Week 8, Task 3: Criticisms of Websites in Task 2

Website 1:
This was the first website I found and it seems to me that this was the first study to actually examine the digital immigration phenomena. It can be argued that this site is out of date as it was created in October 2001, almost seven years ago, and it would be interesting to note how much the author's thought on these theories has changed. However its usability is rather good as it is constructed like an article and broken down into reasonably sized paragraphs, so that the user is not quickly bored by the reading. I found it quite easy to get into and the author doesnt use too much jargon so as to alienate the audience. As for practising what it preaches this could be examined in further detail by reading any follow up articles by the same author, if they exist.


Website 2:
This website was last edited on July 11th, 2003. It gives an outline of Prensky's argument and goes on to examine if it is really valid or not. Again, this website could be out of date as it is almost five years old now, and harder to read than the original. I found it rather boring compared to the original article as it just seemed to rehash Prensky's ideas and not really introduce anything new to the debate.


Website 3:
This was my favourite website of the five. It took a concept that was pretty straight forward and dumbed it down a little more through the use of diagrams, which i just found to be kinda funny... It was posted on 21st October 2006 and explores the digital native/immigrant debate in further detail than the previous site. The author has also created a diagram to explain what he has said and is much more in depth than the other websites i came across.


Website 4:
This site was created in June 2003. It gives a summary of Prensky's argument and offers a counter argument exploring the idea that to call past ways of doing things, eg writing something down on paper rather than typing it up on a computer, is silly and outdated. The author's counterargument states that it is stupid to think in such a way, as computers break and lose their data as much as a piece of paper can be torn or burnt. Nothing is indestructible.

Website 5:
This site is the most modern, having being published on December 5th 2007. I found the most interesting point raised in this article, was that after the author has followed the digital native/immigrant debate since its birth he has objectively observed it and raised a few critical points of his own, my favourite of which was this.

"Digital immigrants compute with an accent: they talk funny.

Digital immigrants are being defined by what they lack with cultural difference seen as an obstacle they must overcome if they are going to fully assimilate into the modern age.

Digital immigrants are seen as imposing old world standards on the inhabitants of a new world and of getting in the way of their sons and daughter's opportunities to achieve."

I found this point rather interesting and rather valid to today's world. Where we are becoming a "politically correct" society, is it really fair to label people according to their familiarity with today's technology? Or is this a new kind of discrimination, which could be dubbed digital ageism?