Topic 1: Reflection

The ‘Digital Resident’ and ‘Visitor’ narrative was a very interesting starting point for the first blog post. The idea of starting a blog on the topic of how we categorise people’s usage of the web produced posts that were easy to relate to and discuss. Sophie Elliott’s post used personal experience to reiterate the potential divide between parents and children. The post also highlights how experience and knowledge shape our use of the web. Jens Buhler’s blog also brought up the importance of considering the risks involved in using the web, which leads to an interesting thought regarding digital residents and their security concerns or lack thereof.

I found reading other blogs based on Prensky, as well as White and Le Cornu’s work, has resulted in many of us now critically assessing our interactions on the web. Though Prensky’s work has been critiqued for its simplicity and its inability to be flexible, it still the founding idea of what is now an ever growing and evolving discussion.

Since starting the blog I have joined Twitter, Instagram and created an About.Me profile, which has definitely evolved my usage of the web. However, the evolving nature of my usage has also made me realise how difficult it can be, to be objective about where I place myself on the axis between resident and visitor, perhaps highlighting a critique of White and Le Cornu’s work. Though the open nature of White and Le Cornu’s classification means that unlike Prensky’s work, it is adaptable and open to change with the evolution of the web.

Conducting research and viewing others blogs, made me consider how useful the narrative was. The idea that we lie between 2 extremes is interesting, especially as it can be used to classify people however, this classification needs to have a purpose.