Civil Discourse or Censorship? April 9, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Opinion.trackback
If you haven’t noticed, there is a growing discussion about the role of civility in blogs. Netiquette has always been a part of the Internet. Early adopters who cry foul over having their comments removed from a public blog would also complain about a new person in a community who wasn’t conforming to the social norms of that online community.
I think there is a place for teaching our students the importance of Netiquette. First of all, part of what we do is help students understand what behavior is and is not okay when interacting with others. Secondly, because everything on the Internet has a way of coming back to you, even after attempts to delete it, all individuals should carefully consider their digital legacy.
Suggested codes of conduct for bloggers (see links below) include items like ‘be responsible for your own words,’ ’speak up against misbehavior,’ and ‘take divisive arguments offline.’ I would like to suggest that one item missing from the proposed blogger codes of conduct is to respect copyright. Bloggers should not represent the work of other’s as their own.
Where do you stand on the issue? Is all speech protected? Is there a place in the classrooms to inculcate a value of civility?
Below are a few links that discuss the issue of online civility.
Tim O’Reilly’s O’Reilly Radar > Call for a Blogger’s Code of Conduct
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/call_for_a_blog_1.html
Talk:Blogger’s Code of Conduct
http://blogging.wikia.com/wiki/Blogger%27s_Code_of_Conduct
BlogHer > What are Your Community Guidelines
http://blogher.org/community-guidelines
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