Netiquette?

This week the topic is Netiquette. An idea, characteristic, action, or behaviour that seems relatively easy for me to define on my own. Treat people online as you would want to be treated yourself, in person. While this seems like it should be a basic concept to grasp, online practice shows otherwise.

Maybe it comes from my background and experience growing up in a religious family and attending a Roman Catholic school. We had a basic rule to follow, be kind and respectful to everyone and everything. It still naturally applies to all aspects of my life even though I have personally drifted from the church over the years.

Netiquette as defined by Wikipedia; (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_in_technology)

"Online etiquette is ingrained into culture, etiquette in technology is a fairly recent concept. The rules of etiquette that apply when communicating over the Internet or social networks or devices are different from those applying when communicating in person or by audio (such as telephone) or videophone (such as Skype video). It is a social code of network communication.

Communicating with others via the Internet without misunderstandings in the heat of the moment can be challenging, mainly because facial expressions and body language cannot be interpreted in cyberspace. Therefore, several recommendations to attempt to safeguard against these misunderstandings have been proposed."

I decided to share the portion of the Wikipedia entry as I really liked what it offers in the second segment. It talks about the challenge of communicating online and why it can go so poorly, so unbelievably fast. Again, it goes back to the beginning for me. Be kind.

We all know that the internet is a vast rabbit hole of information and you can truly find any answer or definition that meets your needs (even if it is incorrect!). The internet is great at connecting like minded people and it offers validation of ones beliefs. Finding a clear definition of netiquette in a Google search provided more than 11 million hits in 55 seconds. Do we really need more than 11 million hits? Why can't we just have one?

Most of what I have found is extremely long and drawn out, fairly detailed and a little boring if you are a student. We all know the reality. If the writing is more than a few sentences, most people aren't going to read it. Plan B? Find a few, less than 2 minute quality videos that try and explain it.

After mining Youtube and various websites these three seemed to be the best of what I could find. The have a fairly consistent message, similar language, and low production quality. I am not trying to be critical, but when I think of comparable videos that do capture children's attention these ones are not of the same quality.

At least when I was growing up the PSA's were of equal production quality and had celebrity endorsement. Thanks Mr. T.

Humour aside, after digesting all the information that I could about netiquette I was left with a few questions. While the recommendations seem fairly consistent across all sources, who enforces them? Are we really expecting that we can police ourselves? Current online events would suggest we can't. So I am left wondering, where do we go from here?

Core rules of Netiquette (2016, July 03). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from https://youtu.be/FWMk_Zv7nB8

Netiquette (2014, January 25). Retrieved July 14, 2017, from https://youtu.be/80uRE972uQ0

Netiquette. n.d. In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 14, 2017 from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_in_technology

NetSafe Episode 4: Be Kind Online (Grades K-3) (2014, June 13). Retrieved July 14, 2017, from https://youtu.be/0u6-2aCea-M

On to Grow On, Mr. T (2011, February 27). Retrieved July 14, 2017, from https://youtu.be/mVBxQNfooMk