Weekly Report & Reflection Post #12

Hello everyone (for one last time!),

This week we were asked to Google ourselves and find out if there were any chances made to our digital footprint. From my exploration, I am surprised that more programs and tools we discovered throughout this course did not pop up on the first eight pages on google. I discovered that there are multiple “Robert DeMelo’s” in the world, making it difficult for my own personal footprint activities to be displayed on the first couple of pages of google.  Most of the information shown about myself in the top pages of google are relating to sports. Due to the fact that I am a Varsity Soccer player here at Brock University, majority of the content provided is about my participation in Brock Athletics. The only course tool that I came across was my ADED 1p32 Twitter account. As a digital citizen, I have privacy settings on most of my personal social media accounts, making it hard for people to find out about my personal life.

From partaking in this course, I have learned a large amount of valuable information surrounding how to be a positive digital citizen and how to create a positive digital footprint. I learned that the three important rights and responsibilities digital citizens need to understand include:

1.    Right to Privacy – As digital citizens, we have the right to choose which information we share with our friends via social media and what information we don’t want to be shared.

2.    Right to Freedom of Expression – As digital citizens, we have the right to express our thoughts and opinions online

3.    Right to Ownership - As digital citizens, we have the rights to the information that we create being posted online

http://betanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Think-safety-600x398.jpg

There are many other important rights and responsibilities; however, I believe that there are three key ones that every digital citizen should have knowledge of.  One connection that I have made between being a digital citizen, leaving a positive digital footprint and living/learning online is that anything you post online via social media or blogs can be seen by anyone and will always stay in the digital world, even if the post is deleted.

Furthermore, I believe that the digital world is a great place for anyone to explore and use. However, make sure you are cautious when using the Internet, due to unfortunately having many dishonest digital citizens in today’s society. If you are aware of the possible dangers online, you can protect yourself from being digitally harmed.  Lastly, make sure you act properly online, becoming a positive digital citizen so that our online world can develop into a safe and protected place.

Thank you for stopping by my blogger weekly and reading my posts. I hope you guys enjoyed this course as much as I did. I learned many useful concepts that I will cherish for the rest of my life. See you guys in the digital world!

Robert DeMelo