A. Literacy Connections and Applications · Literacy for Life: Transferable Skills, Digital Media Literacy and Diverse VoicesDigital Citizenship: Rights, Responsibilities, Permission and Digital Identity
A2 A2.1About 65 minutes
Learning goals- I can evaluate and explain my rights and my responsibilities when I interact online.
- I can explain why and how to get appropriate permission before posting, sharing or reusing content, including photos of other people.
- I can explain copyright, fair dealing and Creative Commons in plain words, and give credit properly.
- I can make choices that build a positive digital identity for myself and contribute to healthy online communities.
Words to know
digital citizenship
Using technology and taking part in online communities in safe, respectful, responsible and ethical ways.
digital identity
The picture of who you are that others (people and apps) form from what you and others put online.
digital footprint
The record of your online activity. Active footprint: what you choose to post. Passive footprint: data collected about you.
copyright
The legal right of a creator to control copying and sharing of their original work. In Canada it applies automatically when the work is created.
fair dealing
A part of Canada's Copyright Act that allows limited use of copyrighted work, without permission, for purposes such as research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review and news reporting, if the use is fair.
Creative Commons (CC)
Free licences creators can attach to their work to tell others how they may reuse it.
consent
Clear, freely given permission. Online, it means asking before you post or share something about someone else.
Remember from Grade 8
In Grade 8 you used content ethically in research and media campaigns: citing sources and checking permission. Grade 9 asks you to evaluate your rights and responsibilities online, explain them clearly, and use them to build a positive digital identity, for yourself and for the communities you belong to.
Let's start with a photo
Your basketball team wins the regional final. In the change room, someone takes a hilarious group photo: one teammate is mid-sneeze, another has a towel on her head. It's going to get so many likes.
Should you post it? Before you decide, think about whose rights are involved, and what responsibilities you have. That's digital citizenship.
Rights and responsibilities online
Online, you have rights, and so does everyone else. Your rights come with responsibilities to respect theirs.
Your rights include:
- expressing your ideas and opinions (within the law and the platform's rules),
- privacy: control over your personal information and images,
- owning what you create (your writing, art, music, videos),
- being treated with respect, and getting help if you are harassed.
Your responsibilities include:
- respecting other people's privacy and images (ask first),
- giving credit and getting permission to use others' work,
- not spreading harmful content, rumours or false information,
- following laws, school codes of conduct and platform terms (many social platforms set a minimum age of 13 in their terms of service).
Permission: ask before you post
Posting a photo or video of someone, sharing their message, or tagging them affects their digital identity. Appropriate permission means:
- Ask clearly before posting ("Can I post this pic of you on my story?").
- Respect a no, and respect a later change of mind: take it down if they ask.
- Ask the right person. For photos of younger children or for school events, a parent, guardian or the school may need to say yes. Schools often have rules about photos of students.
- Never share private messages or images of someone without their consent. Sharing intimate images of a person without their consent can be a crime in Canada, and it causes serious harm. If it happens to you or a friend, tell a trusted adult; you can also contact Cybertip.ca, NeedHelpNow.ca (help getting images taken down) or Kids Help Phone (call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868).
Back to the team photo: the respectful move is to show the photo to the people in it and ask. Or post a different photo everyone likes.
Copyright, fair dealing and Creative Commons
You own what you create. In Canada, copyright applies automatically to your original work as soon as it is created; you don't need to register it. Generally it lasts for the creator's life plus 70 years. So does everyone else's work: songs, images, videos, articles and memes based on someone's photo.
Fair dealing (in Canada's Copyright Act) lets you use limited parts of copyrighted work without permission for purposes like research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review and news reporting, as long as the use is fair (for example, a short quotation in your essay, with credit). It does not mean "anything for school is fine": copying a whole book or posting someone's entire song in your video usually isn't fair.
Creative Commons (CC) licences tell you, in advance, how you may reuse a work. Public domain works (for example, very old works whose copyright has expired) can be used freely, though you should still credit them.
