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Digital Native/Immigrant … or Resident/Visitor?

I’ve written in the past about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, and I like the concept. But something wasn’t right, I wasn’t happy with the concept, but didn’t know what it was.

Now I think I’ve found it … and it’s called Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’, posted to Twitter by Julia Ault (@juliadesigns).

In it the post, and JISC paper, outlines that:

“… students could not be usefully categorised as Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants. I.e. This distinction does not help guide the implementation of technologies it simply provides the excuse that “some people ‘just don’t get it’ …”

The terminology of Native vs Immigrant implies a certain skill level based on either generation or familiarisation with technology, but this does not cover all the options. The “students appropriation of online services did not seem to follow a simple pattern based on skill level. It seemed to depend on if they saw the web as a ‘place to live’ or as a collection of useful tools.”

This is the nub of the subject. Do the students embrace the world online?

Here is a breakdown on the two classes;

  • Digital Resident – “… an individual who lives a percentage of their life online. The web supports the projection of their identity and facilitates relationships.” These people want to, and do, do a vast majority of socialising and ‘living’ through their professional and social network online.
  • Digital Visitor – “an individual who uses the web as a tool in an organised manner whenever the need arises.” These individuals use the Internet for a goal, but do not need to, or have to, reply on it.

So, what does it mean to us as facilitators? It means we need to understand the distinction between them, this is “useful when considering which technologies to provide for online learners”.

  • Visitors - unlikely to use RSS feeds
  • Residents - expect to interact on website, leave comments, subscribe, etc.

How do you spot which is which … when “offered membership of a facebook group … (the) majority signed-up without question as they wanted to stay in touch with fellow students and continue discussions. The remainder saw the group as pointless and a possible invasion of privacy.”

Related posts:

More “Digital Immigrant vs Digital Native” Posts Digital Native vs Digital Immigrant The New Digital Divide #edtech #eLearning

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5 comments

By David Hopkins – September 15, 2009

  • http://wwwprlab.com.au Greg Smith

    Disappointing that only five of my Introductory PR class (of 60) were willing (or keen) to try Twitter this week. Either they’re scared, or just lazy. I suspect the latter.

  • http://brandon-hall.com/janetclarey/ Janet Clarey

    I like the resident/visitor idea better than the native/immigrant (the latter hasn’t been supported by research on the generations). I’m a little put off by the class definitions though.

    “… an individual who lives a percentage of their life online” implies that there is an ‘online life’ and an ‘offline life’ vs. a blending of the two. (at least I haven’t found the on/off button yet)

    The second definition
    “…an individual who uses the web as a tool in an organised manner whenever the need arises.” These individuals use the Internet for a goal, but do not need to, or have to, reply on it” sounds condescending. (I only use if for the serious stuff-goals, tools, etc. as the “others” don’t use it for the same purpose)

    It seems to draw a line with “need/want” on one side and “don’t need/don’t want” on the other. Like an addiction.

    I realize we try to name things to understand them and appreciates Ault’s new terminology. I’m just not convinced it’s right.

  • http://www.markmilliron.com Mark David Milliron

    I use the martial arts metaphor of belts — black belts (super savvy tech users), brown belts, green belts, and white belts (beginners willing or being forced to try new technology). It takes the generational stuff out of the mix–makes it much more about effort and experience. It works for Six Sigma!

  • http://twitter.com/katiepiatt Katie Piatt

    Thanks for this useful summary post. I’m thinking of coming up with some questions for the students to vote on to help them think through for themselves if they are residents or visitors, e.g. have you ever commented on a blog? do you have any friends online you have never met in real life? Do you believe that an online only friendship counts as a real friendship etc? Do you think there is mileage in this…?

    Thanks

    • Anonymous

      Hi Katie.

      I do think there is mileage in this, and would welcome reading your findings when you have them. What we currently believe is ‘resident vs visitor’ or ‘native vs immigrant’ is only one type of labelling that has been applied. As the Internet changes and grows (matures??) then our use and applied knowledge of it is also growing and changing. Therefore the type of people using it are changing – the age range of it’s users is widening; More and more parents are allowing their children on the Internet (supervised, I hope) and at younger ages too, and the number of senior adults (60+ years old) is growing too.

      Labelling these new users as visitors or immigrants, natives or residents just isn’t appropriate any more … so, what is (and do we actually need a label)?

      All the best, David.

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