INTRODUCTION-Task 1 will be discussing, elaborating and illustration the nine elements of digital citizenship. It will look further into explaining how an individual’s digital footprint has an impact or how it may become a problem. Furthermore, this task will also elaborate on the importance of social capitalism and how to build social capitalism. Lastly, the task will explain further the five characteristics of being a good digital citizen in a form of an info-graph and another info-graph will be depicting social media user statistics .
Question 1.1
There are nine elements that make up digital citizenship. These nine elements also show the surrounding issues that are associated with digital citizenship which include: the use, abuse and misuse of technology. The nine elements of digital citizenship are:
Digital Access– is described as “the ability to fully participate in digital society. This includes access to tools and technologies, such as the Internet and computers, that allow for full participation” (Digital Citizenship, 2019). Digital citizenship also means the equal distribution of technological resources also fair accessibility to technology which will allow the ability for learning to be enhanced (Sites.google.com,2019). There is often a digital divide that occurs and (Rouse. M, 2019) states that digital divide is also the gap that exists within the access of information and communication technology in demographics and regions that have access to information and communication technology to those that don’t or have restricted access. Digital divide can be evidently seen between the technology access of those who live in the urban areas and those who are situated in the rural areas. Most times there is limited access of any technology in rural areas due to lack of technological infrastructure or enough resources. A digital divide can also be seen between/within different socioeconomic groups called a Socio-Economic Divide, Digital Divide in infrastructure, A digital divide in Content, A digital Divide in Gender divide, A digital divide in Skills and digital divide in the Universal Access
Socio-Economic Divide- This digital divide describes the different levels of access to internet or technological information in developed and developing countries. In most cases developed countries have more or better internet access due to the infrastructure which allows for the fair accessibility. Whilst those situated in developing countries often have restricted access or no access at all an example would be in a community with access to the internet but have computers that perform poorly or even have lower performance compared to other computers, the wireless connections are slow or have lower speed or even restricted access to subscription based content (M,Rouse.2019)
Digital Divide in infrastructure- This is also seen in developed and developing countries where infrastructure has caused a digital divide. When a digital divide in infrastructure occurs this usually means “a lack of access to network connections, to devices, and to software and applications”(Digital Responsibility, 2019) .Infrastructure divide also means that there are gaps occurring in high access of internet this further affects the access of media or even simply streaming a video on the internet. (Digital Responsibility, 2019) states that “Recent data show that only 49% of African Americans and 51% of Hispanics have high-speed internet at home, as compared to 66% of Caucasians”. Infrastructural division may also mean the lack of affordability in network services, applications and devices. Furthermore, Mulama (2004) argues “that the communication infrastructure in Africa is concentrated in urban areas as 50% of telephone lines are found in the capital cities where only about 10% of Africa’s population resides”
Divide in Content- A divide in Content can be a factor in Digital divide. There are barriers which lead to content being restricted or even divided such barriers include: The lack of local information or the gap in local information- most content division can be caused by the lack of information about their community (Technologyforhumanity.org, 2019).
The Digital Divide-a Gender Divide- The Digital Divide that occurs in digital citizenship affects females the most. In developing countries factors such as socio-cultural factors, lack of access, etc. There have been debates about what gender is affected more by digital divide however, research has shown that women lag behind men in the ownership of computers, usage of the internet and the development of technological skills (Reid-Smith, 2018). According to (IIE,2019), “The statistics show that, on average, women are online in developing countries 23% less than that of their male counterparts”.
The digital divide – In Skills – There is a lack of education in computer literacy/digital literacy resulting in a division in skills. It is not only the accessibility of the internet but also the skills that go with being a digital citizen and using a computer.
The digital divide -Universal Access – The Universal access is described as the means “that everyone in a population hasaccess to publicly available communication network facilities and services. Typically, it is provided through such means as pay telephones, community telecentres and community Internet access terminals” (Itu.int, 2019). The necessity for computers is increasing as more people have access to the internet and the usage of computers. The public sector’s responsibility is to take notice of the increasing numbers in digital usage and ensure that everyone has access to it. Furthermore, (Cs.stanford.edu, 2019) suggests that “the government should subsidize Internet access for low-income households. At the same time, the private sector must commit to providing equal service and networks to rural and underserved communities so that all individuals can participate”.
Q.1.2) Social capital is defined as the personal relationship within an organisation or company that acts as a helping tool to build trust and respect among the employees of the company. As trust is built and respect, the company’s performance is enhanced. Social Capital can also be described as “in financial terms, social capital basically comprises the value of social relationships and networks that complement the economic capital for economic growth of an organization” (The Economic Times, 2019).Social Capital is fundamental as it is considered to bring sociological concepts together such as social cohesion and integration . There are several ways in which a digital citizen can enhance and build social capital, and these include:
- A Digital Citizen is fully aware of the important of social media and using it effectively. Further, as a digital citizen it is important to use social networks/platforms by means of sharing and processing information within the workplace environment. In order for a digital citizen to enhance and build social capital is to ensure that he/she uses social platforms in ways that will benefit them corporately. By doing so, this creates value amongst those connected socially (Sites.google.com, 2019).
- Digital Citizen can enhance social capital by being involved in more sites such as LinkedIn, where individuals can connect with others and educate and learn from others (Sites.google.com,2019).
- “A digital citizen can enhance their social capital by going out there and meeting lots of new people and making more connections as the more connections you have the better access to resources you will have”(Social Capital Research & Training, 2014). In other words, participation on the internet.
(Balanced Achievement,2019)
- (Market Business,2019)
The following pictures depicted above, show the different characteristics of how a digital citizen can enhance social capital.
1.3) https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/19003383digc.school.blog/45
19003383 DIGC 