Natives/Immigrants, Resident/Visitors – But what about people who are born “digital” and then want to leave (digital refugees?) or those who are residents (native born, or resident by choice or situation) of the Analogue Isles and never want to venture out of a world that is working just fine and sometimes even trumping those “kids from across the world”? (taking a slight cue from here) Well, that was what people were talking about way back in the day when Prensky first coined the term, and then throughout the next few years as people including the TALL group to talk about residents and visitors.
I don’t hear about the term as much anymore, but it came to me as I was studying my 7D manual this weekend. Thinking to myself… people would certainly consider me a digital native… I am “all in the cloud”, I’m “learn by doing“, so why am I pouring over this little manual (even as it helps with the last three points on the list as I reflect on what I have done)?
It occurred to me that digital residency is not free of paper. The classic book form allows me to abstract the knowledge and experience that I have in using my old camera (apparently, I’ve had this moment of reflection before, hence the title) to my new one in a manner that forces me to reflect on what the details are as opposed to “just getting through”.
With this in mind, the Digi/Ana debate seems to be better pointed now in the way that one facilitates their typical workflow – with/out paper, on/offline – and not where or how one chooses to teach/learn/study or express one’s self. For me, it seems curious, being interested in photography – a pursuit that is now almost entirely digital in workflow, but still primarily analogue in expression (regardless how cool one can make their shots look on a 60 inch screen). If I look out from there, the digi/ana lines really start blurring for me. Maybe this is a sign of the times, but in light of privacy and the rise of Facebook, it seems to me that these terms are in need of some re-examination.
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