Topic 1 2015, Page 4

The model for seeing online users as either “visitors” or “residents” was developed from Prensky’s Digital natives and Immigrants model.  This model saw people that had been brought up with/using the web classed as Natives because they could use and understand it easily. While older generations that did not grow up with it would find it difficult to adapt to it and thus they would feel like they were trying to speak a second language. Continue reading →

For many reasons it is hard to compare the Internet to any existing thing, medium or place. However, the best comparison I found relates the Web to a City (Searls, 2012). All Internet users are inhabitants of the virtual town. They (may) work, shop, and spend their free time in various districts. The city is related to them too, it grows through well-being and initiative of its residents. Continue reading →

The concept of Visitors and Residents was developed by David White and Alison Le Cornu: • The Resident is an individual who collaborates and contributes online, establishing a permanent online presence. • The Visitor is an individual who uses the web as a functional tool and leaves little trace behind them. This is a different vision to Prensky’s concept of ‘natives’ (those who were born into the digit age) and ‘immigrants’ (those who weren’t). Continue reading →

Explaining the concept of digital “visitors” and “residents” drawing upon personal online experiences to date in support of the points made. As we all know since Tim Berners-Lee established the concept of the world-wide-web in 1989, a vast majority of homes and workplaces have had a drastic increase on getting connected connected to the Internet. Continue reading →

The concept of the digital ‘visitor’ and ‘resident’ is particularly interesting when comparing our individual uses for the web. White (2008) described the digital visitor as someone who uses the internet for simple, everyday tasks such as checking emails and news, as well as infrequent tasks like booking holidays. White and Cornu (2011) argue that this tends to include older generations who haven’t grown up with technology through childhood. Continue reading →

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. Continue reading →