Week 8 - Journal 2 abstract

In this article Livingstone takes a look at how the new media scene is developing and what it is doing to influence society. She states that as long as media is gradually progressing and changing, people should not find it difficult to cope, as new media culture is not actually new! What Livingstone means by this, is that it is not as though society has been suddenly bombarded with loads of new forms of media and incredulous internet expansion, but it has been a slow progression, allowing everyone to develop their skill around it. Although it is quick and constant change, it does not change society, or the economy but challenges it.

Week 8 - journal 1 abstract

This article highlights the issue of whether or not teachers are able to teach younger, more developed digitally, students about the internet and the changing media environments. Bayne and Ross really delve into the issues surrounding the needs digital natives have when it comes to learning stating that children need and thrive technological approaches of teaching when they are being taught, as it keeps them interested and moving forward. They go on to explain that teachers are put in a difficult position, as they are caught in a discourse that means they can't keep on top of the traditional methods, as well as struggling to develop and change to try and fullfill the needs of the students. Overall a simple midway point is wanted to be achieved by Bayne and Ross, allowing a constant and simple progression available for everyone, no matter what age or race.

Week 8

In the Harvard manner, name five different academic articles dealing with the notion of young people's facility with the new world of converged media.

1.) Bayne, S and Ross, J (2007) “The ‘digital native’ and ‘digital immigrant’: a dangerous opposition”, Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education, University of Edinburgh http://www.malts.ed.ac.uk/staff/sian/natives_final.pdf [25/03/09]

2.) Livingstone, S (1999), ‘New Media, New Audience’, New Media and Society Vol.1 pg 59- 68, http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/1/59 [26/03/09]

3.) Kelly, D et al. (2006), "No Boundaries? Girls’ Interactive, Online Learning About Femininity's" Youth and Society Vol 38, pg 3-28http://yas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/38/1/3 [25/03/09]

4.) Prensky, M (2005 )"Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom," Edutopia.
http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt%5b13/03/2009 [25/03/2009]

5.) Prensky, M. (2004) "Use Their Tools! Speak Their Language!", http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-Use_Their_Tools_Speak_Their_Language.pdf [25/03/09]

Week 8/9

Website 3 - This website looks at digital immigration cards in Mexico, showing their desire to progress with continuing they have with immigration between them and the USA. This website seems very profesional as it has a search engine in the top left hand corner, a very detailed menu, lots of advertisements and a very succinct first page, outlining the many issues on the subject. The website is also used to post all sorts of articles on the economy and other issues, mainly to do with the USA.

When using evidence, such as quotes and statistics, the website uses a bullet point format to make it alot easier to read and understand. It is a very well researched article because of the amount of information it provides on the subject, making it very useful.

It is with no doubt a reliable source, because, as i have mentioned, the amount of detail it has, and also the fact it is regularly updated, due to the amounts of articles it posts frequently, and this particular article in 2008, therefore it is not that outdated.

I believe this to be a very good website, without question, the best out of the three so far, and i do not have any disagreements with it.

Week 8/9

Website 2 - The second website i have chosen to analyse on digital immigration, discusses it from a business perspective for lawyers. It gives a brief description of what they do, and then describes why they are focusing on digital immigration. This allows the user to straight away, get to know what they are all about, as well as having a 'About us' section, making the user feel comfortable.

It is very factual, using alot of statistics and detailed explanations of the laws involving digital immigration. Similar to the other website it is very simple, using a table of ten sections to outline the rules and issues.

It seems very reliable because of the amount of detailed language it uses providing fact, which the user trusts because they are in a comfortable environment, due to the introductions.

However, i do have a disagreement with the layout, because it is rather scattered, and it is difficult to decide where to start. Also the language does prove to be quite difficult to understand, due to the amount of abreviations and statistics.

