Essay

Question

1. Marc Prensky's "Emerging online life of the digital native" and Dave Weinberger's "A New World" both present different views of contemporary internet users. In light of your own experiences with new technologies do you think they are accurate portrayals? Discuss why or why not with specific examples.

Total Words: 1007

An essay by Yuqian Wu

Essay

The main idea in the essay is about two auditors discuss the internet users in a different views. Marc Prensky’s “Energing online life of the digital native” is about how this is differently in technology using by native digital and immigrant digital, and how they do it. Actually, Prensky’s opinion is about how people using new technology in the new world. Dave Weinberger’s “A New World” introduces the Web that brings challenges to our culture. Dave Weinberger pointed many things like “instant messaging” type of technology to send messages to friends, such as Msn, Yahoo or Skype. Weinberger provided that new technology change people’s behavior and life. Both of them create an insight on their views of the internet and what it facilitates to the world in today’s modern society. But in my opinion, I prefer “ Emerging online life of the digital”

Marc Prensky said “Emerging online life of the digital native”, He thought that today’s young people, is having the plentiful online life, this is in the development of creating for their own. It is increase the distance between Natives and Immigrants. In “Digital Natives” makes their every activity to create a new online ways of making each activity, within the new technology available to them. However, it brings forward that the difference between the digital native and digital immigrant. Digital immigrants not use new technology much more, or just use it as basic ways. Oppositely, digital natives use technology to create new life ways. Many students are not just using technology differently as today, but used as their daily activities differently. Digital Natives may be as important for this, but this online life has become the bigger areas than just the Internet. For example, Facebook and Myspace. This online life are also an entire strategy for how to live, survive and thrive in the 21st century (refer to ‘The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native’ from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp) , although the cyberspace has created to take part of the everyday life. Nowadays, many young students have lots of email address accounts. The daily activities that all people do are included “Digital Immigrants” to observe and examine how the Digital Natives have taught themselves in different ways in doing those activities. Prensky commented that there was one thing that everyone observes that even Immigrants were using the exact same technology such as eBay, blogs for doing things differently.

The datas show that the peer-to-peer (P2P) activity keeps increasing and those P2P applications are the most downloaded on the internet. (Prensky 2004) From my own experience as a digital native, the tendency of share all forms of entertainment (movies, video games, music,etc.) is just as huge as Prensky has stated. Although companies such as Apple (http://www.apple.com/itunes/) and others are encouraging users to pay relatively small amounts of money for music (and they are making some progress), there are still countless programs and websites that allow for the sharing of all the previously mentioned forms of media for no cost. Some of these programs include baidu (http://www.baidu.com/ ), Songtaste (http://www.songtaste.com/music/), and bittorrent program Azureus (http://azureus.sourceforge.net/).

Marc Prensky established two parts, one is called “digital native”, the other one is “digital Immigrant” digital native is the people who born in the digital age, almost pointed the people who growing after 20 century. The positive way for now day’s people using technology is creating the new way to use it and also rich their daily life. However, the negative way be brought by Prensky is people loosing lots of abilities than “Immigrant”. When people chatting with each other on line they always using abbreviations, this will cause younger people don't know how to write correct words. The other thing is about young people really spending more time on playing games on line, or makes friends. Child may loose ability to communicate with the real people. Those will become large problems what new technology brings to us. Although digital native is fashion, convenient, easy, have more fun. We still need to pay attention to those issues. Otherwise, young people may just like stay at home, play with themselves. They may loose the ability of society life communicating and social responsibility.

