Norms and Responsibilities

I appreciated the comparison between the digital information realm and the old frontier. Today's young people are blazing a new trail in terms of how people engage with information technology. I think it's imperative that we not take it for granted that any student will use these technologies safe and effectively (learning to safely and responsibly operate an automobile was another apt comparison). Instead, we should engage with students proactively and get them to think critically about how they engage and collaborate with the web environment. We should foster conversations with students that get them thinking about how their rights to privacy, their freedom of expression, and their rights of access, are counterbalanced with their responsibilities to follow the law when online (e.g. illegal downloading and streaming), to give credit to others when it is due, to keep their information and information entrusted to them safe. Ultimately, I think we have to help our students gain a better awareness of the fact that just like "the real world," actions taken in the digital realm have consequences.