Digital Charter
DIGITAL CHARTER

In an age when more of us communicate with each other by means of social media, it's important that our church (via its website and Facebook page) ensures that all such communication meets an agreed standard of acceptability. It's important too that, as individuals,we ensure that our messages to others are always responsible and respectful.

To this end, our church has agreed:-

•to adopt the recently published guidelines of the Church of England in respect of our website and Facebook messaging.

•to encourage all who interact with our messages to adopt the same guidelines.

We currently permit a number of persons the right to interact with us in an open and honest way. This will continue in the interests of our church and community well-being. However, we will remove rights of access to those persons who seek to misuse and abuse our communication platforms. 

The Church of England Guidelines are as follows:-

1.Be Safe - please ensure that the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults is maintained at all times. Please do not share images unless you've had the permission of everyone who features in that image. Do not share information of a personal nature unless prior permission has been obtained - including telephone numbers, addresses, email contacts etc.

2. Be Respectful - please do not post or share content that is sexually explicit, inflammatory, hateful, abusive, threatening or otherwise disrespectful.

3. Be Kind - please treat others as you would wish to be treated, and assume the best in people. If you have a criticism or critique to make, consider not just whether you would say it in person, but the tone you would use. Please don't try to 'settle old scores' or 'score points' in this public arena.

4. Be Honest - please do not mislead or misinform others.

5. Take responsibility - please acknowledge that you are accountable for the things you do, say and write. The text and images that you share can be public and permanent, even with privacy settings in place. If you're not sure about something, don't post or share it! Be mindful that a 'like' will be read as a condonement.

6. Be a good ambassador - the 'boundaries' between our private and public lives can easily become blurred online. In the particular context of our church lives, does the content of our messages reflect an appropriate Christian witness to the community that we live and interact with?

7. Disagree well - please note that some online conversations can be places of robust disagreement, and it's important that we apply our values in the way we express them.

8. Credit others - please acknowledge the work of others. Respect copyright and always credit where it is due. Be careful not to release sensitive or confidential information and always question the source of any content that you are considering amplifying.

9. Follow the rules - abide by the terms and conditions of the various social media platforms themselves. If you see a comment that, you believe, breaks these policies, then please report it to the respective company.


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