W8 - Digital Immigration: Article 5

The final article is another blog, by an associate professor who studies in languages, but who also created "Identity Quest" which rethinks technology and study abroad. The author posts around relevant subjects in New Media Cultures such as social networking and Web 2.0. The blog is supported by Cengage Learning and was written in October 2008, therefore is up-to-date and current. Although not referenced, the blog is well written, easy-to-use and free from spam.

He discusses a discussion about RSS feeds with "20-something" students whereby only one had heard of them. While they had iPods, they had never subscribed to Podcasts. The author introduces the term "digital citizenship", which he had achieved through RSS. I found this an important term, as surely in the same vein that foreigners can have a better understanding of English than English people do after several years of study, digital immigrants can eventually have a better understanding of technology than digital natives do?

He concludes that immigrants can expose natives to points of view which don't otherwise slap them in the face from Facebook and MySpace, and give a flavoured view of digital surroundings. Therefore he feels that digital immigration doesn't mean that immigrants are worthless, they are just "digitally different" - a view I agree with.