Digital Citizenship

Jose MarichalAssistant Professor of Political Science

California Lutheran UniversityCLU Leadership Retreat

February 21, 2009

What does it mean to be a citizen?

What happens when more of our behavior moves "into the cloud?" 

 

 

What does it mean to be a digital citizen?

Citizenship in "The Cloud"

Increased server capacity and microprocessor speed have made it possible to store vast amounts of information on-line

 Google's business model is based on collecting

and analyzing your data We are living an increasing amount of time in

the cloud....

Virtual Worlds for Children

•“Get ready for total inundation,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at the research firm eMarketer, who estimates that 20 million children will be members of a virtual world by 2011, up from 8.2 million today (NYT, 12/31/07).

•“I get to decide everything on Club Penguin,” said Nathaniel Wartzman, age 9, of Los Angeles (NYT, 12/31/07).

The "Thin" Digital Citizen

The Culture of Endless Possibilities

•You are free to "do your thing“ – no obligation•Democratizing of the imagination (Appadurai 1995) •You have a greater ability to reconstitute your surroundings•Identity tourism (Nakamura 2002) •Ethos of limitlessness (Berry 2008)

The Trouble with the Thin Digital Citizen

Obligation in the Cloud

• The cloud expands the reach of your "speech“

• But it doesn't discriminate among speech

• Hate speech has high-transaction costs in "real" • space (social desirability bias) 

• Juicy Campus

• Rise in Hate Speech On-line

"Thin" Citizenship

•Also lowers exit costs

•Virtual Lower East Side

•All the grit and grime without the danger

Kaufman and Christakis Study

Facebook groups tend towards homophily

race and gender have the largest influence on who one befriends in social networks

The size of the social network was largest for black students and smallest for white students

In reality, like sticks to like on-line

Digital Narcissism (Andrew Keen)

•Novices interacting with Novices

•“The impartiality of the authoritative, accountable expert is replaced by murkiness of the anonymous amateur (WSJ 7/18/07).”

“This is infantilized self-stimulation rather than serious media for adults. Web 2.0's democratization of information and entertainment is creating a generation of media illiterates (WSJ 7/18/07).”

Summary

The internet exposes us to a vast array of choices/preferences.

develop new and expanding sets of preferences based on an expanding set of virtual experiences.

But....................

Summary

“Doing your own thing” on line has social consequences

The Web give us expanded experience to create our own realities and networks

What happens when we’re create our own reality? We tend stay “thin”

So then how should we be online?

The Digital Citizen

•Become virtuosos–Dreyfus Model–Dynamo Kiev–Holistic, synchronous, intuitive

•Become Xenophiles (Zuckerman)–fall in love with the world–seek to stretch out your social networks

•Own your part of The Cloud–Reflect on your "virtual footprint" –Is your cloud presence a force for good?

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Key Discussion Question

What can CLU do to cultivate digital citizenship among our students and our communities who are increasingly "in the cloud"?

How can young people encourage virtuosity, xenophilia and ownership in the cloud?