#internet citizenship

[astudyinpanda]

I am fortunate to have found myself in such a place surrounded by men and women who live unoppressed by fear of a tyrannical god and beyond the reach of narrow-minded laws.

- What Manner of Man by @stjohnstarling

[astudyinpanda]

PSA: Something has changed about how mobile Tumblr handles sending posts to other Tumblr users, which means I need to try a different method of doing that. The new method makes it hard to double-check the recipient before sending the post! Sorry in advance if I send you a random post or (apparently, more likely!) a post you yourself made. I am building new muscle memory 😅

[numberwitch]

Back to the Future of critical thinking

Not only is this a day to celebrate the fact that those of us who are lucky enough to be at least 30 years old today have just traveled 30 years into the future (taking a slightly longer route than Marty, Jen, and Doc did), this is a great day to remind ourselves of the importance of critical thinking and good internet citizenship. This Tumblr has gathered the screen shots from every time someone on the Internet has mistakenly though it was Back to the Future Day and passed it on. http://martymcflyinthefuture.tumblr.com/ Being wrong about this is not a big deal in itself, but it serves as an amusing example of the way we all repost things we haven't bothered to fact check. If we aren't willing to fact check such a clear-cut thing as the correct date of Back to the Future Day, how do we respond to more complicated matters? When the subject is politics, economics, or social issues, the ramifications of reposting something that is inaccurate can be serious. When we repost a video or photo that has been edited to make a person or group we don't like look bad, when we repost incorrect information that encourages injustice, we contribute to the dumbing down of our society. We make the world worse. This isn't a chastisement so much as a warning to us all. And this is *not* directed towards one part of the political spectrum or another. We're all guilty of having passed on something on social media because it seemed to confirm our world views. When a post confirms our preconceived ideas, we need to be especially careful about fact checking. Let's all contribute to raising the quality of our interactions and discourse -online and in person- as we continue traveling together into the future.

[mediaeval-muse]

I like these. Well said, Hank.

[pizzafishandchips]

Internet rules that everyone on the internet should go by :D

[salesses]

20 Rules for Good (and Healthy) Internet Citizenship

Note: I wrote this list for The Good Men Project

1. Promote others/yourself without being annoying.

  2. Be a resource. Say yes when people ask you to do things.

  3. Don’t read the comments.

  4. Be funny.

  5. Be vulnerable. Let us into your head.

  6. Cats.

  7. Babies, but don’t share other people’s baby pictures.

  8. Answer your emails within a week. Respond to fan mail.

  9. Don’t fight back; ignore.

10. Believe that people are listening.

  11. Write so that people will listen.

  12. Putting something on Facebook is not the same as telling your friends. Don’t expect other people to know you’ve posted something.

  13. No mass emails. Unless you have a book coming out. Then, try to keep it to one.

  14. Follow back if the follower seems human.

  15. Say thank you.

  16. Ask for favors directly, not under the guise of just-wanted-to-say-hi.

  17. Make things happen. Stop hoping/waiting and do something.

  18. Close your accounts when you’re done with them. Don’t get hacked. Choose a good password. Guard it.

  19. Be you.

  20. Be flexible. Don’t rely on rules. Your rules or anyone else’s.

[archive-asmallteapot]

Internet Civics

I think there should be a comprehensive getting-started guide for people who want to be responsible citizens of the Internet. The course should provide a high-level overview of the most important areas of Internet civics, with a heavy bent toward referring people to other freely-available information (eg, “This is what HTML is. This is why it matters. Go read this and do that to learn more.”)

Here’s a first-take syllabus:

Principles of Internet Civics (rights, privilege, and respect online)

Taking control of your PC (terminal basics, open-source software)

Literacy (Python/HTML basics, read through Hacker Dictionary)

Privacy (why we need it, basic principles of crypto, using PGP)

Secure communication (email, jabber, git, torrents, bitcoin)

Legacy Governance (Net Neutrality, history of web legislation)

Discuss.