Defining Citizenship
Tom Hoffman, Tuttle SVC, December 4, 2007.

I'm in Colombia and jet-lagged (yes, I know it's only one time zone - getting up at 4:00 a.m. to catch the flight counts for something, though). OK, Vicki Davis may get mad, sure. But I echo Tom Hoffman's comment: I've probably said this before, but "literacy" + "safety " + "etiquette" + "learning strategies" + "networking" does not equal "citizenship." It may equal something, but "citizenship" isn't a good word for it. For me, this whole digital citizenship thing is old news - and as I said in 1997: "If a defining characteristic of a nation is that it embraces diversity of opinion, then you cannot define membership in that nation according to the opinions held by its citizens." Which means the whole notion of the responsibility of 'digital citizens' misses the point. The vile content - and it most certainly is vile - is neither new nor original. And it's not the kids that are creating it. Once again, it is worth noting, in the words of Natalie Maines: "our children are watching us, they put their trust in us, they're gonna be like us..."

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Re: Defining Citizenship

Vicki A Davis, December 4, 2007

I do think that it is digital citizenship. As I said over on Tom's blog, we give citizenship grades in school for how effectively students get along with others in a F2F world. It is an educational terminology that we use at our school.

If we shouldn't be using that term, then I'd love to hear a better one, because if you just throw stones but don't give a suggestion, it will be called digital citizenship.

We teach kids how to cross the street, how to get along with others... all these other things in a F2F world, however our C2C (computer to computer) world is increasingly important and these skills should be taught.

Honestly, I'd love for two guys as smart as you and Tom to let us know what to call it! What should we call it? Because for now, people are planning and starting digital citizenship courses in absent of any other better suggestions.

I'm all ears and listening b/c I'm working with some other educators to plan something covering these topics in the next few months.

Hopefully you agree that these are things that should be taught, no matter what they're called. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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