In conclusion, both supporting and opposing arguments must be taken into consideration since the viewpoints of the internet can become quite complex, and are far from concrete or objective. Weinberger see’s the internet as a place that has its own time and “Time like that can spoil you for the real world” (Weinberger, 2002). He sees it come out of technology that “sent a jolt through our culture, zapping our economy, our ideas about the sharing of creative works, and possibly even institutions such as religion and government” (Weinberger, 2002). He took out experiences on ebay.com and took out of context and describes it as a “new world we're just beginning to inhabit” (Weinberger, 2002) and compares it to Europeans first landing in America. Prensky describe of the web is different but accurate similarly, he sees it as a new world, except with ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’ being the internet savvy and the people who are new to it and trying to learn “Digital Natives are programmed to – and want to – keep up with it. For adults, some new Digital Native behaviors may be worth immediately imitating and adopting” (Prensky, 2004). He also explained clearly on experiences with online shopping, online meeting and online chatting, but he describes the internet as a place where “Today norms and behaviors are changing much faster than in the past, because the technology changes rapidly” (Prensky, 2004) and is “new, emerging, different form of life” (Prensky, 2004) that cannot be ignored. Both of them provided their own experience and support their opinions. But I prefer Prensky’s “digital native” I thought it is more comprehensive and correct. He compares the digital native with the digital immigrant, list out the different between this two. It suits for today’s new world. We create new technology, developing by using it, and also got problem when using it.

Refernce List

• 
  ‘A PHENOMENOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SEMANTIC WEB AND USER-CENTERED TAGGING SYSTEMS’2006, D. Grant Campbel, University of Western Ontario, Canada, pp. 1 – 15. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from ProQuest Database.
  
• ‘DIGITAL NA(T)IVES – DISCOURSES OF EXCLUSION IN AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY’2009, Dr. David K. Herold, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Applied Social Sciences (APSS), HK, pp. 1 – 7. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from ProQuest Database.
  
• ‘Digital nature and Digital nurture: libraries, learning and the digital native’ 2008, Michael Robinson, Library Management. Brad Ford 2008 29, pp. 67 – 76. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from ProQuest Database.
  
• ‘The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native’ 2004, pp. 1-5. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp.
  
• ‘The digital native – myth and reality’ 2009, Emerald, Neil Selwyn, Institute of Education, University of London, UK, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 364 – 379. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from ProQuest Database.
  
• ‘Prensky’s Digital Native Versus Digital Immigrants’ 2008, Jim Rich, pp. 1-13. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from ProQuest Database.
• 
  Marc Prensky, Writing, 2008, viewed 14 October 2009, <http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp>
  
• Small pieces, Big Thoughts, by Andrew Hinton, August 12, 2002. Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design, viewed 14 October 2009, <http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/small_pieces_big_thoughts>
  
• Small Pieces Loosely Joined, David Weinberger, 2002, Chapter 1 – A New World, viewed 14 October 2009, <http://www.smallpieces.com/content/chapter1.html>
  
• Web 2.0: Something Remarkable Going On, April 27, 2006. IP Democracy,viewed 14 October 2009, <http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/001470web_20_something_remarkable_going_on.php>
  What Is Web 2.0 – O’Reilly Media, Tim O’Reilly. O’Reilly Network, 2005. viewed 19 October 2009, <http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html>
  

DAY 10-- Tutorial Task

Old media communication - Television
Enhances:
Television helps the people to know more of the world. The biggest difference between television and newspaper should be that the television programs broadcast 24 hours everyday; however the newspaper just can be daily or weekly, so that television spread the information speedily.

Retrieves:
In a few years before, people can only see the word or heard the voice, but now, television combines both of them which are more lively and easy for people to understand.

Obsolesces:
Television has too many advertisements on during the programs which seems really horrible for the people who do not like waiting. Television also hurts people’s eyes, but what in my opinion which can not be avoided.

Reserves:
Maybe later on television will be replaced by computers. You can search what you like with free choices. The programs are without advertisements and update more quickly than television.


New media communication - Mobile phone
Enhances:
Mobile phones can enhance the communication between people regardless of the distance. In early time, we can hear people’s voice and send message through the mobile phone, in recent years, new technology even lead to a new revolution which we can also use video calls.

Retrieves:
In old times, we only can contact each other by using mails, which should take long to process and less secured. Mobile phones solve such kind of problems; we can use it any time or in anywhere. Video calls make the chatting more animated as we can also see their faces through the screen.