Your digital identity
Your digital identity is how others see you online. It is built from your digital footprint:
- Active footprint: what you post, comment, like publicly, review and upload.
- Passive footprint: what apps and websites collect: location, searches, what you watch and for how long.
People you may meet in the future (a coach, an employer for a summer job, a scholarship committee) may search your name. A positive digital identity isn't fake perfection. It means your online presence shows who you really are at your best: your interests, your kindness, your work. Digital citizenship is also community-minded: your choices affect friends, classmates, your school's reputation and the communities you belong to.
Worked exampleLet's evaluate a choice using rights and responsibilities
Jordan finds a beautiful photo of the Northern Lights over a lake in Nunavut on a photographer's website. Jordan wants to use it as the background of a class slideshow and also post the slideshow publicly on a video site. Evaluate Jordan's rights and responsibilities, and recommend what to do.
- Identify the rights involved: the photographer owns copyright in the photo. Jordan has a right to create and share the slideshow.
- Check fair dealing: using the photo in a class presentation, for education, with credit, may be fair dealing. But posting publicly on a video site goes beyond the classroom and reaches a wide audience, so it is much less likely to be fair.
- Look for permission: does the website show a licence? If it says All rights reserved, Jordan needs permission to post it publicly. Jordan could email the photographer to ask.
- Consider alternatives: search for a CC-licensed or public domain Northern Lights photo (many image sites let you filter by licence), or use Jordan's own photo or drawing.
- Give credit either way: title, creator, source and licence, on the slide or in the end credits.
Recommendation: use the photo in class with credit (likely fair dealing for education); for the public version, either get the photographer's permission or switch to a CC-licensed image and credit it. This respects the photographer's rights and protects Jordan's digital identity as someone who credits creators.
TASL: Title, Author, Source, Licence
A quick credit that works for most images: "Title" by Creator, Source, Licence. For example: "Lake at Dusk" by A. Martin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. (Invented example.) If there is no title, describe the image.
Just for funWhy did the meme hire a lawyer?
It was tired of being shared without credit.
Hands-on activityAudit and polish your digital footprint
You need: a device with internet access, a grown-up nearby, paper and a pencil.
- With a grown-up, search your full name (in quotation marks) and any usernames you use. Note what appears. (If nothing does, that's fine. Write that down.)
- Open one app you use and look at its privacy or account settings. Who can see your posts? Can people tag you without approval? Turn on tag review if it's available.
- Choose three things you've posted (or would post). For each, ask: Would I be comfortable if a coach, a grandparent or a future employer saw this? Does it include anyone else who should have been asked?
- Write three positive things you could add to your digital identity (for example, a portfolio of your art, a review of a book you loved, volunteering news, a school club project).
What to look for: a clear list of what's visible, at least one setting checked or changed, and thoughtful reasons for each decision. Don't post anything new just for this activity.
Your turn
1Name two rights and two responsibilities you have online.
Rights (any two): express ideas; privacy; own your creations; be treated with respect. Responsibilities (any two): respect others' privacy; ask permission; credit creators; don't spread harmful or false content; follow laws and platform rules.
2Explain the difference between an active and a passive digital footprint.
Active: what you choose to share (posts, comments, photos). Passive: data collected about you (location, searches, viewing time).
3In Canada, do you need to register your short story for it to be protected by copyright?
No. Copyright applies automatically when you create an original work.
4What does the BY in a Creative Commons licence require?
You must give attribution: credit the creator.
5Your friend posts a group photo and tags you, but you don't like it. What can you do?
Ask your friend politely to remove the photo or the tag; untag yourself; turn on tag review in your settings. If it's harmful and they refuse, report it to the platform and tell a trusted adult.
6Give two purposes that fair dealing allows in Canada.
Any two: research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, news reporting.
7Why might a summer job employer search an applicant's name online?
To learn about the person's character and judgment; what they find (positive or negative) can shape the employer's impression, which is part of your digital identity.
More practice: warm-up
1What is digital citizenship?
Using technology and taking part in online communities safely, respectfully, responsibly and ethically.
