Researchers from the University of
Kansas have expanded the concept of
digital citizenship to include access to
information and norms of behavior
regarding the use of information and
communication technologies for civic
participation. By synthesizing a base
of research, Mike Ribble, Gerald Bailey, and Tweed Ross identified nine
elements of digital citizenship: digital
etiquette, digital communication,
digital access, digital literacy, digital
commerce, digital law, digital rights
and responsibilities, digital health and
wellness, and digital security. Ribble
and Bailey discuss these nine elements
in their book, Digital Citizenship in
Schools (ISTE, 2007), and at www.
digitalcitizenship.net.
Their definition of digital citizenship reinforces the notion of an informed and participatory citizenry
whose online behaviors uphold standards for legal, ethical, safe, responsible, and respectful uses of technology. Thus, young people’s ability to
practice digital citizenship ought to
include their developing awareness
of social and political issues as well
as their online participation in public
life. Moreover, quality online participation should entail demonstrating
respect for the rights and responsibilities of self and others in the digital
commons, including knowing how
to adjust privacy settings, download
music and other media files legally,
post messages that are respectful to
the online community, and encourage others to practice responsible
online behaviors.
Research Insights
Two recently published studies shed
light on these important issues and
may prove useful to practicing teach-
ers and teacher educators. “Cyber-
bullying: Using Virtual Scenarios to
Educate and Raise Awareness,” pub-
lished in the Fall 2009 issue of ISTE’s
Journal of Computing in Teacher
Education (now the Journal of Digital
Learning in Teacher Education)
by Vivian Wright, Joy Burnham,
Christopher Inman, and Heather
Ogorchock, examines adolescent
reactions to cyberbullying (bully-
ing through e-mail, instant mes-
saging, text messaging, and other
technology-mediated forms). The
researchers, who won ISTE’s Special
Interest Group for Teacher Educators’
(SIGTE) Research Paper Award for
the study, surveyed and conducted
focus groups with adolescents to
gather their impressions of, and ex-
periences with, cyberbullying. They
developed educational scenarios/
simulations within Second Life to help
raise awareness about the character-
istics of bullying behavior and found
that these scenarios showed great
potential as tools for cyberbullying
education and prevention.
Ensuring students’ ability to understand and embody digital citizenship—whether the “students” are
K– 12 learners or student teachers—
is important not only for achieving standards-based outcomes but
also for ensuring equitable access to
learning and career opportunities
as educational and professional networking moves online. According
to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers
published in March 2008, U.S. employers will use Web 2.0 technologies and social media to vet profiles
of potential hires, and more than
50% will use sites such as Facebook
and LinkedIn to prospect for talent,
promote their accomplishments, and
recruit top candidates.
We need more research to update
our concepts of digital citizenship
and explore its many facets. Such
work might include inquiry into how
students learn to practice legal, ethical, safe, responsible, and respectful
uses of the Internet in various contexts and on the nature of digital civic
participation. How do young people
learn to participate effectively in the
“public media 2.0,” the networked
public space created by emerging
Web-based technologies that enable
citizens to get informed, publish their
own multimedia commentary, and
network and mobilize to tackle social
problems? What should an informed,
publicly engaged digital citizen look
like? For instance, in the Hot Dish
project ( http://blog.newscloud.
com/ social-media-research.html?r_
page=research&r_full=research), we
are examining how to use debates
about current events on Facebook
to get students to think more deeply
about science content and increase
their civic participation.
As news, government, and other
sectors overhaul to let people have a
hand in shaping their own experience,
digital citizenship should be on the
forefront of our educational agendas.
