Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is a term coming up often in schools and libraries. Digital citizenship is the idea that if someone interacts with others online then they are a citizen of a digital world. The rules of online relationships are vague and many people feel like due to the anonymity of the internet they can say and do things they normally wouldn’t and not have to face any consequences. Being a good digital citizen means not buying into that temptation and instead choosing to be a good, information literate user.

In school libraries, many librarians are taking the role of the guide for students to explore the digital world in a safe and polite manner.

American Libraries Magazine has published this article on that subject:

https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/09/04/shaping-digital-citizens-cyberbullying/

This can be applicable to young adult and teen librarians as well. Some teens who come into the library are homeschooled and may need guidance or their parents may need resources on how to keep their kids safe at home. Many school districts put internet filtering on their computers and Wi-Fi networks while their students are at school but that may not be the case at home. Parents needs to be the filter at home. This is also where public librarians come in to help. Rather than using an ineffectual filter, parents should be monitoring what and when their children are exposed to certain topics.

Google has also gotten on board with helping new internet users to navigate the web safely when in search of information. Teachers and school librarians are finding Google’s Be Internet Awesome lesson plans and accompanying computer game Interland to be very helpful. This is free to parents and teachers and helps start the conversation on how to be a good digital citizen.

The link for Google’s Be Internet Awesome:

https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us