to make an album for every year so that everyone can see whats going on and how I am doing.  I also used social media to get recruited to colleges for Cheer. Their is apps and websites for cheer coaches and athletes to post videos of skills and tumbling to get noticed by coaches. I got recruited by Morehead State in Kentucky my freshman year just through the internet without even meeting the coaches before I got a scholarship and place on the team. Social media changed my life that summer. I got a place on the top team in the country for cheerleading just because I could connect with other cheerleaders around the country and talk about cheer. 

“Young people who create and circulate their own media are more likely to respect the intellectual property rights of others because they feel a greater stake in the cultural economy. Both reports suggest we are moving away from a world in which some produce and many consume media, toward one in which everyone has a more active stake in the culture that is produced” (Lenhardt & Madden, 2005). This really stood out to me because kids are becoming more and more involved in political discussions and sports discussions and others because we have access to it all. Social media really has changed the way we learn and interact in life. I have friends that have learned a lot about Italy and France through articles and just travel videos and traveled to them and created blogs about traveling to those countries. One of those friends got a Job after making a traveling blog because of how well his photos were taken and all the history he knew about those countries. It crazy how social media can lead to jobs for us now. Almost everyone I know has some sort of social media account and can contribute to life just from there phone whether it be a blog for a job or they create social media posts for there company. 

References:

Hinton, S., & Hjorth, L. (2013). Understanding Social Media. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Jenkins, Henry. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. 2010, www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF.

[annirosee-blog]

My First Reflection Blog

After reading a couple articles regarding social media. One think stood out to me. According to Pew Research Center  Youtube is the #1 social media site right now. According to Pew, 94% of Youtube users are 18-24 years old. I think Youtube is so popular to the younger age group because kids can post videos of themselves and watch a countless number of videos on the most random topics. Also our generation is the ones who have been getting famous off of Youtube. Youtube is a way to express themselves differently than photos like Instagram is mainly used for. 

Another interesting point I saw was that Facebook still takes the lead over all social media apps worldwide. This could be due to the fact that Facebook is a diverse app. It’s not targeted at a younger crowd. It has a more formal approach to it. Letting the older generation connect with friends, make political posts and groups and post life updates. I always see that the older generation are posting longer posts and pictures of their kids or sharing political news. And the younger generation posts more pictures once in a while to give people an update on their life. They don’t post everyday and certainly don’t post random posts all the time. 

One very interesting statistic I found was from the CSM article, it stated that 95% of teens have mobile devices and use them regularly. Thats a crazy high number! I think back to when I was a teenager and yes I had a phone from a young age but I wasn’t into all the latest crazed social media app. Instagram didn’t come out until i was a 9th grader or at least didn’t really become popular until then. But teens now have so many different social media apps and networks they can use. And kids from a young age have phones now which wasn’t a thing back when I was in high school. I remember a lot of kids didn’t get phones until they were 16. Some reason when kids turned 16 it mean’t they could have a phone. I had a phone since I was 11 but it was because my mom worked and I would call her after school to make sure I was safe at home or at a friends. 

One positive thing about social media is that people can use videos for about anything nowadays and one of the latest craze I have seen is all these health junkies or influencers. They post videos of exercises and foods to eat. Which is really cool for people that don’t have the money to pay for  a gym or some diet plan or a trainer. They can just find videos from a Instagram account or anywhere on the internet. But this can also be a negative thing because people see these influencers and think that they have the perfect body and get a terrible body image about themselves. When sometimes the videos and pictures are edited! This can create terrible bulling also. People think that they need to be the skinniest or fittest when they see these pictures and videos.