Director of the Short Course Unit (SCU) at the Durban University of Technology, Professor Surendra (Colin) Thakur delivered a keynote address titled:  Online Netiquette-Managing Your Digital Footprint at the Faculty of Arts and Design’s (FoAD’s) First Year Orientation held at the Courtyard Theatre, Ritson Campus on Friday, 31 March 2023.

Prof Thakur who is also the InSETA Research Chair in Digitalisation delivered his captivating address to the Durban based first year students under the Faculty of Arts and Design.

He began by first congratulating first-year students on being amongst the top 500 students who were selected under the FoAD as he feels it is difficult to get a place at a university and at their faculty.

“You are here as a representative of your family, please remember that. Not many people in your family had that privilege of getting into university. You have an opportunity to take that responsibility with honour and pride. You are here to improve yourself and get a job or maybe here to find your significance other. You are not here to make a fool of yourself, that is why I am here to help you to not make a fool of yourself. There is a consequence of behaving online and that is called online netiquette,” said Prof Thakur.

He began by unpacking the challenge of social media, saying there is no help manual on social media, often one learns from other people’s mistakes. He expressed that social media has a massive power as about 40 million people are online, therefore he planned this address for the students to make a better version of themselves.

He shared his story on the day he made a fool of himself on social media while he was a Chairman of Computer Society of South Africa. While Prof Thakur was chilling at home after his fourth beer on Friday night, he saw an email of the people who died on a plane that crashed in the Pacific Ocean, killing 228 people.

“I had to share this sad story with everybody. Being an Information Technology guy, it is my job to share technology. This picture came into my mailbox, I decided to send it to all the famous people in the country, so I sent it to 278 of the most famous people in the country. Monday morning, I went to work, and my boss said Colin you were joking on Friday night, and I said no it was quite serious. He said you better go look at the television series called Lost, and I found those pictures that I sent to 278 of the most famous people in the country,” said Prof Thakur.

Prof Thakur said the trouble with social media is that when you make a mistake it goes viral and it is stored on the net forever, waiting to embarrass you. He cautioned students about sharing fake news on their social media pages to avoid making a fool of themselves. Looking at the positive side, he mentioned that social media also has the power to help people as news spread fast to many people, for instance hijacked vehicles and missing people have been found through social media.

He advised students to be themselves on social media to avoid the embarrassment when the truth comes out. He mentioned that some people lose great opportunities due to who they are online.

“Be careful of what you post or share on your social media pages as potential employers will look for you online and also your in-laws. Show some class, do not like everything that is posted online. Do not ever complain about your co-workers or Professors online rather complain in person. Do not show off or flaunt your possessions on social media as everybody is watching you and it might attract trouble for you. Always check before you send anything. Never reply in uppercase as this is called shouting. Never reply in red, this is called anger. Replying in uppercase and red is called flaming,” advised Prof Thakur.

Some of Prof Thakur’s online rules are:

Rule #1 The Human Element. Behave!

Rule #2 If you wouldn’t do it in real life, don’t do it online

Rule #3 If you don’t want anyone to see it, don’t say it or record it.

Rule #4 Cyberspace is Diverse.

Rule #5 Respect other people’s time and bandwidth.

Rule #6 Share your expertise.

Rule #7 Stamp, flame wars.

Pictured: Prof Colin Thakur conducting his keynote address.

Simangele Zuma