Digital Citizenship

Mike Ribble defines the nine themes of digital citizenship as: 

1. Access: full electronic participation in society.
2. Commerce: electronic buying and selling of goods.
3. Communication: electronic exchange of information.
4. Literacy: process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology.
5. Etiquette: electronic standards of conduct or procedure.
6. Law: electronic responsibility for actions and deeds.
7. Rights & Responsibilities: those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world.
8. Health & Wellness: physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world.
9. Security (self-protection): electronic precautions to guarantee safety.

Netiquette: Rules of Behavior on the Internet

• Identify yourself:
  • Begin messages with a salutation and end them with your name.
  • Use a signature (a footer with your identifying information) at the end of a message
• Include a subject line. Give a descriptive phrase in the subject line of the message header that tells the topic of the message (not just "Hi, there!").
• Avoid sarcasm. People who don't know you may misinterpret its meaning.
• Respect others' privacy. Do not quote or forward personal email without the original author's permission.
• Acknowledge and return messages promptly.
• Copy with caution. Don't copy everyone you know on each message.
• No spam (a.k.a. junk mail). Don't contribute to worthless information on the Internet by sending or responding to mass postings of chain letters, rumors, etc.
• Be concise. Keep messages concise—about one screen, as a rule of thumb.
• Use appropriate language:
  • Avoid coarse, rough, or rude language.
  • Observe good grammar and spelling.
• Use appropriate emoticons (emotion icons) to help convey meaning. Use "smiley's" or punctuation such as :-) to convey emotions. See website list of emoticons at http://netlingo.com/smiley.cfm and http://www.robelle.com/smugbook/smiley.html.
• Use appropriate intensifiers to help convey meaning.
  • Avoid "flaming" (online "screaming") or sentences typed in all caps.
  • Use asterisks surrounding words to indicate italics used for emphasis (*at last*).
  • Use words in brackets, such as (grin), to show a state of mind.
  • Use common acronyms (e.g., LOL for "laugh out loud").