Citizens of a digital world

As tablets outsell laptops,and smartphones almost half of the 1.6 billion phones sold worldwide 2013 it is truly time to establish what digital Citizenship means, it is a vast topic and has many elements, here are a few to think about.

We are all digital citizens, intentionally or accidentally we have a presence online, we  have an online profile,we interact online with other digital Citizens. I am not talking only gaming, shopping and social media, we are recorded in Government files, in Company files, on Bank databases, on Doctors files we are digital citizens of  a cyber world whether we want it or not. It is therefore our responsibility to participate in the debate on Digital Citizenship.

Access by mobile device is the norm now, browse, comment, react, on the move, watch tv, movies, news, when and wherever we wish,. all of this openness and  freedom, to comment, to express to share and purely self regulated is a massive responsibility to all citizens digital and real..

On Social media we have opportunity to interact and exchange with others, with this opportunity must come some  responsibilities. Not extraordinary responsibilities, just common sense, decency and respect.
To dismiss or disparage these responsibilities online is the same as doing so in person in the "real" world.
As internet users we  must begin to relate this online coverage to the responsibility and respect of the "real" world and give it due consideration,

Deindividualisation and distance between commentors and poster; provided by the technology that allows people not only dismiss their online responsibilities but never relate to them in the first place. We are often a different person online than offline, maybe more direct, risky, braver, we take the distance and the indirectness to be opportunity to say too much and this can, and has caused  problems for people, bullying and having privacy invaded is common and has often ends in tragedy.

It is however each of us not the social media sites that  must take the  responsibility for our actions online, social media platforms like FaceBook, Twitter, Goggle+ are providing platforms for interactions, for communication, for connections. If they also get landed with the responsibility of how we behave,of what we post, they also gain the rights to regulate how and who gets  to use them, we then end up with a "safer" watered down version that would fit i into an Orwellian era of "1984".

Unfettered access is to WWW is a western world privilege, we may have become complacent with such ubiquitous access, acting irresponsibly, causing harm, bullying, lying, scamming are all issues that cause websites problems, money and reputation.Technology to combat these are undoubtedly being developed and moved swiftly on  to a social media close to you. My concern is that with every step web
designers make to protect themselves from any misuse is a step closer to them regulating and managing how we get to use the freedom of the internet.

Getting Mobile Ready?

Getting mobile because we have to.

Recently in a hotel in Athlone, my teenage daughters laughed at the computer terminal in the lobby, just one lonely PC tower, keyboard and a toblerone shaped monitor. "whats that about" they laughed, "it's so random, just an old computer in the reception" . Little did they realize how initiative it had been when installed, how up to date to provide residents with their own access to the internet.

The move into mobile commerce has been a swift one, and happen almost unnoticed as people become desensitized to technology advances, and accepting of what's next in a blasé fashion.Businesses embraced ebusiness and benefited from the many advantages, that pleased the customer in to spending in their eshops.

The idea that business can be connected even when not connected (wireless) is appealing, as it all allows even more online time to promote, compete, and sell. Customers become initiated into mobile commerce with their confirmation money now; that's about 12 years old. They have a new wireless device and Itube credit or bit-coins,or even debit cards, to buy what they want. I have said before,once you see it you can never unsee it,, or as others might say you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube now it's out.

Mobile commerce has opened another aspect to doing businesses that would not of been conceived of ten years ago, buy it any time, anyplace from all over the world,.globalisation to the extreme,we live in a  global village and the mobile device is the local shop.






I personally still struggle with it, I think if I need to check something out I'll wait until I get home to the PC or laptop. My daughter thinks of it, checks it out and makes a decision as she talks to me then says "no you can't get in that colour anywhere". She has just searched the www and deprived me of a Google search later in the day.

All websites now come in 3 sizes, for laptops, for tablets, for mobiles, functions may be slightly different but not much,so customers have easy access to a world wide showroom.

Mobile business has changed the business world, adoption of m-commerce and mobile business  will be accelerated with  the release of smartphones to the market for Christmas 2013. This will help see the demise of the "feature" phone, and its users; myself included, will now be pushed, cyber ready into a world of  mobile business to join the other 1.8 billion devices sold worldwide this year.

I have not yet felt huge impact of mobile commerce on my life and my buying habits, but with whatever Santa leaves in my stocking this year 2014 may be a different story, watch this _______