All the Toys and Tools of the Digital Age

And what have we got this time Q?

Who does not remember the James Bond movies, each one introducing a wonderful new gadget? Those ingenious instruments acquired more and more importance as the series progressed. The cinephiles anticipated them in each new release. Q would demonstrate a stratagem near the beginning of the movie, some special device that would play a critical role later. (Chechovs Gun Principle  - if you are not going to use it later don't put it in the narrative!). However, compared to the toys and tools on the market today, Bond's bag of tricks seem pretty feeble indeed.

Our engaging devices are not to be found in a movie as often as they are in the local Apple store! (Or perhaps last week at the Annual Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas!) Mark Prensky, (Prensky - University Press -  October 2001) an American writer and a  keynote speaker, talks about the generation who are 'digital natives', those brought up in the digital age and the rest of us......'digital immigrants'.  Unlike the 'natives' we poor 'immigrants' have to adapt to a changing environment. The natives pick up a device and start using it right away. They depend on the program itself to teach them how! As an 'immigrant' my first move is to search out the manual or buy the latest Dummies book! When trying to learn a new program, give me a good old fashioned written list of procedures! Prensky may have a point when he says we who were born prior to 1980, and I certainly meet that criterion, were socialized differently. Of course he was  referring primarily to what he sees as a growing cleft between professors and students! I think we can stretch his comparisons to a much wider audience. Granted it is a generalization, nevertheless it does make some sense in all cases.

Natures Devices Still the Best!

For example, researchers have made some progress in the use of social media in higher education. No doubt there is some disjuncture between the needs of the so called 'digital natives' and the educational institutions. Integration of social media into education is definitely a start. Facebook and Twitter hold some promise if used properly. They might help build better relationships between the two groups or allow a student to ask a question they would not ask in class.

However, education like all interpersonal relationships, ultimately works best person-to-person. A UCLA study shows effective communication depends mostly (55%) on the non-verbals - like vocal, eye contact and body language.

Yes, Twitter and Facebook have an important role to play in our collective and often separated life styles. But sitting down face-to-face is still the best way to communicate and nothing will ever change that in my life time.

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week