Being a Decent Digital Citizen
Last class, we were pleasantly surprised with a second guest speaker! Her name is CJ Hage and took GEN2243 when she attended Stockton University. After discussing her career and answering our questions, we were assigned to create LinkedIn accounts. However, I created an account prior to class. Before signing off of Zoom, we were divided into breakout rooms and tasked to list five pros and cons of a social media platform. My group's topic at hand was Twitter. You can see our work here! I love incorporating GIFs in my slide shows! Personally, I feel as if they add flare to the slides and catches the audience's attention.
CJ Hage graduated from Stockton University with a major in hospitality and tourism management. Her internships include working with American Cruise Line and Disney through the Disney College Program. While at Disney, she became the house keeping manager. Hage revealed that she was not the most excited about the position at first since it was not her ideal team to be involved in. Despite this initial discontent, she worked to the best of her ability. She told the class that sometimes you need to accept a lower position so you can work your way up the position hierarchy. These lower levels help you to put your foot in the door for a better opportunity in the future. Currently, Hage is two months in a Human Resources position. She received the opportunity as a result to COVID-19's effect on the job market. She admits that HR was always her ideal work position and the situation COVID-19 caused was the push she needed to achieve it. She says her biggest challenge is juggling three teams, benefits, leavings, and HR online. As mentioned, Hage also took GEN2243 while at Stockton University. Some important tools from the class that were important to her were the paper.li, the "eye opening" role social media play on careers, and lessons on professionalism.
A question I brought into the discussion was what drew CJ Hage to hospitality. She proceeded to tell me about her experience in college. When she was younger, her parents ran a candy store. Later, she entered college as a math major. After participating in the Disney college program, she fell in love with hospitality and tourism. She mentions how she thinks the memories of her parents running a business played a role in her decision, as well. It is perfectly fine to change your major before deciding on one! Now is the time to experiment!
During the discussion, the topic began to center around social media etiquette. Hage has witnessed companies investigating and firing people based on online social media presence. She talked about an example of this happening during her work-study at Disney. An employee was trying to make extra cash on the free pass that is exclusive to only employees by trying to sell it online. This was against the company's policy and lead to this person's removal from the company. A rule of thumb this experience taught her was to keep in mind company policy at all times. Also, one must never post about a bad day on the job because there is potential that the boss may find it. While working at a restaurant, the establishment dealt with negative posts by offering to talk over the telephone. This way the conflict can be resolved without causing a war in the comment sections. Plus, speaking will not cause confusion of tone, something text is infamous for causing. While hospitality keeps a keen eye on social media, Human Resources deals with the specific reports. Sometimes, these reports can advance to legal courts!
For an upcoming assignment, the format will be in APA. With no prior knowledge or experience with this format, I used this video as my compass into the uncharted world of APA. APA stands for American Psychology Association, and this format is common in research-driven writings in the social sciences. Recency of information has a greater significance than who created the information. Two key components of APA format is the citation style and title page. Both Microsoft word and Googles docs offer a digit template. Unlike MLA format, APA requires any font as long as it has a serif. This means that the paper is not strictly bound to Times New Roman, unless the professor requires it. The Running Head will be located on the top left and written in all capitals, LIKE SO. Make sure to provide the Running Head on the title page as, "Running Head: _____". Speaking of the title page, it will also include the title, your name, the institution/university the paper is written for, and an author's note. The second page will always be the abstract. The abstract will act as a summary of the paper's broad points. This portion of the paper is recommended to be written last. One tip provided in the video is to try to summarize each paragraph into one sentence. An outline is not required but is a quick way to help organize the body paragraphs. The sources should be within the past five years. Stockton University's Richard E. Bjork Library offers an online database which can be used when searching for sources. When creating an in-text citation, the year of publication, the author's surname, and page number (if applicable) are essential. For example, a citation can look like (Smith, 2020, p. 1) or (CDC, 2020, p. 3). Take note to introduce the quote in the past tense. Purdue OWL and APA style books work best when citing a source for the references, not bibliography. Remembering the "quotation sandwich" tip will remind the writer to substantially introduce and explain the provided quotation. A major distinction between APA and MLA is the source page. The centered word "Reference" replaces "Works Cited" on the top of the page. Thought the paper was complete? Wrong! The final step is to reread, revise, edit, and pass. After reviewing your own paper, allow a new set of eyes to check it out. What set of eyes could be better than a writing tutor or a friend with a literature major with a concentration in creative writing?
With social media taking up more space in the population's daily lives, the phrase "digital citizenship" is turning into a more common term. But what exactly does this mean and why is it important? In her article, Amy Erin Borovoy defines "digital citizenship" as the guidelines one must accept and follow while utilizing modern technology. Digital citizenship ranges from proper "netiquette" and cyberbullying to copyright and plagiarism. Borovoy provides more information by including a playlist of youtube videos to further explain this concept. The purpose of the playlist is to spark conversations in a classroom setting and to offer tools to help improve digital citizenship. Teachers can use these videos to squeeze in opportunities to education students on proper internet behaviors. Plus, each video is around five minutes or less!
By partaking in social media, people are making their digital footprint larger and larger with each post! TeachThought presents twelve tips on managing the size of a person's own digital footprint. A digital footprint is the record of anything on the worldwide web that your name is associated with. While the article is targeted towards students, everybody can benefit from these tips! The tips are shown in the graphic below. The first tip basically reiterates the previous article by reminding the reader to demonstrate digital citizenship. Besides the twelve tips, the article mentions how installing a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or Tor can add another blanket of security to your internet usage. It is important to know that despite following all the tips and installing a VPN or Tor, nobody is never completely anonymous online.
The reason why it is important to be wise online is because social media can affect your potential when applying for a new job. Stuart Gentle wrote an article for Once which provides six situations were social media can harm your chances to find a job. The six points can be condensed into three: lack of professionalism, being dishonest about qualifications, and discriminating of any kind. Unprofessionalism includes proof of drug/alcohol usage, provocative clothing, and poor writing and communication skills. With many recruiters now reviewing online profiles, people need to consider how to brand themselves in order to secure jobs rather than miss out on them.
I have learned so much on the topic of digital citizenship! I never knew it incorporated crimes such as cyberbullying and plagiarism. While I could try to minimize my digital footprint, it will never completely disappear. Everything posted online becomes permanent. As I mentioned in my previous blog, there are tools that allow people to see webpages from years ago. People need to understand the importance of separating personal and professional in terms to online presence.
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