Digital Immigrants? Call them by their [proper] name, OG generation.

This week's readings make me want to pull up some learning theories and flush through my notes a bit.

So, I read these articles out of the prescribed order (by Doc), and Prensky's Digital Native (2001) should have been read first as the other articles were written almost two decades later... In that way, it seems silly to criticize his writing because there is quite a lot of sensibility to it, especially in its written time.

Regarding the idea of digital natives vs. digital immigrants... the first thing that comes to mind is similar to the validity questioning (but instead of with the natives), 'digital immigrants' quite possibly not being the most desirable term, being that it is generalizing. Side note, many countries call immigrants different terms depending on the culture, for example, ex-pats in Asia. Next, what about the quality of the generation that witnessed the founding and growth of technology? They should have their own cyber-appropriate generational-generalization? They were the generation of brilliant movies like Hackers and the Matrix Trilogy. They were on the brink of studying space through new-age sci-fi films and the time/space travels of Star Trek and Star Wars. It is entirely unfair to just call these people who witnessed the turn of an age digital immigrants as if they had come into something that others had originated when they were a part of the origins! Like how African-Americans helped create the society America is today, they were not immigrants. They were part of the founding civilizations that established the foundation of what has been built upon for the generations that were birthed amongst the greatness. They saw the development of these revolutionary tools, and some of them embraced it. These people are the OG Generation, in my personal opinion. Technology was the newest, shiniest, fastest tool. These people really embraced the possibilities and inventiveness of what was and continued to arrive, a new dimension, if you will.

A digital native, in my opinion, might not be as prone to excitement about technology. As if it’s an old discarded toy. While they grew up, they didn't get to see the discovery of slicing bread. They were just given a slice. I know, I'm writing this ENTIRELY BIASED, both as an OG Net user by association and as 'just grazing' the digital native divide, and as a total nerd/geek (but the way less cool kind, I don't know nearly as much as the cool ones… you know the ones that build networks and computers and softwares) that has been ABSOLUTELY FASCINATED by the development of Web 2.0 as I saw it in Windows 95 and ICQ era... I wasn't a passenger of the 'nth' satellite floating in space. I was amongst those who witnessed those who witnessed the Sputnik go 'there'. I truly respect the OG generation (the ones who taught me about the potential and possibilities of the web) and I don’t know if that makes me a digital native or an OG poser/wannabe or an OG by association… but the OGs should not be discarded as foreigners. The OGs witnessed the Big Bang of the Internet, they aren’t foreigners! They are observers and the OriginalGangsters of the net! Let us not forget the OG generation!!! They deserve an applause for harnessing the power and igniting the take-off of the net we know today!

Ps. Or Digital OG?! You tell me?