Digital Citizenship: What We’re Hearing From You
By Evie Freeman, Digital Analyst, and Manon Murray, Editorial Associate, Obama Foundation
Last week, the Obama Foundation’s chief digital officer, Glenn Brown, wrote that the first step towards restoring “the original promise of the Internet, one of openness, inclusion, and a great leveling of opportunity to be heard,” is to talk about it.
Glenn kicked off a conversation on this topic with a few open questions on models of good digital citizenship, which people or organizations exemplify digital citizenship, and what questions or topics should drive this conversation. And you answered.
We spent the past week reading through your thoughtful responses. Here’s what you had to say on social media:
And here’s what you had to say on our website:
We were inspired by your forward-thinking and positive approach to these issues. Many of you emphasized the need to focus on what we, our children, and our students should be doing online, as opposed to what limits could be imposed. For example, we heard about the importance and value of listening to one another, especially on social media. You shared the importance of listening to a range of opinions on a certain issue by proactively seeking out views that are different from your own. You said that we should educate children to be safe, smart, and kind online, and model these behaviors. And, you emphasized the internet’s power of connection to improve our communities and our world.
Many of you are already talking about and working on improving your communities’ digital citizenship and digital health. From developing classroom curricula to exemplifying good digital citizenship on your own social media accounts, you’re sparking change, and we’re fired up to continue the conversation with you.
Our team has received hundreds of thoughtful comments so far, and we want you to know we’re listening. So keep them coming.
