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In my view, a digital visitor is someone who use the web for a specific purpose only when the need arises. Typically, their movement around the web are mostly revolved to activities that have a specific outcome or benefits for them (for e.g searching for information they want, perform a transaction, etc). As described by (White, 2008), a digital visitor logs on to perform a specific task and logs off. They are more skeptical about leaving their digital footprint around the web with concerns about having their personal information leaked. Social network such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are not of a norm to them and are unlikely to participate in online community.
On the other hand, digital resident performs similar activities but they do not restrict themselves just on internet but also active on social media platforms as an avenue for them to be involved in social interaction, sharing, expressing between people whom they know or may not know. Typically their life revolved around the online world and leaving digital footprint around (blogs, comments, twitter ,etc )…
Pretsky’s comparison between ‘native’ and ‘immigrants’ draws criticism around from having too ‘thinly supported claims’ and debates over age-related hypothesis. He claims that a native are people who were born in the digital world (belonging to the Y and Z generation) and thus are more technology adept compared to immigrants who were not exposed to technology during their era and were more technology in-adept as compared to the former. I would beg to differ in this point as i do not think that those who are born in the digital world can be of more technology-savvy. Yes, people in my generation like myself are exposed to web when we are born and hence are more easily adaptable, however i believe with training and guidance, one can be efficient as anyone else despite the fact that older people may be slower in learning. As stated by (White, Le Cornu, 2011) for every subject or expertise, some learners will acquire the requisite skills quickly, while others will struggle, regardless of age. Young people may spend more time on computer games then learning new technology skill. I do think that the most important thing to look at is interest. If you are interested in learning technology, you will be willing to put in effort in acquiring them.
References
(@daveowhite), D. (2014). TALL blog » Blog Archive » Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’. [online] Tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk. Available at: http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-natives-immigrants-but-visitors-residents/ [Accessed 27 Nov. 2014].
White, D. and Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, [online] 16(9). Available at: http://firstmonday.org/article/view/3171/3049%20https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~tefko/Courses/Zadar/Readings/Selwyn%20dig%20natives,%20Aslib%20Proceedings%202009.pdf#p4 [Accessed 27 Nov. 2014].
yiming@ SotonMANG2049 
Hi Yi Ming,
Great job on this piece of blog post which I thought was very relevant and relatable. I like how you separate the two term “Digital Visitor” and “Digital Resident” into two paragraphs to show the clear distinct differences of this two terms to the audience to give them a general idea of what this is exactly about. However, I would like to address on this point based on your first paragraph (5th sentence) if it was digital visitor that you are referring to rather than the latter? Correct me if I’m wrong 🙂
Moving on, I thought it was interesting of you to counterpoint Pretsky’s comparison between ‘Native’ and ‘Immigrants’ claiming that native people who are born in the digital world are more technology adept as compared to the immigrants. Surprisingly, I have the exact sentiments as you on the point that being in the older generation does not mean that they are not technology savvy. Take for example, my uncle in his 60s who is born under the baby boomers generation. He is constantly updating his newsfeed on Facebook sharing interesting videos and inviting me to all sorts of differents games. Even I myself lose to him when it comes to certain games such as Candy Crush. Therefore, who says that older generation are less tech savvy? Just like you, I beg to differ!
There’s a saying by Andy Warhol- “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
I strongly believe that there is no boundary to learning, if one has the will to learn, no matter how old you are, you can be technology savvy too!
Having said that, which category do you think you belongs to- the visitor or resident? Do share with me, have a great day.
Hi Angie,
Thank you very much for your comments. Sorry there is an error over there and is corrected. 🙂
With regard to your question on which category i belongs to, i think i am somewhere in the middle. I source for information in the web, perform a task for a specific goal, have social media accounts, but is not massively active and have set private setting on my accounts.
Hello Yi Ming,
It was a great post and I agree with your discussion. Just like Angie mentioned in her comment above, it does not mean that people who are born in the digital world are tech-savvys. To further substantiate, I found that retirees are actually catching up with technology, some of them are even moving to the direction of becoming a resident unknowingly.
Having said that, I disagree in the last part when you mentioned “Young people may spend more time on computer games than learning new technology skill…. If you are interested in learning technology, you will be willing to put in effort in acquiring them.”
Yes, young people spend more time on recreation games online, however, one do not learn technology by being interested. Because one needs to acquire the knowledge of technology in order to game online in the first place. One do not necessarily be interested, people needs to adapt and move on with the changes in technology. This is also mentioned in Evelina’s blog post- https://evelinalim.wordpress.com/ , where she pointed out about ‘Change’. For example, I can be interested in learning fashion design because its my passion and its what I enjoy and appreciate doing. But I cannot find interest in studying because this is what I have to do, it is a form of ‘need’. Just like technology, we have to learn and educate ourselves so as to keep up with the world, it is not an interest. Those retirees do not find an interest either, they pick up the digital world because friends and family members are influenced by it!.
Do let me hear your views on that!
Till next time. 🙂
Hi Winnie,
Thanks very much for reading up on my posts. Glad that you share the same views as me on how age does not defined one technology competence.
With regard to your disagreement, my view is that it depends on individual. For instance, my parents who received low education are not technology savvy and they are not willing to learn despite having the opportunity. I do agree that because of the current world we are living, we need to be ready to adapt ourselves to technology. However, evelina did point out that people hates changes and i think some people do falls in this category.
Hi Winnie and Yiming,
Interesting views there. Both of you made me think further about my comment on ‘Change’.
It seems an individual motivation to change in this ever changing technology world depends quite a lot on context. And some of these factors includes the individual’s education level, personality, family, circle of friends, work demands, as well as interest.
What do you all say?
Hi Winnie and Evelina,
Yes i agree with that point. I think anyone who is willing to make changes knows they will have significant benefit from adopting technology. For example an employee upgrading on IT skill to get better pay, promotion opportunities etc.These are more of Extrinsic Motivation. Intrinsic Motivation can comes from sense of achievement, ability to connect with friends and family…
I guess we all have our own views and perception on this and it depends on how we look at it.
And I have to agree with Eve that these technological changes depend’s alot on individual surroundings and influencer- who we communicate with, who we hang out with and how do we choose to acquire information from. Just like how criminals choose to commit crime even when they are given an alternative route to do something right.
🙂
Hello Yiming, your views on age or whether being born in the digital world matters really made me pondered about it. And yes I agree to it, as long as someone perseveres to learn the skills of using the web with training and practice, or for better there is interest, nothing is unattainable. Interest could be said as one of the greatest motivator in learning something; it motivates us to push further and you would learn with joy. As Wikipedia says, that “hunger is frequently the motive to seek and consume food”, similarly interest is the motivation to seek and consume knowledge to learn and eventually attain the goal of mastering it.
Cheers,
Amanda
Hi amanda,
Thanks for having the same view on this. It is always my belief that you can achieve what you have if you have an interest in something because you are WILLING to do so!