Topic 1: My reflection

Since my post: Digital Visitors and Residents, my knowledge of the topic has grown; through my interactions with other members of the group.

Jessica’s blog post reminded me that the birth of social media happened at the beginning of our generation- for most of us, it was our earliest experience of digital residency. We also discussed the idea of researching further the theory: looking at personality, and other characteristics that might affect where people fall on White’s continuum.

Calum, commenting on my blog post, discussed the incompleteness of the model. We discussed what it means to be a proficient web user, concluding that it is complicated to establish your proficiency in using the web: as it is likely to vary on each site you use.

Catherine asked the question: “How can we ensure that ‘residents’ of the web are able to effectively co-partmentalise their social and institutional lives, so they don’t become a blur?” This was fascinating to discuss, concluding with looking at having different social media accounts for personal and institutional use. We also discussed the concept of privatizing personal accounts, stopping institutional use. This made me think, should I separate my social from institutional lives on the web? Are we meant to lead these in separate ways?

I also read Lucy’s blog post. She clearly shows the evolution of Whites theory from Prensky’s, showing the limitations of Prensky’s model that lead to White’s theory.

My knowledge for this topic grew through the physical act of communicating with individuals on blog posts. I started to not just understand by also experience digital residency. I have started to see a digital footprint being left behind me. I understand why digital residency is important, and how we can really develop and evolve our learning through interactions with individuals on the web.