The Chronicles of a Digital Citizen

Thursday, 25 June 2015

Digital Footprints

DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS

According to Vangie Beal "On the Internet a digital footprint is the word used to describe the trail, traces or "footprints" that people leave online. This is information transmitted online, such as forum registration, e-mails and attachments, uploading videos or digital images and any other form of transmission of information — all of which leaves traces of personal information about yourself available to others online".

It is very important as a digital citizen to be very cautious of your doings or activities online as whatever you post stays there forever and might complicate your life at a later stage. One might miss out on a great job opportunity due to the things you have once posted online. Following your digital footprint it is very important and so is being clean and wise when coming to what you post or say online.

Saturday, 20 June 2015

References

REFERENCES

ACORN [Online]. Available at: http://www.acorn.gov.au/what-is-cybercrime/ [Accessed 22 June 2015].
Animal Planet [Online]. Available at: http://www.animalplanet.com/search/?q=mermaids [Accessed 20 June 2015].
Clash of clans [Online]. Available at: http://www.clashofclansguidehq.com/ [Accessed 22 June2015].
Digital Citizenship. DIGC5110 Digital Citizenship. The Independent Institute of Education: unpublished.
Education [Online]. Available at: http://www.education.com/reference/article/netiquette-rules-behavior-internet/ [Accessed 23 June 2015].
Global Digital Citizen [Online]. Available at: http://globaldigitalcitizen.org/10-things-to-teach-about-global-digital-citizenship [Accessed 23 June 2015].
Nuviun [Online]. Available at: http://www.nuviun.com/nuviun-digital-health [Accessed 23 June 2015].
Story of digital health [Online]. Available at: http://storyofdigitalhealth.com/definition/ [Accessed 23 June 2015].
Todays parent [Online]. Available at: http://www.todaysparent.com/kids/technology/30-fun-and-safe-kids-websites/ [Accessed 23 June 2015].
Webopedia [Online]. Available at: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/digital_footprint.html [Accessed 23 June 2015].

Variety of images online n.d. [image online]. Available at:

Additional Resources

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

DID YOU KNOW?

You always have to be smart when on the internet at all times.

Be wise at all times.

Be safe at all times.

Follow your footprint

Parents Section

PARENTS SECTION

As a parent it is very important to note and know what your kids are up to when they are online and the same applies to the kind of games they are playing and exposed to over the internet. To ensure that your child is safe and not compromised in any way when coming to online activities, certain measures must be put up and thus be able to monitor whatever they are doing. To do such here are a few safe games for kids that they can play online or simply download on their phones.

Safe and good games for kids:

Candy crush saga
My talking Tom
Farm heroes saga
Pet rescue saga
Animals puzzle for kids

All these games mentioned here are good for stimulation as they involve a lot of strategic thinking and the visuals tend to make them more enjoyable and fun.

Digital Commerce

DIGITAL COMMERCE

According to Techopedia, "Digital commerce (D-commerce) is a type of e-commerce used by an organization that delivers and sells products online. D-commerce is used by companies that sell news, subscriptions, documents or any form of electronic content, and the digital commerce company collects payments, handles customer refunds and billing and manages other accounting functions for online publisher clients. D-commerce is considered a form of e-commerce because it deals with the exchange of electronic goods.

[Picture courtesy of TemplateMontser.com]

The importance of being informed:

Being informed it is a very critical or rather important attribute that one may possess. Information opens our eyes to new things on a daily basis and being informed and up-to date is very important as the world we live in evolves every second when coming to the digital world.

Plagiarism guidelines:

Plagiarism is defined as the unacknowledged use of the work of others as if this were your own

original work.

Guidelines on plagiarism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

Online auctions and tips:

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Digital Health and Wellbeing

DIGITAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

According to Ribble (2011) the definition of this element is: “Physical and psychological well-being in a digital technological world”.

According to Paul Sonnier, "Digital health is the convergence of the digital and genetics revolutions with health, healthcare, living, and society. As we are seeing and experiencing, digital health is empowering us to better track, manage, and improve our own and our family’s health. It’s also helping to reduce inefficiencies in healthcare delivery, improve access, reduce costs, increase quality, and make medicine more personalized and precise".

So it is very important for one to take care of their health while being a participating digital citizen in the vast digital world we live in.

