chloewugrapefruit-blog

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Full Participation in Digital World

The first element to make sure full participation on social media is the access to information.According to the definition given from course reading,  Digital Divide is the gap between people who can access to information and communication technology and who can not. (Pazurek & Feyissa, 2015. )Being able to participate on internet requires the condition to access. Then, digital equity is the action that we take to solve the digital divide. As NDIA ((The National Digital Inclusion Alliance) groups defined: it ensures all people and communities have the technology and ability needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy (2016). For me, digital equity includes the development of more information technology company to provide internet access to people all over the world. 

Definitely these terms are inter-related. Due to digital divide, people feel inconvenience of lack of internet access, and they want to build more connections on social media. Therefore, having the plan to spread technology is crucial. Digital equity gives people chances to achieve information access. Then digital inclusion aims to make sure that people have devices and digital literacy at the same time. It concludes the training of how to properly participate online. These three terms are important in modern world. Information decides most of things we value, so having the ability to access information, to use technology devices and social media platforms offers people broader horizon. For a country who control more information, it have bigger rights on its social and economy development. As indicated in Forbes’s report “Congress Explores Benefits Of Digital Equity And Internet Adoption In U.S.” written by Jason Brett.  Many Americans using smartphones for connectivity, and that these devices are used more often by persons of color from lower-income households. However, laptop is more efficient for internet connectivity (2020).

Being limited by digital technology access can bring lots of inconvenience to daily life. I would like to raise an anecdote which is about the disadvantage of lack of internet access. Due to the COVID-19, I chose to go back to my home country and take online course for the rest semester. At first, I didn’t download VPN, Virtual Private Network, for accessing specific websites that I need to finish my assignments. Then I couldn’t even log in to Canvas and check my schedule. After I fix this problem on my computer, I emailed to my professors to explain it and make up all missed homework. As “The Networking Needed to Power Successful Remote Work” edited by Keara Dowd, VPN plays important role to make sure successful WFH, which is required under such international conditions of illness. The access to digital information is influencing everything especially the economy’s normal running (2020). 

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Digital Citizenship With Social Media

To better participate in digital world, we have to train our digital citizenship. This has diverse definitions. From Common Sense Media Website, digital citizenship means "to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world". Another definition is “the continuously developing norms of appropriate, responsible, and empowered technology use”, from Ribble, Bailey, & Ross, 2004.(Nine elements of digital citizenship. ) From my own understanding, having digital citizenship means being able to use technology as an appropriate tool to interact with others through internet. 

It may easily to be confused of digital literacy and digital citizenship. They do have some similarities, but there is clear distinction to identify these two terms. Digital literacy is included in digital citizenship. As we previously learnt, digital literacy emphasizes one’s ability to share and learn from social media platforms. It is more like a technical requirement, such as using Powerpoint or find useful academic articles from internet. However, digital citizenship, as Greenhow and Robelia (2009) believed: “digital citizenship should include developing awareness of political and social, in addition to active participation online.” It is more like a responsibility. The same point that these two terms own is their goal: to cultivate qualified digital citizens who can use technology well. 

There are many educational programs or developing curriculum that are designed for people in different ages to improve their digital citizenship. As for adult learners like college students, the most active social media users, they need to get fully trained within their higher education. As Social media competence and digital citizenship among college students mentioned: “including SMC as an independent educational objective in higher education curriculum may be valuable.” (Xu, Yang, MacLeod, & Zhu, 2018). I think that it’s necessary to learn how to responsibly use technology as a normal lesson. College students have to get involved with technology almost everyday, so it’s a good opportunity to teach them norms and behaviors. Educators should be professional about using technology first, then they can together to come up with good ideas to show their students how to operate. They can also set digital goals for students in their daily learning. 

For individuals, to act good digital citizenship while participating online, we can give us digital expectations and code of ethics before using technology. After we start using technology, we should always remember “engaging respectfully online with people who have different beliefs than you” as mentioned by ISTE website (Richard Culatta). It’s important to avoid cyberbullying which will cause serious harm to others and society. Another thing we have to be careful is validity of information. Having ability to determine if the information is credible and then if we can keep sharing it is crucial, because rumors become a serious problem in social media. Then, if we can bring positive impacts to surrounding, like peers and families, we should be no hesitated to do that. 

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Participatory Culture in Digital Age

In this digital age, there is a new term - participatory culture - that appears in our daily life. It describes the participative modes of using social media, and it can be basically divided into sharing and listening. This expression is more likely to create social connection between each others. I really like the idea: Not every member must contribute, but all must believe they are free to contribute when ready and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued. (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2009)

For me, participation on social media is an important way to express myself. As stated in the reading, “Instead of simply responding to content, ..., here the user becomes the source of the original material.” (Hinton & Hjorth, 2013). Being a producer, creating my own contents and sharing it with others is one method to show another self-identity in social media world. For example, I will record my daily life in video form and make them to vlog. Nowadays this is a popular way for everyone to see how life can be so interesting. YouTube is the most popular platform that many vloggers post their videos. I’d also like to watch how other people edit.

As for the motivation, I would say active interaction and meaningful connection are key to make me engaging with others in online communities. For example, many of youngsters and peers are using Instagram or Facebook to post and share what their life look like. Besides photos from life, we also share some ideas or perspectives on these platforms. Therefore, social media is a crucial channel for friends to know each other’s situation, and also for strangers to communicate their interests then make new friends. Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement. (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2009)

Now, due to the concerns of COVID-19, not only me, most people’s participation on social media has some changes. As college students, we take all courses online, and social media becomes a platform for us to interact and communicate. Professors also organize Zoom discussions to maintain our connections. And the contents or news we look from social media are gradually more related to situation of virus. We gain information of how government react to this virus and what other countries are facing by clicking into some platforms. We may also like to share what’s our solution towards isolation.

Overall, participatory culture is prevailing in this digital age. As a digital citizen, it’s inevitable to get involved in the impacts that social media brings to us.

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Reflection post #1

People in different age groups have different experiences on social media. After reading the research from the Pew Research Center and Common Sense, in 2018, with more popular social medias coming out, the landscape was defined by a mix of trends. For example, youngsters (18-24) thought that it would be hard to give up social media. Compared to older adults who didn’t have strong relationship with social media, youngsters might rely more on online world. Young people can always find things attractive to them on social media, and they are easily get addicted to them. However, people who are older have ability to judge whether they need to get satisfied from the joy that social media bring them. 

And we have to consider both positive and negative effects. For teens, using social media can strengthen their relationship with friends, and it makes them less lonely and will be more confident. For adults who use social media also for work, their relationship won’t have too much emotional things. They can use LinkedIn for interview, instead of using for the sense of belonging. The negative effects are also obvious. The smart devices can distract people from whom they are with. It can also be distraction when young students are in class time. People may have physical problem if they keep a same gesture watching devices, such as hurting eyes and cervical vertebra. 

One interesting finding from the research in Common Sense is: teens who are more-vulnerable are more likely to say social media has positive effects to them. The SEWB scale is an important tool to test young people’s social-emotional well-being, and it becomes a crucial element to see how social media influencing teens’ lives. Because the influence depends on different group of people, this scale makes the research more meaningful. 

From my perspective, about older adults having different habits of using social media, I think some elders also prefer use some app that youngsters use. In China, almost everyone use WeChat, including my 80-year-old grandma. It’s an interesting phenomenon that many lonely elders use social media to spend their time. They can view interesting news to their family or friends, and they use it to connect with the whole family. Indeed, it is influencing people from even children to elders.