2True or false: if a photo is online, anyone can use it any way they like.
False. Most online images are protected by copyright.
3What do the letters NC mean in a CC licence?
NonCommercial: you may not use it to make money.
4What should you do before posting a photo of a friend?
Ask them clearly for permission, and respect their answer.
5What does TASL stand for in giving credit?
Title, Author (creator), Source, Licence.
More practice: on your own
1Evaluate: "I quoted two lines from a poem in my essay and named the poet. Is that OK?"
Likely yes. A short quotation with credit, used for education and criticism, is the kind of use fair dealing supports.
2Evaluate: "I uploaded a whole new hit song as the soundtrack to my public video because it's for a school project."
Likely not OK. Using the entire song in a public video goes beyond fair dealing; the school purpose doesn't make it fair. Use music licensed for reuse (CC or royalty-free with permission) or ask the teacher about classroom-only sharing.
3A student creates a funny edited picture of a classmate and posts it in a group chat "as a joke." Which rights and responsibilities are involved?
The classmate's rights to privacy and to be treated with respect; the poster's responsibility to ask permission and not spread content that could hurt or embarrass. Even as a joke, this can be harassment. It should be deleted and an apology given.
4What is one way a student could contribute to a positive community online, not just a positive personal identity?
Examples: share accurate information during a local emergency (like a storm) from official sources; post encouraging comments on classmates' projects; credit creators; report harmful content.
5A photo has the licence CC BY-ND. Can you crop it and add text for your poster?
No. ND (NoDerivatives) means you may share it only unchanged. Cropping and adding text change it. Find a different image or ask the creator.
Challenge
1Return to the hook: the team photo in the change room. Evaluate whether to post it, considering at least three people's rights and your responsibilities. Give a final recommendation.
Model: The sneezing teammate's and towel teammate's rights to privacy and dignity; the other teammates' privacy (a change room is a private space, so photos there need extra care); the poster's right to celebrate. Responsibilities: ask everyone shown; consider the school's or league's photo rules; think about the team's reputation. Recommendation: don't post it as is. Ask the team, and post a photo taken outside the change room that everyone agrees to.
2"Fair dealing means I can use anything for school." Explain why this statement is wrong, using two factors that make a use fair or unfair.
Fair dealing allows use for purposes like education, but the use must also be fair. Factors include how much is used (a short quotation vs a whole work), the audience/distribution (a classroom vs the public internet), the effect on the creator (does it replace buying the work?) and whether alternatives exist. So copying a whole textbook chapter to post online is not fair even for school.
3Write a 4-to-6-sentence digital citizenship pledge for your English class's online discussion board. It must address at least one right, one responsibility, permission and digital identity.
Model: "In our class discussion space, everyone has the right to share ideas and be treated with respect. I will respond to ideas, not attack people. I will ask before sharing anyone's work, photo or words outside our class. I will credit every source I use. I will post work I'd be proud for anyone to read, because it shapes how others see me." Look for all four elements in clear sentences.
Quiz
1. Which is a responsibility, not a right, online?
2. In Canada, when does copyright protect your original essay?
3. A passive digital footprint includes:
4. Which use is most likely fair dealing?
5. What does CC BY-SA require?
6. Which choice best builds a positive digital identity?
What this lesson teaches: A2.1 asks students to evaluate and explain their rights and responsibilities when interacting online with appropriate permission, and to make choices that contribute to positive digital identities for themselves and their communities. The lesson covers permission and consent for posting, copyright (automatic in Canada; generally life plus 70 years), fair dealing and Creative Commons.
How to help: Do the footprint audit together without judgment. Model asking permission: "Can I post this photo of you?" Talk about your family's rules for photos of younger siblings.
Sensitive topic: the lesson briefly mentions that sharing intimate images of someone without consent can be a crime in Canada. Let your teen know they can come to you without getting in trouble if something goes wrong online; Cybertip.ca and Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868) also help.
Common difficulties: believing anything for school is automatically fair dealing; forgetting that tags and group photos affect other people's identities.