In researching acceptable online practices, or "netiquette", you will find the original authority on the subject is Virginia Shea. In 1997, she wrote the first edition of her book, aptly titled Netiquette.The ten core rules of Netiquette are as follows (Shea, 1997):
(click on each rule for an explanation)
Now, as 2011 comes to a close, some of these rules have expanded and adapted to encompass everything the internet has to offer. When the original ten rules were written, we did not have widespread Social Networking Services (SNS). However, the same concepts for discussion boards apply to SNS.
One of the great tools I have found is the Carnegie Cyber Academy. There are lessons, games, news, and blogs available to teach students about online safety (Carnegie Mellon University, 2011).
The Academy's "Betty's Blog" led me to a story I could share with my students about four students in New Jersey who were arrested for threatening to bomb their high school on their Facebook profiles. Another student at the school printed the conversation and turned it in to the principal (Noel, 2010). Students need to know that what they put online is public. Educators have to teach and model proper online behavior to prepare students for our digitally connected world.
Carnegie Mellon University. (2011). The carnegie cyber academy. Retrieved from http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/
Noel, J. (2010, January 12). Four nj high school students arrested in bomb threat. NBC. Retrieved from http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Four-NJ-High-School-Students-Arrested-in-Bomb-Threat-81189142.html
Shea, V. (1997). Netiquette. (1.1 ed.). San Francisco, CA: Albion Books. Retrieved from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html
Thank you for the reminder of this. We urgently need to teach our kids these rules. Actually something similar to the New Jersey students happened this Friday in our schoool. I teach at a middle school and some students posted on Facebook that a rival gang from another school was coming to shoot on a local gang and supposedly this gang in our school was ready (armed) for that. The posting got to the principal's desk and procedures were followed which led to panicking of students, teachers, and parents. Chaos!!! At the end, it happened to be teenage gossip. We need to be ready for this, but students also need to know that whay they publish is public and can be create many problems for others and them too. Another great video for small children (elementary)created by NetSmartz Kid.org: http://www.netsmartzkids.org/LearnWithClicky/BadNetiquetteStinks
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