What technology or what not to technology? – That is the question!

Posted by analiese on Dec 21st, 2011

Tuiloma Lina Samu is a Samoan woman and mother of a 20 year old daughter Jessica (Sika) based in Auckland. She holds a tulafale-ali’i matai/ orator speaking chief title of Tuiloma from Sapunaoa, Falealili, Samoa. She is proficient in the Samoan, Te Reo Maori, Tongan, French and English languages. She is 18 months away from completing her PhD degree through Massey University’s Whariki/ SHORE Research Centre. Her involvement in the adult literacy sector began as a tutor for He Waka Matauranga, an organisation specialising in Maori and Pasifika peoples’ literacy issues. She is now on their Komiti Matua Governance Board. She also works as a contractor National Trainer for Literacy Aotearoa. Her dream would be to travel to all the tennis Grand Slams every year; visiting all the kids in her life to play monopoly, scrabble, chess & card games and going on karaoke marathons.

Her email address is l.samu@massey.ac.nz and you can follow her on Twitter @Slamu69

I can totally identify with the fear of having your personal details and anything of a private nature available online. It wasn’t until this year (yes this year) that I actually started to engage in online banking although I’ve known about its availability through the ASB Bank since 1996. I’ve been paranoid in believing that the banking system would be and could be corrupted at any given moment and that somehow all of my details would be known by hackers at any time. It still could happen at any time, however the risk has been minimalised (so we’re constantly being assured). The practicality of checking my transactions and balances online compared to the more costly phone banking option and the tortuous alternative of waiting in bank queues, give me better time-saving and immediate option to keep track of my money and I wish I had started online banking years ago.

This is a key theme of investing our time in technology – that is saving time, helping us to make more informed choices and providing more convenience in our lives. So I suggest, do not use any technology that you don’t have to. Only invest your time and resources in those which will make a significant and marked improvement in your life and connecting with others important to you.

After being conferred with my Bachelor’s degree in 1993 and Master’s degree from the University of Auckland in 1995, in 2011 I am now a full-time student again at Massey University working out of the Whariki Research Centre and SHORE based at the Massey University House in Auckland City.  Our “Social Networking Project” is looking at how social networking sites and online engagement may be influencing the drinking cultures and decisions of young adults aged 18-25 years old by going online to sites such as Facebook and Twitter. You can read more about our Project and our Team on www.drinkingcultures.info/

When I went to the Massey University Wellington Campus Library for the first time, I was astounded that I seemed to be the only one looking for books and checking them out physically at the front desk. (There’s also a machine there that you swipe your Student ID card on which also checks them out, yet I still prefer the human contact). I had only just realised a few months ago after being trained in how the Library system now works, that everyone else in the Library, notably twenty years or so younger than me had a laptop and was using the incredible broadband capability that all universities have and were having discussions about their work and going online accessing resources, journals and ordering books etc – no-one actually had to look or pull them down from the shelves. The game has changed so much in the 17 years that I’ve done any academic study!

My seven year old great nephew “D-Man” has his own iPad. My siblings and I were recently discussing this at a family lunch with a consensus of feeling summed up as – “what the hell”? Wouldn’t we ALL like to have an iPad??? Then I thought – how typical that our generation of “old bag” great aunties and uncles would tend to see an iPad purchase as a luxury item. However for our younger generation, even in primary school, whose parents are young professionals and the first generation of digital natives, these tools of technology are a necessity and are an integral part of their lives. After holding off for years, I finally got wireless internet installed at home, not only because of my doctoral studies, the main drive was so that my young great nephews and youngest nephew “Penianinja” and my godchildren can have access to the net when they come to stay over.

