The Perspective of a Digital Native

While reading “Not Your Father’s Internet,” and “Digital Natives,” I began to realize just how large the generation gap between my parents and me really is. So many technological advances have occurred in the past fifty years, and the internet is by far one of the most important advances. Everything between us and our parents ways of life growing up has been different, they way we communicate, find information, and socially interact with one another has been affected by the internet. The use of the internet has also affected politics, and the way politicians are attracting voters. As a digital native, I am aware that I have advantages in my knowledge of the internet and technology over digital residents and digital immigrants. So, for something like the Media and Communications department website, how can my knowledge and expectations of the internet help to improve the website?
In the recent presidential election, it was pretty obvious that Barack Obama had made a clear and better connection to young voters than John McCain had, and it helped him win the election. Looking at their ages, John McCain is much older and considered a digital immigrant, while Barack Obama is not even fifty, and considered a digital resident. A comparison of their websites also shows the differences in appearance and sophistication, with Barack Obama’s website having a very formal appearance, and John McCain’s website resembling a News Channel website. Young people get most of their information from the internet, so when we go to a website, we expect the information to be laid out for us in a clear, organized matter. We also like being involved in a website, in the article “Not Your Father’s internet,” the authors refer to research in that “young people turn to the Internet not to join a passive audience for politics, but rather to seek their own audiences and engage in active processes of creation and interaction.” The terms “interactivity” and “coproduction” are two terms used frequently in this article that describe what people are looking for out of their internet experience and why. Coproduction is essentially what we are doing in class right now for a better Communications department website; bringing the user into the process of producing and manipulating the content of the website. And interactivity is what we are striving towards for this website because it is about getting the user fully immersed in the website by viewing the material and possibly contributing to it. So with this in mind, I think a blog would be a great attribute to the website because students would be able to ask questions, get involved, and communicate with one another. Students like to get feedback and see what other people are talking about, and a blog could be a place for students, professors, and alumni to communicate. Obviously, a blog like this would have to monitored and updated, but that could possibly be given as a class assignment in one of the media and communication courses. The communications website should be a place where students can access information and also get feedback from their peers and advisors, and in this day and age where much of what young people do is through the internet, a blog would be a great tool of communication and interaction.