Respect and Protect

These are the things that are the most important when using a laptop, and will change your future in tech..........
Yesterday, we learnt about the DCA, short for the digital citizenship agreement. In the class, we  learnt about the aspects of the agreement, for example copyright rules, privacy, and policy. The most important points to remember are these -

1. Respect and Protect Yourself

• Not to post any silly information or private information on the web. This literally means not to post any private information that will harm you in the future or make fun of you in any way by any means. Other people could also tease you about it and it could go viral.
• Not to post any pictures of yourself on the web.This will give away what you look like and let others know your personal identity, and will be able to track you. Others will also be able to see you and if it is embarrassing, you will be harmed in the future.

     2.  Respect and Protect Others

• Not to post rude opinions or facts about other people. This usually insults others as if they see a bad picture or fact about them online, they might get really cross and get quite mad. They will also start to "carry the chain" which means they will take out their anger on another person, and it goes on and on and on.........
• Not to post something rude about another person behind their back. This is worse then when the victim gets to see it as he doesn't know what is going on and could by socially bullied, or cyberbullied by others without knowing why.

     3. Respect and Protect Property

• To look after your computer. You should never leave your computer lying around, as someone might try to steal it, and you must never leave any food or drinks around it. This will cause the computer to break if the drink or crumbs spill on it. You should never leave in your overstuffed backpack or stack books on top of it in your locker. This will crack your screen and the computer will break.
• Come to school prepared to work, with a charged battery, laptop in case, and earphones. This is extremely important as without a charged battery, you will not be able to participate in any activities using a computer if the laptop runs out of battery. You must always have it in your case, as if you take it out, and it drops, it will crack the screen or it will break entirely. Earphones are also extremely important as you can't have 316 laptops playing ear-piercing music. You should be able to listen to your music, but not anyone else's.

      4.  Respect and Protect Intellectual Property

• Not to download or copy any pirated pieces of music, and to purchase original tracks. This is a must as even as silly as it might seem, it is stealing. Imagine if you posted an amazing picture of a sunset and then suddenly it went viral and 10,000 people were using it for free on their profile. If you created your own music, you also don't want others publishing it off as their own or taking it for free.
• No peer to peer or torrenting. This is pretty important as if you download these on your laptop, there might be a "trojan horse" or even a ".bit" file that you don't want and when you delete it it gives you a virus. There are lots of things people on the outside can do to harm you, and you better beware of the dangers.
• Properly cite the media or software you have used in your published piece. This is also needed as others need to know the photo is not yours or if it is yours when you made it. It also helps stop copyright and other laws like that, so you should do it!

  

(from : http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tuaw.com/media/2010/03/iphone-battery-icon-cjr.jpg)

    I used to think that it was fine to get free music or pictures from the internet, as I thought the website got permission to use it, so I could, but now I realise that you shouldn't do that as it is really annoying to the person that made it as you are getting his work for free. Another thing I learnt throughout this DCA is never to post any private info on the web. I knew that before, but I never knew the impact was that serious.

Last but not least, I know about the DCA and will follow it for the rest of my time in school and while using a computer. In fact, what do you think about the DCA? Do you think it is necessary or not? Feel free to comment any feelings or opinions you have about it.

Finé