ICTlogy

Leads: John Palfrey, Urs Gasser

With over a million young people “born digital,” now is the time to examine the emerging trends of how these digital natives construct identity, learn, create, and socialize in an ever-changing “always on” landscape. How do we give digital natives the tools (in terms of know-how, technology, social norms, or other means) to navigate safely in the emerging digital social space? How can copyright holders work with digital creators to understand their needs and practices in a way that doesn’t stifle their creativity? As a global society, can we come to understand what’s happening with a generation online, to embrace a digital present, and to shape, in constructive ways, a more digital future?

• Digital Native Wiki
• Digital Native Facebook group

Working papers on Digital Divide, the Spread of the Internet and Political Institutions

What does it mean to be a Digital Native?

• Digital Identity: Identity was something I could control… can I control my Digital Identity? Or, on the contrary: online identity can be shaped, created absolutely the way I want it to be
• Multitasking: Distraction or multitasking?
• Digital Media: Flickr, Google Print, YouTube…
• Digital Creativity: Consumers in the past… what now? Quite a switch. Can we relate it with… Democracy?

Technologies that enable/empower the digital native

• RSS feeds, of course, that link together (free) web 2.0 applications.
• Lightweight collaboration: Wikipedia?
• New contexts, new meanings
• Tagging
• International scope: shrinking the world

• Example: Couchsurfing

Issues:

• Security
• Privacy: unintended audience; how to remove information about me on the Internet, information that can be massively processed (i.e. image recognition); identity theft, erosion
• Intellectual property: copyright, trademark
• Credibility: specially relevant in the academic business
• Information overload: we move from an environment of high quality information — because it is produced professionally — towards an amateur created information environment. Related: quality mechanics, reputation, etc. How many RSS feed subscriptions or e-mails a day can you tolerate?

Opportunities

• Media literacy skills
• expression/identity
• empowering creators
• information sharing
• maintaining connections
• semiotic democracy
• access to information

My reflections

• Wealth of Networks and peer production
• Wikinomics
• Prosuming
• Connectivism
• It’s the knowledge economy, stupid
• Speaking in tongues
• e-Awareness
• How are enterprises and employer/employee relationships going to change?
• What’s the role of Education (specially Higher Education) in the XXIst century?
• How is values transmission going to be affedted?
• The end of Democracy (vs. smartmobs and goal focused cyberactivism)?

Readings

More info

• UNESCO Seminar on the Web2.0 and e-Learning. John Palfrey: Born Digital, post in this blog.
• Nativos Digitales, a post of mine in another blog.
• OII Day 1, by Alla Zollers
• Digital Natives – OII SDP notes, by Cuihua Shen

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