In this video, Dr. Dave White discusses two different types of internet users: “Visitors” and “Residents.”
Visitors are characterized as leaving little to no digital footprint in favor of preserving a sense of privacy. (He also notes that what constitutes “privacy” may be shifting from one generation to the next.) In many cases, Visitors are motivated to protect their personal information as a defense against identity theft—although I would argue that this is far from the only reason why somebody would not wish to leave a heavy digital footprint. They may see little value in developing social or professional networks online. (Very likely they have strong networks already offline and therefore do not feel a need to add much more in a digital context.) And most of all, their use of the Internet is intended to serve specific, goal-oriented purposes. The Internet and the resources provided by it are tools to do work or to solve problems. Residents, on the other hand, “live out a portion of their life online.” Often this takes the form of social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.), though it also occurs in online gaming—especially RPG (WOW, Second Life.) For Residents, it is important to see and to be seen: to develop a sense of personal identity on the web and to make that available for others to interact with. They are likely to not only be members of social media, but to actively participate in uploading content and interact with the content uploaded by others. Because visibility in these fast-paced contexts erodes quickly, it is essential that they constantly provide fresh content in order to maintain it. White notes that in order “To keep visibility high, you have to keep feeding that machine . . . with whatever you can think of.” The downside to this is that often what gets fed is quite trivial. One very important misconception that White addresses is the idea that Visitors are bound to be older-generation and inherently technologically challenged, whereas Residents will be young and quite savvy. White’s findings indicate that there is not necessarily a strong correlation between age or general savviness with Internet-style usage. Because Visitors view the Internet as a set of tools for a specific purpose, once they recognize a need for a particular tool, they will learn to use it. And while many Residents may be social-media savvy, they often lack other—perhaps even more basic—technological skills. Many of my students, I have noticed, have very remedial typing skills and almost no knowledge or experience with formatting documents and creating digital presentations—all very practical skills for academic contexts but not all that necessary for navigating Facebook and Youtube. White, D. (2013, May 31). Visitors and Residents [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFBadv04eY
1 Comment
12/7/2015 09:45:53 pm
I would agree that visitors may have reasons more than to protect against identity theft. You suggest that visitors may already have strong networks offline. That describes me. I am quite satisfied to be a visitor, although I am finding some great sites online, maybe a great place to visit.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
mrs. snowEnglish teacher extraordinaire Archives
May 2016
Categories |