Obsolesces:
The biggest problem with the mobile phone should be the radiation which hurt people’s health. Maybe in later time, mobile phones will be obsolesced because such problem. For other issues such as mobile fees and some inevitable problems during the producing of mobile phones can also make mobile phones obsolesced.

Reserves:
I think mobile can be an amazing production in recent world, maybe it will be reserved later but at least not in the recent few years.

DAY 10--summary of lecture

Media ecology is a school of thought that considers how communication technologies become part of society, and in doing so become media on thought and language as part of our everyday culture is a primary focus, explored in areas such as orality, literacy and education.

The tetrad of Media
What does a medium enhance or extend?
What does it obsolesce?
What does it retrieve from older media?
What does it reverse or flip when pushed to its extreme?

Then we review the whole things we do during these two weeks.
A change of emphasis from place-to-place connectivity-based on individuals making and remaking connections in their social and computer networks…

DAY 9--summary of lecture

Today's lecture we saw some new thins, we use google earth to search each locations. And the I remember we use speedtest to test the download speed and upload speed from perm to our lecture room. I think this is more interesting. In the end we watch Jason Nelson's website. There are lots of games. However I dont like background songs, it is little bit frightening.

DAY 8-- Tutorial Task

Jason Nelson is a digital and hypermedia poet and artist. And also the lecturer on Cyberstudies, digital writing and creative practice in Griffith University{interesting}. He created his website in http://secrettechnology.com/ and reviewing some of the materials that he has posted about himself on this website.
Explore AT LEAST THREE of his creations…..
I explore
“i made this. you play this. we are enemies.” ‘game, game, game and again game. ‘
‘Pandemic Room’
Even though I don’t get how to play them, and as I said its little scared by the background songs. but I think they can be a new type of creation of a game aswell within this website

DAY 8--summary of lecture

Australia has reached our place in the queue time for our two-yearly Internet Censorship attempt, where the Government spends in excess of $100 Million each time to educate, filter, administer, prosecute, fix and block the problem. While politicians argue about filtering objectionable and questionable material, and what these words even mean to the average citizen, child pornography has grown and spread like a virus.
"Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road," he said. "If people equate freedom of speech with watching child pornography, then the Rudd-Labor Government is going to disagree."

The issue of Internet censorship is hovering dangerously close to Government propaganda – the government is twisting facts and logic with statements that accuse anyone who is against censorship of being a pedophile to gain the support of the Australian family.

DAY 7-- Tutorial Task

• Sign an e-petition
• The e-petition I decided to sign was one that I found particularly relevant to my own personal situation; The Vehicle Registration 20% Increase.(http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/CurrentEPetition.aspx?PetNum=1261&lIndex=-1)I had no issues signing this petition as it is one that affected me and I was therefore willing to sign it. This e-petition was located on the Queensland Parliament site.

• What is Barak Obamma up to today?
• The most prevelant issue that Barak Obamma is currently addressing is the Health Insurance Reform. He has delivered several speeches regarding this issue. An approach which he utilized to promote this issue was delivering a message that was uploaded directly onto his Facebook site via the link below.(http://www.facebook.com/barackobama?ref=pdb)The notion of cyber politics; a political presence on the web to promote campaigns, is one that is a crucial part of the Obamma campaign. His online presence does not stop at Facebook, as various links to his Twitter accounts and Myspace page and discussion Forums.

• Who are my Local, State and Federal RepresentativesLocal Representative: Gail McphersonState Representative: Steven RobertsonFederal Representative: Graham Perrett

• What do you think of the Australian Government’s plans to censor the internet (the so-called “Clean Feed”)?
• This internet censhorp is a plan that ALP endeavour to implement as mandatory in Australian. This differs from usual censorship products in that every internet connection in Australia will be subject to the filter (including schools, homes and corporations), rather than traditional software or network proxies which are typically used for organisation or home use.(http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=cleanfeed)I think that this censorship plan is wrong on several levels. Not only are internet companies opposed to this plan but Australians have demonstrated and indicated quite definitively that they are not in favour or such censorship plans. Moreover, these cencorship plans did not stipulate the content that would be banned which lends itself to the idea that this process is a slippery slope towards the government operating as a dictatorship rather than a democracy.

