Digital Citizenship and Digital Access

The nine elements of digital citizenship

1. Digital Access – Full electronic participation in society. Digital exclusion of any kind does not improve the growth of users in an electronic society. All individuals should have fair access to technology no matter who they are. To become productive citizens, we need to be committed to equal digital access (Ribble, 2011).
2. Digital Commerce – Electronic buying and selling of goods. The mainstream availability of Internet purchases of things like clothing, cars and toys has become commonplace to many users. At the same time, equivalent amount of illegal/immoral goods and services are evolving, such as gambling and pornography (Ribble, 2011).
3.  Digital Communication – Electronic exchange of information. The growing digital communication options have changed everything because people are able to keep in constant communication with others.
4. Digital Literacy – Process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology. As new technologies arise, people need to learn how to use that technology quickly and appropriately. Digital citizenship involves educating people in a new way to develop their information literacy skills (Ribble, 2011).
5. Digital Etiquette – Electronic standards of conduct or procedure. Technology users often see this area as one of the most persistent problems when dealing with digital citizenship. Often rules and regulations are created or the technology is simply banned to stop inappropriate use (Ribble, 2011).
6.  Digital Law – Electronic responsibility for actions and deeds. Deals with the ethics of technology within a society. Users need to understand that stealing or causing damage to other people's work, identity or property online is a crime (Ribble, 2011).
7.  Digital Rights and Responsibilities – Those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world. There is a basic set of rights extended to every digital citizen, including the right to privacy and free speech. With these rights also come responsibilities (Ribble, 2011).
8. Digital Health and 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. Users need to be taught about the inherent dangers of September/October 2011 31 technology, and how to protect themselves through education and training (Ribble, 2011).
9.  Digital Security (or Self-protection) - Digital security is basically protecting yourself in the digital world - protecting your identity, your data, your money, etc. While there are many publicized breaches of "secure" information featured regularly on the news, for most of us, a few simple steps can safeguard our cyber security. Backup data regularly (Ribble, 2011).