Brainstorming online

Claire, Cara, Kerry, Lucy, Hannah T and I all decided to go on msn and brainstorm all of our ideas online. We all were talking on msn via a group conversation which allowed all of us to view and talk to everyone online. The benefit of brainstorming online is that we were all able to stay at home and do it, some of us were extremely busy and to have to organise a meeting face-to-face would have taken up too much time, therefore by online brainstorming it saved us a lot of time.
However there were some negative aspects to it. Because it was online you sort of had to take turns to say something, and occasionally it was difficult to understand and follow what people were saying. Where as brainstorming your ideas in 'meat space' you would be able to follow peoples ideas easier. In addition, it was also difficult to understand what people were saying sometimes. And at the same time it was harder to express my ideas on the inet than it would be in 'meat space'.

The experience of a fictional technophile student in 2020

A student in 2020 would experience it differently as to how students do today. One could argue that distance learning would be a lot easier in the fact that all lectures and seminars would take place through a computer. There would be no need for university buildings because lecture and seminar rooms will be a thing of the past, instead you could view the lecture from your own bedroom. However, this could comprise friendships because face-to-face contact would be limited. Mobile phones will be slightly bigger and have many more applications than it used to with full access to the inet and microsoft applications allowing you to write essays on them. In addition, paper will be a thing of the past. Now that blackboard is now being used in the university of Lincoln, some units and courses allow their students to send their work via the inet - this will progress to being all courses and units. In addition, one could argue that libraries would not be needed anymore and every book could be accessed via the inet.
Although this seems quite interesting for me this is as far as i can see at the moment, when in fact i think that because it is way ahead in the future it will be far more advanced than what i have predicted.

Daily frustrations of a fictional neo-luddite at university

Fictional neo-luddite's are people who do not like using technology. Daily frustrations of most university students would involve having to watch lecture slides and taking notes from that, in addition because most units require essays to be typed up they would have to use a computer, plus if they have to look for specific online journals, or information on the inet, they would have to go online and find them - something which they would find hard to do.
In addition, speaking from personal experiences the way most students communicate with each other is via technology. Mobile phones and facebook are essential if you want to keep in touch with and communicate with others. Again something which a neo-luddite would find difficult.
Whether we are to question Prensky's generalised notion of 'digital immigrants' and 'digital natives' or not, one could argue that technology is vital to not only pass your university course, but to communicate with fellow students and keep in touch with friends. Do you think you would survive as a student without technology?

A person known to you who threatens the notion of native/immigrant in digital culture

Through previous blogs the same issue keeps on occurring when discussing about Prensky's notion of 'digital immigrants' and 'digital natives'. The same issue that keeps on occurring is that his notion is such a generalised view - 'digital immigrants' are people who were born 'pre digital age' and 'digital natives' during and close to the beginning of the 'digital age'. However, Prensky does not take any other factors into consideration i.e what about 'digital immigrants' who work in the technology industry e.g. Apple?
Therefore, for me the person who most threatens Prensky's notion of 'digital immigrants' and 'digital natives' is that of my Grandpa. He was born way before the 'digital age' and can write absolutely perfectly pen to paper, however in addition, he can type perfectly on a computer, surf the inet and send numerous of emails without having to look for the manual for help. He himself has allowed the software to teach him without reading a manual or information booklet - something which Prensky believes to be a positive trait of only 'digital natives'.
On many occasions i have emailed him telling him what i have been up to and he is now starting to use the 'lingo' that us 'natives' use also - replying to my emails with 'lol' and 'atm.'
In addition, i think it is great that he does threaten Prensky's notion because it allows me to communicate with him easier, cheaper and faster and i can keep him up to date with what i have been doing by sending him pictures. At the age of 75 i think that is pretty impressive.

The youngest digital immigrant you know

The youngest 'digital immigrant' i know is the same age as me - 20. The reason as to why she would fit under the generalised view of what Prensky believes a 'digital immigrant' is because she does not speak the 'language' that she should because she should fit under the category as being a 'digital native' because she was born and brought up in the 'digital age'. She does not have a facebook account, does not use msn or hotmail, and hardly uses the inet at all. In fact she states that 'she does not like computers because they do not like her.' This is not the kind of 'language' that such a 'digital native' should be using. Instead, she should be well aware as to how to use a computer and know how to use the inet also. Or should she?

The oldest digital native you know

The oldest digital native i know has to be my dad. He has facebook, hotmail and uses msn. In addition, he knows so much more about computers and technology than i do. When i come home from university i give him my laptop so he can upgrade my computer to make it better, but also to protect my computer from viruses. Personally, i feel that he is more of a 'native speaker of the digital language,' than i am. In addition, he owns the latest mobile phone, has the latest gadgets (televisions, dvd players etc.) and also knows how to play on the latest games consoles. Yes, i might be a 'digital native' due to the fact that i am aware as to how to use the inet and it what it offers me at the moment, and additionally i would say that i do speak the 'language' that other natives do. However, to me it seems to me that he is a lot more 'native' than i am.

6) Web 3.0

The inet and its functions right now are said to be at the height of 2.0/the beginning of web 3.0. Web 2.0 features many more different functions that web 1.0 with it offering such sites as facebook and myspace - social networking sites that enable interacting on the inet so much easier and faster. In relation to the question, as to how does the semantic web differ from web 3.0, one could argue that the semantic web is not necessarily different from web 3.0 instead once could argue that it is incorporated within web 3.0 to be part of its progression. In other words, web 2.0 introduced it users to such things as hyperlinks where as the semantic web would differ from that providing you just the answer that you need. In addition, as Sonia Livingstone questioned as to whether reading is the same as it used to be now? I think the same question will be asked again with web 3.0. One could argue that the way people read and view the web will change again and maybe the semantic web will be a factor which influences this.