Topic 1 – Online participation and digital literacies
Hi all!
I have written some reflections after these first two weeks with topic 1.
Before I started to read anything related to topic 1, online participation and digital literacies, I considered myself as a digital native (Prensky, 2001). I pretty much grew up with a computer and using Internet. I think I started my digital journey when I was around ten years old, using computers in elementary school and at home. A lot of things I know today, I have learned mostly by trial and error and exchanging knowledge with friends and families. Before this course, I have not really considered my digital personality and I had not heard the concept visitor and resident (White and Le Cornu, 2011). Reading Prensky (2001) and White and Le Cornu (2011) and watching White (2014), made me reflect on my own participation in the online world, how I use Internet and the differences between my professional and private participation. I use Internet a lot, at work, at home, at the weekends, before I go to sleep. At work, I use it for searching information, communicate via mail, Skype, Drop Box, use tools to create for example surveys in Google, I write blog posts, update Instagram pages and so on. I would consider my professional personality to be categorized as a resident.
Comparing with my private usage, I mostly use Internet for searching information and communicate to some extent. I do have Facebook and Instagram, but I never post anything and I only use it to communicate within a small group of friends and families. I am very restricted when it comes to my private participation online and my private digital footprint. I am not feeling comfortable to publish private photos or posts online, for anyone to see it. I don´t like the idea that my private photos will be online for the rest of my life! So, I would describe myself as a visitor.
White and Le Cornu (2011) are not big fans of Prenskys (2011) concept digital native and digital immigrant and have tried to bring new definitions to the table. First of all, I don´t think that they are talking about the same things. The native versus immigrant concept is more focusing on your background, your interest, availability and how you are learning new things in the digital world. The visitor versus resident concept is more about your digital personality, how you use Internet and for what purposes. To some extent I can agree with White and Le Cornu (2011), that Prenskys definitions are too much based on age. Instead of age, I would define digital native and immigrant based on access and interest. If you are young, don´t have access to Internet or computers and are not interested in the digital world, you can´t describe yourself as a native even though you are born in the beginning of the “digital age”. My father, even though he learned how to use a computer when he was 50 years old, could be described as a native, since he have had access and an interest since the beginning of the “digital age”. The problem with the native and immigrant terminology is that it is an ongoing process. Even if I consider myself as a native, a younger person growing up today might see me as an immigrant, because I first saw a computer when I was 10 and not as an infant as they did. Everything is changing everyday. New tools, new apps, new social medias, new memes, new platforms… The line for when a person is considered digital native is always pushing forward, today’s digital natives are digital immigrants tomorrow.
References
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1, On the Horizon, 9(5), pp.1-6.
White, D.S., and Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement, First Monday, 16(9), 1-9.
White D. (2014) Visitors and Residents. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 13 Oct. 2017]
I have written some reflections after these first two weeks with topic 1.
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| Image: CC BY-SA Some rights reserved by Martin420 |
Before I started to read anything related to topic 1, online participation and digital literacies, I considered myself as a digital native (Prensky, 2001). I pretty much grew up with a computer and using Internet. I think I started my digital journey when I was around ten years old, using computers in elementary school and at home. A lot of things I know today, I have learned mostly by trial and error and exchanging knowledge with friends and families. Before this course, I have not really considered my digital personality and I had not heard the concept visitor and resident (White and Le Cornu, 2011). Reading Prensky (2001) and White and Le Cornu (2011) and watching White (2014), made me reflect on my own participation in the online world, how I use Internet and the differences between my professional and private participation. I use Internet a lot, at work, at home, at the weekends, before I go to sleep. At work, I use it for searching information, communicate via mail, Skype, Drop Box, use tools to create for example surveys in Google, I write blog posts, update Instagram pages and so on. I would consider my professional personality to be categorized as a resident.
Comparing with my private usage, I mostly use Internet for searching information and communicate to some extent. I do have Facebook and Instagram, but I never post anything and I only use it to communicate within a small group of friends and families. I am very restricted when it comes to my private participation online and my private digital footprint. I am not feeling comfortable to publish private photos or posts online, for anyone to see it. I don´t like the idea that my private photos will be online for the rest of my life! So, I would describe myself as a visitor.
White and Le Cornu (2011) are not big fans of Prenskys (2011) concept digital native and digital immigrant and have tried to bring new definitions to the table. First of all, I don´t think that they are talking about the same things. The native versus immigrant concept is more focusing on your background, your interest, availability and how you are learning new things in the digital world. The visitor versus resident concept is more about your digital personality, how you use Internet and for what purposes. To some extent I can agree with White and Le Cornu (2011), that Prenskys definitions are too much based on age. Instead of age, I would define digital native and immigrant based on access and interest. If you are young, don´t have access to Internet or computers and are not interested in the digital world, you can´t describe yourself as a native even though you are born in the beginning of the “digital age”. My father, even though he learned how to use a computer when he was 50 years old, could be described as a native, since he have had access and an interest since the beginning of the “digital age”. The problem with the native and immigrant terminology is that it is an ongoing process. Even if I consider myself as a native, a younger person growing up today might see me as an immigrant, because I first saw a computer when I was 10 and not as an infant as they did. Everything is changing everyday. New tools, new apps, new social medias, new memes, new platforms… The line for when a person is considered digital native is always pushing forward, today’s digital natives are digital immigrants tomorrow.
References
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1, On the Horizon, 9(5), pp.1-6.
White, D.S., and Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement, First Monday, 16(9), 1-9.
White D. (2014) Visitors and Residents. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 13 Oct. 2017]
Good point here that it's not a generational issue. I'm always suspicious of sweeping generalisations like this (generation X/Y/Z etc) and one major problem is that many teachers have abdicated responsibility about teaching digital skills on the grounds that "the kids know all that already". Many may seem very digital but often only use digital media for socialising and entertainment and not for learning and work.
ReplyDeleteInteresting reflection, nice ending - right to the point!
ReplyDeleteP.S. That's intriguing https://it.uoregon.edu/snapshot-digital-literacy