Basics

> We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.
> -- **Douglas Adams**
>
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If you've reached this point, it's possible you know little about using technology in a student affairs context. The question *"What should I be using technology for?"* can be overwhelming and disorienting for those who did not grow up utilizing similar technologies like most of today's students.

This page is designed to be a basic primer for understanding not just current trends and terms in technology as they apply to higher education and student affairs, but also the larget internet culture (as seen in the section on *memes*). We hope that this article will be one that evolves with trends and terms that come to popular use through its existence.

## Web 2.0: Defined

http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html

## Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants

Let's move on to a bit of terminology commonly used throughout this wiki:

**Digital Natives**are largely millennials (as well as some Gen Xers and Baby Boomers) who have grown up in a context where they consistently use and adapt to technology. They quickly pick up new forms of technology (from social media platforms to devices like tables) and have integrated them into their daily lives.

**Digital Immigrants,** on the other hand, have come to modern technology (especially computing and the Internet) like Plato's allegorical Cave. How do you describe that which you previously had no language for? Technology is not just a new tool, it is an entirely different paradigm. This fact alone can be overwhelming for many.

These complementary terms were coined by Marc Prenski in a 2001 article, in which he says that digital immigrants are essentially speaking a different language from digital natives. Their teaching and managerial methods seem outdated. Many SSAOs and mid-managers fall into this category, potentially putting them at odds with their digital native employees and students. For digital immigrants*,* the key is to adapt their current processes to better suit modern tendencies while not giving up the heritage and legacy that made them successful in the first place - a tricky proposition if there ever was one.

It is also important to remember that not all millennials are digital natives and not all boomers are digital immigrants. A young student from an impoverished background may struggle when trying to use a complicated learning management system, and Bill Gates -- a man who spent more time in a computer lab during his youth than many current students -- would likely scoff at the digital immigrant title.

As in nearly every other respect, if we treat all of our students or colleagues as carbon copies of one another, we lose out on their unique perspective. Truly effective technological integrators will keep this truth in mind.

## What is Digital Literacy?

One area that many professionals get wrong is *how* technology should be taught to students (both undergraduate and graduate). It is easy to assume that simply teaching relevant platforms like Twitter or Facebook will adequately prepare students for using technology in the real world. It is important to remember, of course, that technology and our capacity for it are evolving at a breakneck pace - a decade ago no one had ever heard of Twitter; two decades ago Geocities and Netscape Navigator were juggernauts in their respective fields. One has only to look at a chart of search popularity for Myspace and Facebook to see just how rapid change on the Internet is.

With that in mind, **digital literacy** has emerged as an answer to that expected evolution. As Cornell Information Technology defines it, digital literacy is "the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content" on computers/devices or the Internet.

The idea is simple: instead of teaching students and professionals how to use specific tools, we should be focused on teaching them the ability to adapt and learn those tools on their own. Digital literacy can cover topics ranging from research in a library to ensuring sensitive data privacy. It is a technical philosophy akin to the old saying of "if you teach a man to fish..."

## The Surprising Origin of Memes

You may have seen them pop up in odd places across the Internet: *memes.*There are hundreds if not thousands of variations on the theme: usually a pre-determined image in the background with text in the upper and lower foreground. There's even a website to help you create your own (fair warning: that link is likely not safe for work). The question, however, remains: where did memes originate and why should or shouldn't a professional use them in their work?

 http://www.academia.edu/3649116/Makes\_a\_Meme\_Instead\_A\_Concise\_History\_of\_Internet\_Memes

## References

1. ↑ http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=myspace%2C%20facebook&cmpt=q&tz=
3. ↑ http://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/welcome/dpl0000.html