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Writing a paper for a college class is always hard, some never know what to write, which websites to use, what information to write down when citing sources, there is just a mess of do’s and do not’s with today’s vast growing technologies.
This is true for many college students both old and new. As some students may struggle with the actual writing there is a large number who struggle with the legalities within the paper itself. The goal of this research paper is to teach you about the safe, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies so that writing papers, doing research, and getting online might be just a little easier.
Safe Use Every parent wants their child safe, no matter if it is when they are walking down the street to a friend’s house, walking into college for the first time, or even something as simple as getting online to do research. That is something that not every kid thinks about, being safe while using digital technology. Strauss says, “Like going out into the real world, we guide our kids about issues of safety, manners, and overall conduct. We should do the same before they get online, and perhaps even before they get into a classroom. The importance of teaching children and students how to use digital technology safely is very high. All children should know how to use digital technology safely so that if something were to come up they would be well aware of how to handle the situation or what to do. The Children’s Internet Protection Agency (CAP) tries to protect children when parents can’t always, online. The Children’s Internet Protection Agency is an Act that is mandated by the federal law in order to filter and use other measures to protect children from obscene and harmful content.
According to Technophobia. Com the CAP was enacted in 2001 by congress to protect minors from internet content that they may be able to access through publicly funded organizations. Schools and libraries subject to CAP may not receive the discounts offered by the E-rate program unless they certify that they have an Internet safety policy that includes technology protection measures. The protection measures must block or filter Internet access to pictures that are: (a) obscene; (b) child pornography; or (c) harmful to minors (for computers that are accessed by minors).
Before adopting this Internet safety policy, schools and libraries must provide reasonable notice and hold at least one public hearing or meeting to address the proposal. Schools subject to CAP have two additional certification requirements: 1) their Internet safety policies must include monitoring the online activities of minors; and 2) as required by he Protecting Children in the 21 SST Century Act, they must provide for educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms, and accessibility awareness and response. Fcc. Gob) Although the CAP works to protect minors there are many other factors that children need to look for while working online. There are many problems such as online predators, giving out too much personal information, and accessibility. With so much to think about it’s also important to take in the legalities of getting research online as well. Legal Use The legalities of writing papers can be very difficult to judge. There are many rules in which need to be understood before just copying and pasting something onto an assignment.
Fair use is used by many students and teachers alike to help with necessary work that is bypassed by certain laws because of the educational use. Fair use is defined as “a limitation on copyright that allows the public to use copyrighted work without having to ask permission, as long as the use does not interfere with the copyright owner’s market for the work” (Gordon p. 98). There is no easy way to understand the Fair use policy, as it allows the public to use copyrighted information and not having to ask for permission.
This can include but is not limited to, personal, noncommercial uses, VS. recording a television show to watch later, materials for teaching, research, reviewing, and news reporting (Gordon p. 38). When it comes to copying things such as music, movies, and soft-wear that are yours, you are able to make a backup copy incase the original is damaged, or transfer any piece of software or CD you own to another format (Gordon p. 30). According to an article from Stanford university titled
Measuring Fair use: The Four Factors, there are four factors that judges consider when they are deciding if a case is in fact under the Fair Use policy: The four factors judges consider are: the purpose and character of your use the nature of the copyrighted work the amount and substantially of the portion taken, and the effect of the use upon the potential market. Even just looking for research information to plug into a paper is difficult.
There is so much information throughout the web and so much that isn’t something that would be useable in a research paper. People can put whatever they choose into the web which can be fact or fiction and that makes finding a “good” website to site sources very hard. Not only do papers need to have correct sources cited, which goes with the Fair Use law, but they should have good ethics used as well. For the last topic of this paper we will discuss the ethical use of digital info and technology.
Ethical Use Computer ethics is sometimes referred to as netiquette which from Dictionary. Com is the rules of etiquette that apply when communicating over computer networks, especially the Internet, and also as an informal code of behavior while on the Internet. Even the simplest thing could offend someone online without any intention of doing so. While online people can become whatever or whomever they choose to be, this is why ethical use is so important to understand. People often forget, when online, that the other people are just as real as they are.
Sometimes mean and hurtful things are said without understanding that there is someone who is reading that statement who will be hurt by it. There are rules that are considered the core rules of netiquette which are a set of ten rules that guide you in appropriate online behavior. Rule #1; Remember the human, basically says to do unto there as you’d have other people do unto you. This section discusses the importance of talking to people online kindly. Never say something that wouldn’t normally be said in person.
Rule Stick to the same standards Of behavior online that you follow in real life, as it can be tempting to act different online or say things that would normally not be said. Rule #3; Know where you are in cyberspace, some things might be said in a certain chat room might not be acceptable to say in another. Rule #4; Respect other people’s time and bandwidth, this rule says to look out and not waste others mime. Rule #5; Make yourself look good online, spelling and grammar are important as well as knowing what you are talking about before posting something online.
Rule #6; Share expert knowledge, never be afraid to share what you know as others will ask questions give intelligent answers. Rule #7; Help keep flame wars under control, when people express a very strong opinion and hold back no emotion. Rule #8; Respect other people’s privacy, it’s unethical to go through someone else’s desk drawer just as is it to go through others email. Rule #9; Don’t abuse your power, this rule is very self explanatory but just because someone may have more power than another online does not give them the right to take advantage of another.
Rule #10; Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes, some people are new to technologies and consideration must be taken in the understanding that mistakes will be made. (Albino. Com) These guidelines, or rules, won’t fix all the problems with writing a paper and what should and should not be said, but they will help with understanding where to start.