Topic 1: “Digital Residents” and “Digital Immigrants”

Based upon my readings, researches and findings, the best way to fully understand the concept of “Digital Residents” and “Digital Immigrants” is summarized in this short video by David White from the University of Oxford [1].

So in a nutshell, digital resident and digital immigrants is a metaphoric term introduced by White and Le Cornu as a replacement for Digital Native and Digital Immigrant, which was first, introduced by Marc Prensky in the early 2000. The concept of digital immigrants basically has to do with individuals that come on the web for a particular purpose, perform what they want and leave. They do not leave a trace of themselves online. An example can be an old man searching for the types of plants online. Digital residents on the other hands are the kind of people that are being immersed in technology from a very early age. They leave a trace of themselves online as perhaps they have profiles on various social networks and sites for example Instagram, Twitter, etc.

“Age is not the predominant factor in the successful engagement with digital technology and the web. But on our motivation to engage.” [2]

I believe this statement because currently there is a twitter account of a famous 86 year-old woman who we might consider a digital immigrant due to her age but in fact she is not as she is considered “the coolest person on twitter right now” [3]. Her twitter handle is @baddiewinkle. A few screenshots of some of her tweets are shown below.

This explains that the concept of digital residents and digital immigrants does not always necessary implies that old people are the visitors and young people are the residents as from my own online experience this old woman might be more tech-savvy than most young individuals. Personally, I consider myself both as a resident and an immigrant as the time I spent online I hardly give opinions or leave a trace of myself, etc. Perhaps this is because I am a computer scientist hence I have some much emphasis on privacy and security. Also it is worth noting that the concept of digital residents and digital immigrants does not aim to categorically define two sets of individuals on the web but to highlight the purpose of how individuals engages in their activities with digital technology.

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI

[2] David White, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI

[3] http://www.playbuzz.com/jennifers/the-coolest-person-on-twitter-right-now-is-an-86-year-old-woman

[4] My screenshot

[5] My screenshot