Academic Essay – Question One
Marc Prensky discusses ‘Digital Natives’ and ‘Digital Immigrants’ within his article “Emerging online life of the digital native”. This quote describes what they are, “In technology, a new digital divide has formed between the students, who are digital natives (i.e., grew up with digital technology), immersed in new mobile technologies and social networks, and their and their teachers, who are digital immigrants (i.e., grew up without digital technology and adopted it later)…” (Cohan 2008) As it explains there is a difference between the two groups and how they percieve the online world. An example from Prensky’s work mentions blogging and the different ways the two groups use this online tool. It’s mentioned that digital natives use blogging in a more emotional way, whereas digital immigrants use this tool for intellectual purposes. From my own experiences in using blogging I agree that digital natives use this tool to show their feelings rather that to share intellectual information.
It has also been noted in Prensky’s work that Digital Immigrants are more wary of the online world and are more concerned about deciding which form of communication is more appropriate; the traditional way or the new tech savvy way. The difference with digital natives is that they don’t generally think about using any other form of communication other than online forms. It is quick, efficient and less expensive. “Most students entering our colleges and universities today are younger than the microcomputer, are more comfortable working on a keyboard than writing in a spiral notebook, and are happier reading from a computer screen than from paper in hand.” (Frand 2000) The online world and technology in general have become a part of everyday life and most digital natives including myself would probably not be able to function without it. The online world makes it easier to do research, typing is faster than writing. The internet allows people to access information from around the world, write their assignments and to keep up their social interactions with family and friends through social networking sites and instant messaging.
In David Wienberger’s work “A New World” he highlights the fact that the online world makes it very easy for individuals to be able to assume another persona. This is one of the factors that makes digital immigrants wary of the internet; safety. How can the online world be safe when it’s so simple for individuals to create another identity, when you never know if the person you’re speaking to is really who they say there are? Digital natives are less concerned with such issues, they are aware that there are indeed safety concerns regarding the online world but are creating ways to protect themselves. Wienberger also mentions that the online world has different social rules to the real world. The lines of decency have become blurred and there are few rules. Many digital immigrants are concerned and try to limit their children’s access. “Whether at home, a friend’s house, the public library, Kinkos, or an Internet cafe, do not think for a minute that we are controlling what students can access. Students are already ahead of us on most technology.” (Farr 2009) The best thing we can do is to be aware of what dangers there are on the internet.
Weinberger also mentions that he believes that the internet is like a new world. The only difference between the settlers on our shores is the fact that the internet has no geography, there is no natural substance to it and there is no distance. Everyone around the world can access the internet and it makes the distance between here and the other side of the world seem a lot smaller. Research done in 2000 by the University of California at Los Angeles was featured in The New York Times. Headlined “Who Says Surfers are Antisocial?”. The study of 2000 people found that users actually increased their social interactions and spent just as much time with their families as well as decreasing television viewing by 28%. This research is shown in Weinberger’s work. The use of the internet is growing. “Outside of schools, more than two thirds of people in the United States have Internet connections at home, more than half of which are broadband (Horrigan, 2008).
From looking at these two different works by Marc Prensky and David Weinberger it’s obvious they have two very different views of the online world. Marc Prensky seems to view the online world as a positive step forward to the future and mentions how the ‘digital natives’ are going to move ahead in their own direction. How they will use the internet for good things and how it enables them to remain in contact with many people from all over the world quickly and efficiently. Weinberger seems to have a more negative perspective, mentioning how the internet allows people to assume a different identity. He also draws on how unsafe it is and how there are no moral lines of decency and few rules. I personally lean towards Prensky’s work as he remains positive about the changes that the online world brings. I personally use the internet on a regular basis for assignments and keeping in contact with friends and family. It does not decrease my social interactions with people in person, it just allows me to remain in contact with people no matter where they are in the world. The online world is amazing and has opened up so many doors for society.
Below are some links. One leads to the facebook statistics page, showing just how many people are using such sites. And another is a link to a youtube video, showing a humorous commercial about instant messaging.
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?
References
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-The_Emerging_Online_Life_of_the_Digital_Native-03.pdf (Retrieved 23 October 2009)
http://www.smallpieces.com/content/chapter1.html (Retrieved 23 October 2009)
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics (Retrieved 23 October 2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTtqtXpw68Q&feature=player_embedded (Retrieved 23 October 2009)
Cowan, J.. (2008). Special Issue on Technology: Introduction. The Clearing House, 82(2), 53-54. Retrieved October 22, 2009
Farr, G.. (2009). Mad Magazine to Facebook: what have we learned? Teacher Librarian, 36(5), 30-32. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
Frand, J.L. (2000), “The information-age mindset: changes in students and implications for higher education”, EDUCAUSE Review, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 15-24, available at: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0051.pdf (accessed 12 February 2008).
Greenhow, C., Robelia, B., & Hughes, J.. (2009). Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship in a Digital Age. Educational Researcher, 38(4), 246-259. Retrieved October 22, 2009,
Horrigan, J. B. (2008). Home broadband adoption 2008. Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts. Retrieved September 29, 2008, from hrtp://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Broadband_2008.pdf
Rowlands I, Nicholas, I,. Williams, P., Huntington, P Fieldhouse, M,. Gunter, B., Withey, R., Jamali, H., Dobrowolski, T, & Tenopir. C (2008). The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings, 60(4), 290-310. Retrieved October 22, 2009,
Lecture 9 – CyberUtopia
Ok.. I have just discovered that there are no lecture notes for this week. Considering this is a ‘New Communications Technology” lecture, I should have the ability to access the lecture notes using new technology. What a hyprocritical system.