I recall my younger sister and I mocking our mother in 1983 - in our nasty smug arrogance as teens because she wasn’t able to work our new Sony VCR machine (complete with long cord remote which was the highest of hi-tech back then). I empathize with my Mum now (rest in peace and sorry), as there is a lot that my nieces’, nephews’ and daughter Sika’s generation and then my great nephews’ generation, even our four year old “Schmakey” can do more than I can ever do on the laptop or the PC or the iPad with the Internet. Apple (or as I call it, “i blah blah”)technology mystifies me, but I don’t have to worry about it because it’s not important that I possess it or use it (even though I am greatly covetous of it – oh yes I do desire it) – and that’s the key factor for us all: Whatever is necessary for us to have and/ or to learn about – do it, get it - but don’t feel pressured into getting and knowing EVERYTHING because frankly it’s just a waste of your time, money, energy and it’s going to stress you out! Just stick to what you need.

I wonder if you saw this term “digital natives” and thought – what is THAT? Ten years ago this dude named Marc Prensky wrote a very influential article called “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” (2001). Very simply put, if you can remember a time without cellphones, the Internet and computers – you’re a “Digital Immigrant”. Those on the other hand who cannot remember a time without these technologies and utilise them with the familiarity of a body part, are called “Digital Natives”.

Over the past decade since this article emerged, there have been hundreds of scholars and commentators putting their ten cents worth into this debate of Digital Natives versus Digital Immigrants. The most comprehensive and balanced reading that addresses the “digital divide” between generations is found through the Zur Institute. There are excellent readings available online in describing the different generational tensions and abilities.

I can’t recommend the article called “On Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives” (2011) highly enough as it demonstrates the different levels of awareness, knowledge and access that exist for Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. The definitions as originally posited in Prensky’s ground-breaking article are more deeply examined and not quite so clear cut. For example, in the Digital Immigrants category there are Avoiders (no engagement at all), Reluctant Adopters (only because they absolutely HAVE to) and Enthusiastic Adapters (who’ve kept up with the Digital Natives). Amongst Digital Natives there are also Avoiders (can you believe it?), Minimalists (who only use what is absolutely necessary to keep in touch with their friends/ social networks) and Enthusiastic Participants.

Zur and Zur also recommend that by using technology and involving young people who are experts to help you because they’re Digital Natives, will actually assist you in your aspirations of staying relevant and in succession planning for the ongoing sustainability of your work/ organisation.

Christakis & Fowles (2009), in their book “Connected” say that whatever pathogen (that is whatever cause or priority that we’re passionate about) that exists in our offline networks will also feature throughout our online networks. So, if drinking alcohol, quitting smoking, partying, higher education, political affiliations, whanau/ aiga/ family/ magafaoa/ anau, initiatives for specific ethnic groups, healthy living, political/ social activism and so forth is the priority amongst our friends in our lives, so too will it be in our online networks. So too will negative behaviours, put-downs and factors like suicide ideation. For us all, adult literacy and numeracy issues are a shared passion amongst us. If we were all Facebook friends, this would be the priority flowing between us all.

I was meant to have submitted this blog a few weeks ago but I chose to wait because important information has come to hand and was just released by the World Internet Project of New Zealand last Friday 9th December 2011. Please be aware that most of the information below has been directly ripped from the study’s Friday press release with my commentary next to it.

New Zealand is one of 30 countries involved in the World Internet Project – a longitudinal study that enables comparisons of Internet use across countries. AUT University, with funding from the National Library of New Zealand and from Internet NZ, conducted its first survey in 2007, the second in 2009 and the most recent in 2011.

The highlights of the World Internet Project in New Zealand are:

• Use of the Internet in New Zealand has continued to rise reaching 86 per cent in 2011, up from 79 per cent in 2007 and 83 per cent in 2009
• 69% of respondents rated the Internet as an important source of information ahead of television, newspapers, radio and other people.
• 58% of New Zealanders feel the Internet is important or very important in their everyday lives
• 40% of Internet users look up the definition of a word every week
• 59% surf the web daily
• Māori, Pasifika and Asian ethnicities are more likely to ‘make friends’ online than NZ Europeans
• More females (68% of those that use the Internet) use Social Networking Sites (SNS) than males (59%)
• 64 % of Internet users say they belong to a SNS
• SNS membership is highly stratified by age, attracting 87% of under-30s but only 34% of over-60s
• Of those with a SNS membership, 96% say Facebook is the site they use the most
• 72% of Internet users buy things online
• Almost half (48%) say they use the Internet to sell things

Of those still not using the Internet, reasons vary from not finding it interesting to not feeling confident using the technology. A surprisingly small number of respondents say financial constraints are their main reason.