Digital Security

DIGITAL SECURITY

Digital security is a growing problem in this technology age and era and it is very important for users to make an effort to know about such risks. “Digital security refers to ensuring the ability to use digital information and information systems without interference, disruption, unauthorized access or data collection” (Security ina-box, n.d.). Ribble (2011) defines it as the “electronic precautions to guarantee digital safety” (digitalcitizenship, n.d.).

Certain issues surround digital security and such are:

Malware - malicious software, software that is used to compromise computer functions, steal data, bypass controls, or otherwise harm the computer that hosts it.
Digital fraud and crime - Digital Fraud and Crime includes crimes such as scams, child pornography, identity theft, social media re-engineering, cyber bullying, cyber stalking and cyber harassment. Although to a large extent the Internet is required for many of these crimes to take place, it is also telecommunication devices and tablets that are involved.
Online privacy issues - The first is that of cookies, which are innocuous in their intent, but if hacked can reveal user’s authentication and other stored information. Cookies are used to better enable user’s navigation, store information about the user’s online behavior, as well as store user preferences (which can at times include financial information). The second most common issue is terms and conditions. Most people have been victims simply because users can not take their time to read the terms and conditions before agreeing to something over the internet.

With security issues being on the rise every year it is important for one to know hoe to protect themselves from these malicious scams as cyber crimes are on the rise.

To protect yourself as a user one must:

Protection for devices from malware and hackers
Protect your information
Creating and maintaining secure passwords
Protecting sensitive files on your computer
Keeping your Internet communication private
How to remain anonymous and bypass censorship on the Internet
Protecting yourself and your data on social media platforms

According to cybercrime.org.za cyber crime” means any criminal or other offence that is facilitated by or involves the use of electronic communications or information systems, including any device or the Internet or any one or more of them.

cyber crime seems to be on a rise and being educated on the different types of cyber crimes is very important so that users can protect themselves.

Types of cyber crimes:

Attacks on computer systems

Attacks can result in a criminal accessing your personal or financial details and can prevent you from being able to use your device or computer system properly. Such attacks include unauthorized access or hacking,denial of service attacks and malware.

Cyber-bullying

Cyber-bullying or stalking occurs when someone engages in offensive, menacing or harassing behavior through the use of technology. It can happen to people at any age, anytime, and often anonymously.

Email spam and phishing

Spam is electronic junk mail – unsolicited messages sent by email, text message or instant message without the recipient’s consent. Spam messages often contain offers of free goods or ‘prizes’, cheap products, promises of wealth or other similar offers. You might be asked to pay a joining fee, to buy something to ‘win’ a prize or to call or text a 190 telephone number (calls made to these numbers are charged at premium rates).
Phishing is a way that criminals trick people into giving out their personal or financial details. Phishing messages often pretend to come from legitimate businesses, such as banks or telecommunications providers.
All in all these two scams involve the use of personal information of users all over the internet. As a user it is vital that you be careful of what information you give out over the telephone or internet.

Identity theft

Identity theft occurs when a criminal gains access to your personal information (such as your name, address, date of birth or bank account details) to steal money or gain other benefits. Even if you think thieves only have a small amount of information about you, they can use it to find more information about you, including photographs, your date and place of birth and even information about your family. This can be enough to apply for services, such as a new bank account. They can also use your personal information to create fake identity documents in your name or even apply for real identity documents in your name, but with another person’s photograph.

Prohibited offensive and illegal content

Some online content is prohibited under country laws because it is offensive or illegal. Such material can be found on websites, forums, peer-to-peer networks, and sites providing access to live streamed video. When inadvertently accessed, prohibited offensive and illegal content can be highly distressing – especially for children.

Online child sexual abuse material

Material that shows or describes child sexual abuse or other offences against children is illegal under many country laws.

It is an offence to:

access, possess, distribute, produce, advertise or make available child pornography or child abuse material
procure, groom or engage in sexual activity with a person under 16 years of age, or
send indecent communication to a person under 16 years of age.

Online scams or fraud

With the growth in online services and internet use, there are many opportunities for criminals to commit scams and fraud. These are dishonest schemes that seek to take advantage of unsuspecting people to gain a benefit (such as money, or access to personal details). These are often contained in spam and phishing messages.

Common types of online scams include:

Unexpected prize scams,
Unexpected money scams,
Dating or romance scams,
Threats and extortion scams,
Jobs and investment scams, and
Identity theft.