Life of Jill

[jillianm713]

What is Digital Equity?

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance defines digital equity as “all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy” (2016). This means that everyone has the resources available to contribute to a society that has become completely saturated in a variety of digital technologies. Another important aspect of digital equity is digital inclusion, which is defined as “activities necessary to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, have access to, and use of, information and communication technologies” (National Digital Inclusion Alliance, 2016). This means everyone, especially those living with disadvantageous circumstances, have the abilities to not only access but also properly use the technologies required to fully participate in society. 

The digital divide is what happens when disadvantages parts of society do not have proper access and ability to use the digital technologies needed to fully participate in society. In a TEDx Talk, Cynthia Owyoung talked about how tech companies can work towards healing the digital divide (you can watch her presentation here). She suggested that the definition of “digital divide” needs to increase to include those who receive direct benefits from the digital revelation and those who do not (2017). These concepts relate because the digital divide is our current state, digital equity is the end goal, and digital inclusion is the strategy used to help achieve this goal. There has to be a coherent strategy for digital inclusion. It can’t just have short-term solutions, but long-term, sustainable options that are able to adapt to our ever-changing technological landscape.  

“Digital Equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services” (National Digital Inclusion Alliance, 2016). 98% of households are located in an area with access to broadband networks, however not nearly this many people are able to use technology. Why is that? (Schweiger, 2014). Our society uses digital technology in many sectors, so without full access to these digital services, people will have difficulty participating to the fullest extent. These people will also have difficulties building a variety of digital literacy skills because you have to have hands-on experience and practice with the kinds of technology that are used prevalently in society. 

There are many different ways that the digital divide can be healed and further steps towards digital equity can be made. For more information on the National Digital Inclusion Alliance you can visit their website. 

Sources:

https://www.benton.org/blog/what-do-we-mean-when-we-say-digital-equity-and-digital-inclusion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy1a-ttizxU

Pazurek, A., & Feyissa, S. (2015). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Technology: Digital Divide. SAGE Publications, Inc. 205-207.  

https://meetingoftheminds.org/digital-divide-digital-equity-10520

[jillianm713]

Digital Citizenship

    Digital citizenship is a general term that covers appropriate and responsible behavior on the internet. Under the umbrella of “digital citizenship” topics such as digital literacy, safety, and communication. It takes on a holistic approach to technology use, and involves looking at the effects of our actions in both the short and long-term (Ahlquist). As our world becomes more reliable on technology, digital citizenship and appropriate online usage becomes increasingly important.

    Before reading more about digital citizenship, I assumed it was only about being respectful online. However, because many aspects of our culture utilize technology, digital citizenship has to extend to cover these areas. For example, the internet has to be governed by some kind of international law or else it would be way more chaotic than it already is. Once the internet was introduced, new laws had to be created, which added another level to digital citizenship by following legal guidelines of usage. Digital citizenship can also extend to buying and selling goods and services online, knowing how extensive technology use impacts your physical health (like the effect of blue-light on the eyes), ownership, credibility, and online advertising.

    While there are many positives to the internet, digital citizenship also has to address some of the more concerning aspects of the internet including cyberbullying, sexting, fake news sources, and edited media (Ottensen, 2018). Inappropriate and irresponsible use of the internet can have a multitude of consequences that can impact several other areas of life.

    There are ways that educators can help build healthy internet habits in kids. This blog post provides ideas on how educators can model appropriate online behavior with a variety of different social networking websites. The post also emphasizes the ideas that everything lasts forever on the internet, and when used correctly, social media can be a great place to find opportunities and connections. There are also many resources on what skills of digital citizenship should be taught at each grade level. Common Sense Media has an excellent example of K-12 curriculum as well as many other resources for educators.

Sources:

Ahlquist, Josie. “Infusing Digital Citizenship into Higher Education.” Josie Ahlquist, 23 Oct. 2014, www.josieahlquist.com/2014/01/27/infusing-digital-citizenship-into-higher-education/.

