Topic 1: Digital residents and visitors

The idea of the digital “resident” and “visitors” was an update from Prensky’s original research on digital “natives” and “immigrants” (2001) where his research is based on the notion of age. Over the years Prensky’s research was seen to be rebutted by many including McKenzie(2007) and Kennedy(2010). In 2009, Prensky questioned himself about the accuracy of his own research, possibly due to the fact that his research had been done more than 8 years ago and how much the world has changed since his initial research.

Based on how David white explains it. A digital “visitor” is someone who uses the information the Internet on an ad hoc basis. This means that the use of the internet is limited to just meeting the requirements set before them. A ” visitor” would also prefer not to leave a trace of himself online. He would stay clear of social media networks and would prefer not to build an online profile of himself. Basically, the use of the Internet is a 1 person interaction.

A digital “resident” on the other hand believes that the use of the Internet is an opportunity to engage and interact with people out there. The use of the wed is much more than a one time interaction but a constant updating and adding of information about himself that goes way beyond the hours that the user is logged on. His footprints left behind are often seen in his social media networks and blogs posts and comments he make.

So where do i fall under? A “visitor” or a “resident”?

Personally i feel I fall right in the centre of being both a “visitor” and a ” resident”. There are times when I would like some privacy and not leave a mark and at times would love to share with the people my views or engage with people online. A good example I feel would be this module. Even though I want to engage and share my views through twitter I also want to have privacy at the same time. That is why I created a separate twitter account. I believe that might be the same reason for many of the others who created a new account.

A little pondering thought before I head off. Even if we truly are just digital “visitors”, do we really leave no mark behind after we log out or turn off our computers in this time and age where we have little or almost no privacy online? Even if we refuse to engage with others are we truly safe from what others might share about us online. Hence the part about using Google to search about ourselves.

 

Till next time. Thanks a lot for reading.

 

White, D.S., 2014. Visitors and Residents, UK. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI&list=PLgO50IKGkqyaX21RaPiSpCKsf87O8S0Yv.White, David S., and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. 2011. Digital visitors and residents: Project feedback. Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/projects/visitorsandresidents.aspx