• Read the lecture and the readings, pursue a couple of the topics that you find most interesting and then post your blog with your well-considered thoughts about the theory and practice of politics.
• Cities as Machines
  The Shape of the City dictates the kind of lives that most peoplelead. The City in Bladerunner is avowedly post-modern,built up layer on layer but starting to lose its relevance - peopleare moving to the Off-World. Sometimes it is crowded, sometimesit is lonely - which is what cities are like: you can be anonymousin the crowd. It is LA; it is noir sci-fi; it is rushing intothe future unsure of its past, teetering on the brink ... of theocean, of the earthquake, of the race riots (consider Mike DavisCity of Quartz)... so it is hardly surprising that peopleare a bit edgy.
  Three non-exclusive alternatives:
  the city is a machine for living ... it creates human lifejust as humans create it
  the city is a natural thing, created by natural beings (humans)just as bee-hives and ant nests are created by natural beings
  the city is a living being ... a cyborg which combines humantissue with synthetic infrastructure. In the 1960s, a group of English architects designed a new typeof city. Their dream was of a city that built itself unpredictably,cybernetically, and of buildings that did not resist televisionand telephones and air-conditioning and cars and advertising,but accommodated and played with them; inflatable buildings, buildingson rails, buildings like giant experimental theatres with videocameras gliding like sharks through a sea of information, buildingsbedecked in neon, projections, laser beams. This project was calledArchigram and was detailed in a set of posters called ArchitecturalTelegrams.

• What place does censorship have in a democracy?
• The premise of a democratic society is directly contradicts censorship. The only censorship that should occur within a democratic society is one that the people elect themselves.

DAY 7-- Summary of Lecture

The Internet is a powerful forum for citizen political participation. In the last few federal elections, ordinary citizens used the Internet to organize, raise money, report the news, and offer commentary, and they had a significant impact on the 2004 Presidential campaign. The 2006 election promises an even more influential role for Internet activists.
New federal campaign finance rules for the Internet have freed bloggers and almost all other citizen-initiated political advocacy on the Internet from any regulation. You can be a part of the online revolution in politics, help reinvent and reinvigorate our democracy, and transform political discourse. It's a good idea to have a basic understanding of the new rules.

the Internet might change the lives of the average person as much as did the telephone in the early 1900s and the advent of television in the 50's and 60's. Also to be taken into account is the debate as to whether the Internet might be changing the nature of power relations and political activity in society.

DAY 6-- Tutorial Task

Essay Question

Marc Prensky's "Emerging online life of the digital native" and Dave Weinberger's "A New World" both presentdifferent views of contemporary internet users. In light of your own experiences with new technologies do you think they are accurate portrayals? Discuss why or why not with specific examples.

http://www.smallpieces.com/content/chapter1.html

Small Pieces Loosely Joined, David Weinberger, 2002, Chapter 1 – A New World, viewed 14 October 2009,
This website is about the theory of Dave Weinberger’s “ A New World”


http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/
Marc Prensky, Writing, 2008, viewed 14 October 2009,
This website has lots of journal written by Marc Prensky. Therefore I can know more about the opinion from Marc Prensky.

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/small_pieces_big_thoughts
Small pieces, Big Thoughts, by Andrew Hinton, August 12, 2002. Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design, viewed 14 October 2009,
This article is written by Andrew Hinton, he said” Small Pieces isn’t for tweed-encrusted academics—it’s for the somewhat educated masses. This book is like its subject, the Web. It’s an amalgam of ideas and obsessions, observations and perceptions that the author is releasing upon the public, hoping others will take these ideas and run with them.”

http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html
Web 2.0: Something Remarkable Going On, April 27, 2006. IP Democracy,viewed 14 October 2009,
From this website, it explain more about web 2.0.

http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/emailrel.html#asynchron

The last one is about the E-Mail Communication and Relationships, It includes different types of E-Mail Communication and Relationships, such as text, face to face, spam and so on.