The concept of Digital ‘Residents’ and ‘Visitors’ today, was developed as an advancement of Marc Prensky’s (2001) idea of Digital ‘Natives’ and ‘Immigrants’ acting as a foundation for the evolvement. This distinction was rather unclear and unhelpful, in my opinion. The term “born digital” is applied to human beings (instead of materials that originate in a digital form such as artefacts or records) which I find it pretty questionable and uncertain. Digital Natives refers to people who grew up with technologies whilst Digital Immigrants represents older generations who have very scant knowledge and little appreciation in digital practices. Well… that doesn’t mean my parents do not have any idea of today’s technology. There are plenty of retirees who are well facilitated with technologies. Hence, I believe in response to our changing relationship with the web, White and Le Cornu (2011) suggested and improvised this distinct open spectrum as a continuum of two different modes of online involvement, Digital ‘Visitors’ and ‘Residents’.
According to White and Le Cornu (2011), Digital Residents are individuals who spends a large percentage of their live online. These people are primarily active on social media sites and also in blogs or comments, forums, and online communities. On the other hand, Digital Visitors refer to one who uses the web as tools whenever they see a need. Just a simple example, when I was working in Abu Dhabi, my manager would go online and search for branded goods on sale during our free time or check out flights promotion at a specific time of the day (usually in the night). She uses the web for a specific purpose but do not engage in online culture. Unlike for me which I have found in my personal experience, I use and communicate in social networks for recreation almost every hour just like any other teenagers or young adults out there. I spend almost 12 hours online be it on the phone or laptop, particularly since this module started, engaging heavily on social networks and using blog and twitter notifications to interact.
Here comes the contradiction, so is my manager really a ‘Visitor’ when she only logs on to the web for a specific purpose like researching but has a Facebook profile, owns an email account and checks when she has notifications?
Now, what are we actually?
In my opinion, it seems like there is no definite label to everyone’s online engagement because most of us ended up having mixture of attributes of the two extreme modes. It is probable for the two communities to co-exist in different context or situations. And I believe with the influence of such rapid technology change, visitors might actually, overtime, realize that they have settled down in the place (digital world) where they originally came to as visitors. Even though, the concept mentioned that ‘Visitors’ are lesser skilled due to their little presence online, it does not mean that ‘Residents’ are highly skilled digitally. Like I mentioned above, I categorized myself at the ‘Resident’ spectrum end but I came to realized that my research skills aren’t wonderfully equipped as compared to my manager who belongs to the ‘Visitor’ end. I could argue with her that there is no such information prior to our work but she could reply and show me within minutes that the information do exist. What does that say? I am more likely to exhibit as a ‘Visitor’ when work is related, completing projects and assignments and using the web as a tool to research and get information.
To me, everyone engages in technology in their own unique way and preference, thus, it does not mean that the concept is flawed or certain age groups belong to a specific spectrum but rather, there are just no specific terms and markings to fully describe every users.
“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write,.. but those who cannot learn, unlearn or relearn.” – Alvin Toffler
REFERENCES:
TALL blog. (2008). Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’. [ONLINE] Available at: http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-natives-immigrants-but-visitors-residents/. [Accessed 27 November 2014].
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. (2001). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf. [Accessed 27 November 2014].
JISC, University of Oxford. OCLC, University of North Carolina. (2011). Visitors and Residents: What motivates engagement with the Digital Information Environment? [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/projects/visitorsandresidents.aspx [Accessed 27 November 2014]
JISC Info Net. (2014). Evaluating Digital Services: a Visitors and Residents Approach. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/evaluating-services/ [Accessed 27 November 2014]
White, D. S., & Cornu, A. L. First Monday, Vol 16, No. 9. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. [ONLINE] Available at: http://firstmonday.org/article/view/3171/3049%20https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~tefko/Courses/Zadar/Readings/Selwyn%20dig%20natives,%20Aslib%20Proceedings%202009.pdf#p2 [Accessed 27 November 2014]
SOWINZ 
Hi Winnie! My sentiments exactly! You have a good and thorough explanation of David White’s concept of ‘Digital Residents and Digital Visitors’. I hope what you’re concluding at the end is White’s concept isn’t flawed. As what I’ve mentioned in my blog, I personally feel that Prensky’s concept about age and use of technology is flawed. Correct me if I’m wrong or misunderstood.
I’d like to think that we’re never actually really exclusively on either of the extreme end of the spectrum and only individual can place themselves on the continuum between resident and visitor depending on the context. I like how you gave an example about your manager (who is much older) and yourself. Actually… I don’t even think we should have a label for such or any online behaviours, you see 10 years down the road maybe White’s theory may not be relevant anymore.
Do you think it is possible to be a digital resident on institutional sites? (for example, LinkedIn)
Let me know your thoughts! 🙂
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Hello Sara,
Thank You for your comments above and for having the same thought as me.
You gave a pretty good point up there. “I don’t even think we should have a label for such or any online behaviours, you see 10 years down the road maybe White’s theory may not be relevant anymore.” Considering the ever-changing world around us and the need to adapt, I believe our behaviours will be influenced too. And till the next time, not even 10 years, in 2020, technology would be so advanced and we won’t even feel that White theory even existed.
Actually I kinda agree to an extend that we could be a digital resident on institutional sites like LinkedIN. This is especially so for working professionals, businessman and organisations. They pay a lot more attention on such social institutional sites because it is more relevant to them as compared to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter where they have to tweet about their thoughts and personal life. I believe if you were in their shoes, you wouldn’t be spending your time on such platforms either. And by putting more attention on institutional sites it means spending more time on it, and creating a profile do leave traces behind. Thus, I believe institutional sites do play a part afterall its an online platform.
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Hi Winnie!
To be honest I really enjoyed reading your post on this topic as you were very clear on where you stand and your views on how people are segmented into these categories and the potential over judgement to make people fit into a category.
In my opinion, I feel the key aspect to look at that really helps define the case you’re bringing forward is “context”. It feel that context plays a very big role in which we fall into either category of being a visitor or a resident. In certain cases, despite being online almost every hour we are awake, we are still poor in many online skills as it does not relate to our context or it does not appeal to us as a source of engagement.
I hope i’m making some sense! I do believe your example with your work experiences was a really great way to show how context played a key role and how we really need to put forth that as a main criteria when evaluating this concept!
Thanks for the lovely read! And i am looking forward to your next post! Cheers!
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