A Blogger Code of Conduct

Having just assessed my ICT students on their knowledge of The Core Rules of Netiquette (adapted from Virginia Shea's book), I was intrigued by today's New York Times article "A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs. The article discusses the pros and cons of developing an online code of conduct for bloggers. Regardless of our view on this issue, as educators we need to warn students of the harm  in cyberbullying and flaming. Most of all, we need to remind them to remember the number one rule of netiquette: Remember the human.

Comments

[Dana Huff]

I have long felt that our world of blogging can be particularly rude. People engage in behaviors online that I have trouble believing they are capable of offline, and I think sometimes they need to be reminded of this. I have commenting policies on my sites, and I enforce, them, too. I am not a controversial blogger, but every once in a while, I have received the online equivalent of verbal abuse from a complete stranger. I don't think we have to put up with it on our own websites. I have no trouble at all marking those kinds of comments as spam, which hurts the commenter should they use the same e-mail address on another blog which is protected by the same sorts of spam-killing plugins or software. I don't know how political bloggers manage. I think they must see the worst side of online humanity.

[Leigh Ann Hasley]

Loved your post on IM language kids are using. I've recently just added my own blog as part of the spring semester curriculum. About once a week the students have to post on my blog and they receive credit for A)original thought B) spelling C) recognition of other students' posts. I would love to know if you have your students blog for homework purposes? What are your views on grading these type of assignments?