Tute Task Week 8
To be completely honest… I have no political orientation. I know this may sound indifferent and even unpatriotic. I do care about my country, I just have a very cynical belief that all politicians want is power. They are all greedy, self-serving individuals that all end up harming our society in one way or another. I’m not a fan of politics and yet everything in our society is drenched with it. Therefore I find this task very difficult to do… I’m told to see how many political activities I can participate in on the net while sticking to my political beliefs – impossible. But I will try…
SIGN AN E-PETITION – I signed the epetition for the “Save Eumundi” group. Here is a link to the groups website.
http://www.saveeumundi.org/about-2/
WHAT IS BARACK OBAMA UP TO TODAY – “Feeling fired up and ready to go on health insurance reform—let’s get this done.” From Obama’s official Twitter account.
These are the only activities I felt capable of participating in. As I said before I have no political orientation – I think they are all the same.
Week 7 Tute Task
I was asked to create a 3 minute movie with my own images and audio. I have used some of my own audio from my video clips but have also added audio from other sources to improve the viewing quality. This video is simply an extension of my previous one.
Week 7 Lecture – Free culture, free society
Obviously there is software that the public is not able to share with others openly. For example, Microsoft software is Proprietry, which means that there is only certain actions you can do with the software. You cannot create a copy for your friend. You also aren’t allowed access to ‘source code’ which is the programming language that makes the program run.
Whereas Free software (open source) allows people to share the software to a certain extent. The source code is available openly and freely and anyone can use it, see it and edit it… under limited-rights license (GPL).
It’s understandable that companies such as Microsoft wouldn’t approve of Free software (open source) as it would be detrimental to their sales. This is their market and by having proprietry software it allows their company to succeed.
Week 6 Lecture Video Production and Consumption (by Josh Nicholas)
Week 6’s Lecture was done by Josh Nicholas on Video Production and Consumption. This lecture basically explained that most of us are passive consumers when it comes to ‘big’ screens of life (cinema, tv). These products simply give the consumers the information they want to pass on.
Whereas with the ‘small’ screens of life (iPods, mobile phones), consumers now have more control and are now involved in the production of new products. Media such as Facebook, Myspace and Youtube has allowed the consumers to create their own identities within the product. It’s not simply broadcasting information to passive consumers, consumers are now becoming more active in the production of new products.
Field Trip
I am a regular user of Msn. I find msn extremely useful as it is easy to contact my friends quickly while I’m able to continue doing other tasks. I agree it is quite impersonal, yet it is efficient.
After looking at Habbo Hotel, Second Life etc. I have come to the conclusion that I am not really a fan of the 3D environment. It seems it has been introduced to create a more personal feel to Instant Messaging. Yet I think it’s creating an illusion of personal socialisation, when really it’s exactly the same concept as msn – you’re just creating an avatar. I think it’s too easy for people to lie about themselves online – especially now that we’ve been given our own little online world. I don’t think that it’s healthy for people to be escaping from their own reality into this fantasy world.
Instant messaging doesn’t induce this thought of a fantasy world – it allows to make quick and efficient contact with friends and colleagues. We are aware that it is not a personal form of communication. I think that 3D instant messaging creates the illusion of personal communication.
Tutorial Task 4
1. What did Alan Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park?
Apparently the people of Bletchley were somewhat startled to see Alan Turing riding to the Park wearing his gas mask, to prevent the pollen triggering a hayfever attack! http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/museum/tour28.rhtm
2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?
Then there are the true purists who believe that Sept. 2, 1969, is the Internet’s real birthday. On that date, the world’s first router (then called an Interface Message Processor) employing packet switching technology connected two computers. At UCLA.
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5842105.html?part%253Drss%2526tag%253Dfeed%2526subj%253Dtr
3. What is Bill Gates’ birthday and what age was he when he sold his first software?
Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/bio.mspx
At the young age of 15, Gates was able to crash the DEC operating system and the CDC, which were two of the most advanced computer systems at that time. Although his ability to crash these two systems brought him some major trouble, it also led him to his first business adventure. Gates teamed up with three other students to form The Lakeside Programmers Group. Their first real business deal was a payroll program they wrote for Information Sciences Inc., in 1971
http://www.angelfire.com/empire2/topnotcherzz/first/billG.html
4. Where was the World Wide Web invented?
Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989. CERN (European Organsiation for Nuclear Research)
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/About/Web-en.html
5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare with the power of a personal computer from 30 years ago?
6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown?
7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?
Queen Victoria gave her approval and signed Letters Patent on June 6 1859 to establish the new colony of Queensland.
http://www.qld.gov.au/about-queensland/history/
8. What was the weather like in south-east Queensland on 17 November 1954?
9. Why is is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice?
10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?
I was unable to find some of the answers. Instead of using Google I used other search engines such as ‘Bing’ and ‘Yahoo’.
My favourite search engine that I use all the time is Google. Google seems to have the most content and this is why I like it. It seems to have a much larger database and my searches bring up mostly relevant pages. Other search engines don’t seem to have as relevant pages.
Week 4 Lecture
The lecture in Week 4 was held by Josh Nicholas. It was interesting to see the comparison between new media and the old forms. It is interesting to see the way that film has developed over the years to become a more popular medium. Originally the only way to see these films was in a cinema. Now with the advancement of technology, film can be viewed on ipods, mobile phones, television and the internet. It’s hard to imagine life without these devices.
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