Not special Thursday

In lieu of recent events, and being enrolled in this class... I attempted to find answers on social media, 'the right response' to the current tragic events, in Buffalo, NY, and Uvalde, TX.

I realized I was looking for people online to say something appropriate, to answer, to resolve the current situation in our country. I skimmed Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok... nothing anyone said offered enough condolences that were needed, and I know I am incapable of delivering the message, here on this blog or at all, I prefer to remain silent at the moment if that were part of the assignment. 

Honestly, I didn't want to see anything irrelevant. I wanted answers and solutions. It was frustrating to me, the non-chronology of social media, the mixing of current events with yesterday's news of someone's birthday party or a bad meme... the mixed-up timelines on the social media platforms felt insensitive.

It's difficult to reflect this week, in addition to the circumstances I also may have COVID.

Calling on Colleagues

I am giddy with that familiar blogging feeling that I got during my peak blogging years, ages 14-23. I set myself up too. If you listened to "Episode 2, Settling into Web 2.0," you'd have known I'd be posting today. Despite not being entirely sure that I want to write, I have the same adrenaline, excitement, and a fluid flow of potentiality that I might create something that truly comes from my innermost authentic self. Ah, I have long awaited to get back into the flow of blogging, and I am supremely excited that I have a CoP, Community Of Practice, and Personal Learning Network with me as I re-embark on this journey. These classmates of mine, perhaps you who are reading (I hope), are also writing such brilliant and inspirational entries that truly ignite my interests in the course topics and provide my learning with such depth and complexities of original thought, experiences, and introspections that I would have never gotten just reading the class material lonesome.

Some of my personal favorites and key bloggers of interest in the class for me so far are: 

The motherboard blog is the OG EME6414 Web 2.0, written by Doc.

This is Lohe Pono by Kalei Holt, a Hawaiian Environmentalist working with youth in the non-profit sector.

Trev Willians of TW's Blog also conducts the FarmTraveler podcast about farm-to-table restaurants and sustainable, environmental entrepreneurs and projects. 

I am a fan of Tired Teacher, who, seemingly without effort, always provides insightful and thoughtful reflections on the weekly topics and readings.

Finally, my master's career-long study buddy super-woman friend, Melanie Yurewitch, is an excellent person to have in my blogosphere, who I appreciate on a-whole-nother-level. In addition to being a student, she does two hands-full things, including mothering two children under two, working full-time with youth, home-care, and (personal interest bonus and possible theme for my semester) she studied Environmental Science, we regularly connect to on the backchannels. She's a significant influencer for me to stay motivated and engaged. I highly recommend finding a study buddy or blog buddy!

Which blogs are your favorite? How many do you read!? Please share a mini-description of your blog!

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?