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Introductory Topic, Page 4

Introductory Topic

[UPDATE] The reflection post on this topic can be found here. As times progress, the terminologies in internet-related studies change. We started the 21st century with a different outlook on defining the different generations of people in the modern digital age, with Mark Prensky’s 2001 article, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Continue reading →

Introductory Topic

[UPDATE] The reflection post on this topic can be found here. As times progress, the terminologies in internet-related studies change. We started the 21st century with a different outlook on defining the different generations of people in the modern digital age, with Mark Prensky’s 2001 article, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Continue reading →

UOSM2008: Digital literacy and self-evaluation

This is the first in a series of posts to be published over the coming months as part of the University of Southampton’s Living and Working on the Web module. To find out more, including links to all of this year’s student blogs, check out the UOSM2008 website. I have long regarded my digital literacy as strong, having used computers regularly from a young age and gone on to study for a Web Science degree. Continue reading →

Digital Visitors vs Digital Residents

Digital visitors and residents is a simple concept to describe how an individual makes use of the internet. The concept originated from Marc Prensky’s notion of digital natives and immigrants.   Prensky’s digital natives and immigrants: Prensky (2001) used the term digital native to describe students who are “native speakers” of the “digital language”. Continue reading →

Digital Visitors vs Digital Residents

Digital visitors and residents is a simple concept to describe how an individual makes use of the internet. The concept originated from Marc Prensky’s notion of digital natives and immigrants.   Prensky’s digital natives and immigrants: Prensky (2001) used the term digital native to describe students who are “native speakers” of the “digital language”. Continue reading →

Digital ‘Visitors and Residents’: Moving In

Prensky (2001) assumes someone of my generation must be a ‘digital native’ having grown up and gained a fluency in languages of computing and Web services to live, learn and work with. Whereas older generations are natural ‘digital immigrants’ with little experience of digital technology and require more education to become equally as competent. After filling out the digital literacy self-test sheet (shown below) I am definitely not a ‘digital native’. Continue reading →

Digital ‘Visitors and Residents’: Moving In

Prensky (2001) assumes someone of my generation must be a ‘digital native’ having grown up and gained a fluency in languages of computing and Web services to live, learn and work with. Whereas older generations are natural ‘digital immigrants’ with little experience of digital technology and require more education to become equally as competent. After filling out the digital literacy self-test sheet (shown below) I am definitely not a ‘digital native’. Continue reading →

The digital spectrum: where do I fit in?

Prensky (2001)‘s infamous categorization of ‘digital natives’ (those who are native speakers of the digital language) and ‘digital immigrants’ (those who supposedly can never become native due to their ‘accent’- their foot in the past) encompasses problematic assumptions about generational differences. “Today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors” (Prensky, 2001, p. Continue reading →

The digital spectrum: where do I fit in?

Prensky (2001)‘s infamous categorization of ‘digital natives’ (those who are native speakers of the digital language) and ‘digital immigrants’ (those who supposedly can never become native due to their ‘accent’- their foot in the past) encompasses problematic assumptions about generational differences. “Today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors” (Prensky, 2001, p. Continue reading →

The digital spectrum: where do I fit in?

Prensky (2001)‘s infamous categorization of ‘digital natives’ (those who are native speakers of the digital language) and ‘digital immigrants’ (those who supposedly can never become native due to their ‘accent’- their foot in the past) encompasses problematic assumptions about generational differences. “Today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors” (Prensky, 2001, p. Continue reading →

Digital Residents vs Digital Visitors

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web and 28 years later we live in a society that is almost dependant on technology. Prensky first classified digital users by ‘digital immigrants’ who were brought up with technology or ‘digital natives’ who were born in the pre-digital era. [1] (Figure 1) Figure 1 – Created with Piktochart Many people challenged this theory, as being born outside of the digital age doesn’t make you any less qualified. Continue reading →

Digital users: “Natives & Immigrants”, or “Visitors & Residents”?

The concept of Digital Natives & Immigrants was first introduced by Prensky’s in 2001 to distinguish between different generation’s technology engagement. However, should people’s technology competence be labelled based on their age group? Would a person in Gen Z automatically be more familiar with technology than a person of gen X? This age-based typology, though was widely accepted, has therefore received many criticisms. Continue reading →

At Home or Away?

Natives, Immigrants, Visitors and Residents Prensky (2001) explains that the way students now learn has changed “radically” because of time exposed to Internet and ubiquitous technologies. “Digital Natives” are “native speakers of digital [languages]”. Digital Immigrants are the opposite – technologies seem new and they “have very little appreciation of [digital] skills”. Continue reading →

Which are you – Digital Resident or Digital Visitor?

Marc Prensky coined the terms digital natives and digital immigrants and how the distinction between the two will become less relevant in the coming years.  “Natives” are those who grew up immersed in technology, referring to the younger generation, whereas “Immigrants” are the older generation who struggle to adapt to the network age as if “learning a new language“. Continue reading →

Introductory Topic

Digital Natives & Immigrants ‘Digital Natives’, a term coined by Prensky (2001) to describe people who have always had access to the internet their entire lives. People from my age group (Millenials) are included in this group, as we grew up with the internet and hence we tend to have a high level of online proficiency, in comparison to people born long before the rise of the internet known as ‘Digital Immigrants’. Continue reading →