If it will be of use to you and your work and social networks, I would recommend for you to get a Facebook membership if you’ve not already got one. In 2009, 74 per cent of those with a membership to a social networking site said they used Facebook the most often. This figure has jumped to 96 per cent in 2011. Facebook is the second most searched item on Google New Zealand in 2011.

“These changes illustrate the increasing embeddedness of the Internet in everyday home life. More and more New Zealanders (58 per cent) also affirm the overall importance of the Internet to their daily lives” says the research spokesperson Professor Alan Bell.

Tuiloma Lina’s recommendations to you all for technology:

• Embrace it and do not fear! Used smartly, it will save you money in these cash-strapped times
• Beware and check privacy settings rigorously – know that sites like Facebook own everything that you post there including photos and beware of posting links without checking them out first to see if they’re scams (I did this for the first time EVER last week and was mortified)!
• Get young people the “Digital Natives” on board with your work. Let the younger generations be your guide in training you about technology – they are the experts and will be able to get things done faster and more appropriately if they take a leading role. They will help to keep you relevant and set up your organisation well for succession planning.
• Once everything is online, it’s online FOREVER! (Well as long as the Ethernet lasts anyways) so be aware and careful what you post. You’ve heard of drunk dialling? Well there’s drunk texting and drunk posting as well. (Guilty)!
• Look at how YouTube might help you – it’s free to set up your own channel and you have a far extensive reach to publicise what you’re doing! Look at ACE Aotearoa’s YouTube channel and subscribe to it!
• Look at skyping – it’s free to join and can save you heaps on phone bills at skype.com
• If you’d like to make commentary and like to write go to blogspot and write blogs about how you’re feeling and issues that you are concerned with on blogspot.com
• Look at Dropbox where you are able to big files for free with each other, free up to 2 GB you have to pay more for data allowances.
• Look at joining Twitter.com and follow people and projects who you’re interested in. You can follow me by going to “Who to follow” and typing in @Slamu69. There is also an amazing young woman based in Wellington by the name of Eva Maria who presented an exceptional workshop about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants at the annual ACEAotearoa conference held in 2009 at Wellington. She can be followed at @EvaMaria12345
• Look at prezi.com and see how presentations can be eye poppingly even more wonderful with their zoom in and zoom out function as well as being able to post YouTube videos, audio recordings and whatever else you want to your presentation. Have a look at Coca-Cola’s presentation – it really got me switched on to prezi.
• Have a look at this on YouTube – Here are some middle school Kiwi kids who’ve created a video guide for you about going online to social networking sites (SNSs)! Just type in Kids on Social Networking on www.youtube.com. In particular I paid attention to the advice given at 1:11 where they say “Be cautious of suspicious links posted by friends. They may be phishing links that may compromise your entire account. They spread easily as they appear to be posted by people you trust”!

Go well everyone and best wishes for 2012 onwards! Ia manuia lava le tausaga fou!

References:

Christakis, Nicholas & Fowles, James. (2009). Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape our lives. London: Harper Press.
Prensky, Marc (2001). “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” in On the Horizon, MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001, 1-6

World Internet Project of New Zealand (2011) Auckland: AUT University

Zur & Zur (2010) Zur, O. & Zur, A. (2011): On Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives: How the Digital Divide Affects Families, Educational Institutions, and the Workplace. Zur Institute - Online Publication. Retrieved on month/day/year from http://www.zurinstitute.com/digital_divide.html

 

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