Cutler, David. “Modeling Constructive Online Behavior.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 22 Oct. 2015, www.edutopia.org/blog/modeling-constructive-online-behavior-david-cutler.

“K–12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum Scope & Sequence.” Common Sense Education, Common Sense , www.commonsense.org/education/scope-and-sequence.

Ottensen, Julia. “New 'Digital Citizenship' Curriculum Helps Students Become Responsible Tech Users.” EdScoop, 18 Oct. 2018, edscoop.com/new-digital-citizenship-curriculum-helps-students-become-responsible-tech-users/.

[jillianm713]

Participatory Culture and Social Media

Participatory culture involves engagement and expression in an informal community setting (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2009). A definition this broad can be applied to many different scenarios, as long as the member feels some kind of connection with the other community members.

In relation to social media, people could feel free to post their own forms of creative expression or communicate with other community members. There is an increasing amount of technologies being created all the time, and many of those involve avenues for artistic expression. For example, think of the conception of the 3D printer. Using computers and different materials the 3D printer allows us to create items that we hadn’t before. Additionally, there is an added element when those creations can be shared on social media, which becomes increasingly more specific for different communities and purposes as more platforms are developed.

One way that I participate in an online community is through instagram. I have two separate instagram accounts, one for personal pictures and another for calligraphy that I make. I follow different people on these two accounts, one for friends and celebrities and the other for artists and calligraphers. I like engaging on my calligraphy page more because it’s a specific community and we all share an interest. There are people that will give advice and tips to others, and many photos have compliments and encouragements in the comments. I feel like I make a small contribution to a larger community, which is the basis of participatory culture.

Another way that I engage is online communities is connecting with members of my sorority across the country. We all have at least one thing in common, and that connection has sparked different groups on Facebook and other platforms so we can get to know each other. Even if I’m not actively participating in the group as much as I want, it’s good to know that I’m included in an organization that extends beyond my own campus.

[jillianm713]

What Does Research tell us about social media use?

Since coming to college I’ve realized two important things about myself:

I am a visual learner

I am much more analytical than I would have anticipated. I like seeing the facts and figures of an issue, I believe that numbers don’t lie.

As a psychology major both of these qualities are important, especially since I have to read and interpret research papers every week. Before reading these studies I assumed that I knew all the results. I thought that teens would use social media the most out of any other age group, Facebook would still be the most popular network, more people overall are using social media than in previous years, and social media is impacting how we communicate. For the most part, my assumptions were correct, but the actual numbers reported were jarring. 89% of teens own a smartphone, which is nearly ubiquitous among 13 to 17 year olds. Youtube is a major competitor with Facebook for being the most popular social media site, especially when looking at different age groups. Overall, numbers vary between age groups and different platforms.

Teens are more likely to admit that social media has positive effects in their lives. They report feeling less lonely and depressed as well as more confident and popular. However, the effects of social media aren’t all positive. Social media distracts teens from many facets of their life, such as homework, face-to-face interactions, sleep, driving, and many others.

The most important finding to me is that there is very little consistency among the opinions of social media. While most people use some form of social media, how they feel about their usage varies. Sixty percent of all participants in the study say that it would not be hard to give up social media, even though on average thirty-eight percent of participants use several types of social media several times a day. There are conflicting results among teens, especially when it comes to the emotional effects of social media. Just because something is very present in our lives does not mean that it benefits us. The inconsistent results from these studies paint a complex picture of how social media has infiltrated our lives.

From the perspective of a psychology student, I noticed a trend in the teenage study that reminded me of a topic from my research methods class called bidirectional influences. The study reported that teens with low social-emotional well-being experience more negative effects of social media. This specific population of teens poses an interesting question about whether their low social-emotional well-being impacts how they use social media or if their social media usage continues to have a negative impact on their social-emotional well-being. Most likely these two factors have complex interactions that contribute to the negative impacts of these teens’ lives.

[sweetoothgirl]

CAKE MIX BISCOTTI

[mindful-minds]