MyFootprint Handbook

After reading and watching the various contributors pages to My Footprint, you will create a type of survivors' guide for living in a world with digital tools. Consider it to be something like the Boy Scout's Guide. You might call it the Handbook for Making Footprints or The Complete Idiot's Guide to Digital Citizenship and Making Footprints. Or better yet, give it your own title.

You can put your booklet together in one of the following ways, depending on how you and your teacher decide

  • Have each student make an actual booklet, using computer paper, construction paper, etc. (recommended)
  • Make a large bulletin board (as a class)
  • Construct a wiki online

In the guide there will be the following seven sections:

  • Knowledge of digital tools
    • This is an issue of education and being informed. Do people have an obligation to know what digital tools are out there and how to use them? (examples: using the Internet, cell phones, the DVD player, etc.)
  • Appropriate conduct/behavior
    • These are issues of etiquette and politeness. When is it polite to use technology? How do we act towards others when we use technology? Are there digital equivalents to saying please and thank you?
  • Marketplace smarts
    • This area concerns buying and selling using technology. How do we do it safely and intelligently? How do we make sure we're spending our money wisely when it's so easy to click it all away?
  • Legal & ethical issues
    • This includes copyright stuff. It also includes your rights as a user on the Internet and your limitations. What is right and wrong, legal and illegal for you to do? How can you use other people's stuff?
  • Rights and responsibilities
    • This is where the concept of free speech extends into the Internet. With things like free speech (rights) also come responsibilities. This is kind of like the golden rule area (do unto others as you'd have them do unto you). How much is one obliged to be honest when using the web? How are we supposed to treat one another when using digital communications tools? What is bullying with technology? What is considered our property?
  • Health and well-being
    • Digital tools can effect our bodies and minds, and one must realize how to prevent potential problems. Are we addicted to certain technologies? Is a type of technology causing us to harm our bodies? Does a technology cause us to behave differently than we would want towards those close to us?
  • Safety & security
    • Like putting locks on doors, this area concerns how safe and secure our information, our equipment, and our privacy is. Are we vulnerable to theft? Are we doing things that will ruin our equipment? Are we revealing things to others that they should not know?

The assignment

For each category, please create specific survival tips that will help people do things well and create a positive footprint in a digital world. For each category, add an introduction to each area explaining what it is (you may use the explanations above as starting points or guides).

Write an introduction to the booklet explaining what Your Footprint is. What does that mean? (Use the examples from the characters' sketches as a guide)

Example:

Under Marketplace smarts, one could write

Tip 1: Know how to check for secure websites. Every website that is on a secure network has an "s" after the "http" in the web address, and the browser should have a picture of a lock in the bottom right corner.

or

Tip 2: When visiting websites for places like banks, never click on a link into the site. Always type the url into the address bar yourself, or use your own bookmark. Links from emails are often ploys that scammers use to get you to visit an imitation website where they can steal your personal data.