Topic 1: Reflections

Topic one introduced the notion of Residents and Visitors of the Web as opposed to an older topography of the Internet, which divided its users upon Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives. Whilst the initial categorisation focused on the importance of the age of the user: ‘nativity’ would correspond to people born in the age of the web, the new categorisation focused only on how one uses the Web. Interestingly, as was mentioned in UOSM2033 blog post, although the concept of Digital Natives has been shown to be inaccurate, it somehow made its way to the media and culture and is still widely used.
Through the exercise I also spotted how my own position in the V&R spectrum varies, depending on specific area of Internet use. Whilst in some spheres (shopping, for example) I am practically a Visitor, in others (social media) I am closer to a Resident’s attitude.

It was also interesting to see other students’ motivations for specific usage of the Web. I was surprised by the fact that the main concern, leading to a residential usage of the Internet, seems to be privacy. Leigh described interestingly it using his own experience. At the same time, Tamara wrote about another important issue common on the Web: the ‘trustworthiness’ of information found there.
Such concerns shed a new light on the notion of Visitors and Residents. At the beginning, I thought about a Resident as a more desired attitude towards usage of the Web. However, it turns out that when one’s considers the privacy issues or credibility of information people behaving more like Visitors may use the Web in a safer and more effective way. Their concerns may also motivate entrepreneurs and legislators to think about tackling such problems.
It seems that on the Internet not only everyone is welcome, but more importantly: everyone is needed.
My comments:
On Tamara’s blog

On Leigh’s blog