“
OK, the idea that kids these days are “digital natives” is a nice, self-serving fairy tale. It makes tech-lovers feel good, because they feel like they are at the front of a curve. It makes educators feel good, because then they don’t have to teach a complicated and multi-level sets of skills and knowledges that they don’t have a strong grasp on themselves. It makes government types feel good because they don’t need to devote resources to it. It makes the kids feel special, and kids need that. The problem is, of course, that it’s pretty much false — saying kids are “digital natives” because they can text, send email, and use facebook (all services provided by profit-driven companies, who love this false paradigm as well), is like claiming that kids these days are all automotive engineers because they have driver’s licenses.
I teach freshmen. Most of them have the barest idea of how to use the Internet except for simple, pre-packaged tasks. They have little concept of wider issues, like selecting a tool outside of their very limited set of daily resources, dealing with privacy (which they care very much about, but don’t have the understanding to guess how to deal with it), or asking questions about the purpose of the technology. And these are the reasonably well-off kids who have had access to the web for most of their lives. Students from less advantaged backgrounds have greater hurdles.
So, yeah, forget this idea of “digital natives.” Now, a library could help them get closer to that ideal, but we are busy closing the libraries becaue the “digital natives” don’t need them. And who, I wonder, benefits from a large mass of people who can’t do anything except what the tools they are sold let them?
” —The notion of “digital natives” is comforting, but in the end, it’s a myth.
California Dreamin’ | MetaFilter (via ayjay)
(via philk)
My latest side project is live. It’s a website for multipurpose chamois cream. It soothes butts, and fights diabetes.
Dale on Flickr.
Sunday was too cold and windy a day for a ride. So I shot some photos instead. Fortunately there were plenty of interesting folks to point my lens toward.
Stowe Boyd: MG Siegler Says 'Most Of What Is Written About The Tech World Is Bullshit' -
An interesting change of heart, and an admission of what has been obvious to those who aren’t dependent on page view driven reporting.
MG Siegler confesses that he and many other tech writers have been doing a piss-poor job:
MG Siegler, Content Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink via ParisLemon
Most of what is written about the tech world — both in blog form and old school media form — is bullshit. I won’t try to put some…
For the new bike, this
Photo by Rivendell Bicycles
or this?
Photo by Arundel Bike
The correct answer is not “carbon.”
Columbus Max Bikes, a group on Flickr.
Lots of Max goodness. Best of all, I’ll be adding my own to this group very soon.
(Source: socialmediatoday.com)
[video]
Registration for the 2012 JDRF Rides to Cure started at noon today, and within minutes I had signed on for the Tour de Tucson event. This’ll be season number five for me, and I’ll keep going back until we’re there to celebrate a cure for diabetes.
Let the training begin.
[video]