Week 8/9

Website one - The first website i found dealing with 'digital immigration' is very well layed out, making it really easy to use and find out the required information. It has a brief introduction at the begginning, discussing its main ideas about "new immigration" in America, which is then followed by a 'background' section, providing detailed dates and statistics about the movement of migrants into the USA.

The website has an extensive menu on the left hand side, with many options for the users, including multimedia options, teachers notes, visual learning and primary sources. This tells me it is very much in depth and provides the user with many options.

The website is very reliable because it states that has a copyright certificate and it is also updated regularly, as when i checked it, it has last been updated on the 13th of March 2009.

My only disagreement with this article is the fact that it seems rather old fashioned, although it is very well up to date, just things like the plain, normal font, the simplicity of the whole set up of the page is also very boring, making it hard to keep focused.

Week 8

Website 4

The fourth website i found focuses on the opportunities available to digital natives, via the internet and other aspects of the new media age. It is very well formatted and up to date as it looks very professional and it is simple to use. It uses many digital images and graphics to entertain and keep the user interested relating to the subject in hand, the rise and possibilities of the internet.

The only disagreement i would have with it, is that it is not very detailed, and does not provide the user with a lot f accountable evidence that can be used to much effect.

Website 5

The final website i analysed was slightly more in depth than the others, and asked the question whether or nor digital natives should learn the old methods, or digital immigrants should learn the new techniques and get up to date with the new media age.

The website itself is not up to date, and therefore cannot be taken into consideration when discussing 'current affairs' as well as not being able to identify with the new recent changes with the internet. Nevertheless it is very detailed and provides the user with a lot of information and key points on the comparison between digital immigrants and digital natives.

Week 8

What is Digital immigration?

A digital immigrant is usually someone over the age of 28. This is becuase they missed out on the digital age when they were younger, so it has taken them longer to develop their skills for using the internet. They usually can access the internet, but at times find themselves lost when they get to certain pages, as they've clicked on them accidentally.

The counterpart of a digital immigrant is a digital native, and that is someone who is very up to date with the technological world and the ever changing media.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=digital+immigrant

5 websites discussing Digital immigration.

1.) http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/immigration/index.cfm

2.) http://www.digitalimmigrationlawgroup.com/

3.) http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=083e0b4728d31cd23a57533cf02c46c5

4.) http://www.digitalnative.org/

5.) http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%2...mmigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

The search engine i used to research digital immigration was www.alltheweb.com and it was very detailed nad came up with many pages of results.

Week 7 - Distance learning in China

The information for this post has been collected from an online article by Zhao Yuhui and i will be analysing and discussing some of the main ideas developed throughout the article, 'China: Its Distance Higher-Education System'.

I find it intriguing that China developed distance learning, using televisions, in the early 1960's and then introduced television universities (TVU's). To me, this seems very early, and i believe the Chinese educational system took a risk in creating these learning facilities. Nevertheless it seems as though the learning technique works as the article provides evidence of the amount of students that have gained degrees from them, " During the period from 1960 to 1966, more than 8,000 students graduated from the Beijing Television University and over 50,000 students finished single-course studies through its teaching programmes." Therefore it has been successful and obviously worked in the early years of its introduction.

"The enrolment of these radio and television universities over the last eight years has totalled 1,291,833, and 590,941 students have graduated. The number of registered students in 1986 was 604,437 constituting one-third of the country's higher-education institute students." This shows that only less than half of the students who enrolled in these TVU's graduated, which is a very low percentage, proving that many students obviously find it difficult to connect with a screen or monitor, i think i would definately struggle to keep engaged and focused. It is also the fact that these TVU's are taking up one third of the countries educational system, which is too much, considering not everyone can connect with the process. However there is the point that Yuhui makes, stating that these universities needed fewer funds, and so more money could be used for staff training and other resources.

The TVU's educational system consists of five levels "corresponding to the organization of China's system of national and regional governments". It just shows the seriousness and amount of work that has gone into creating and sustaining this method of learning. The five levels succinctly define the terms and methods of learning that must be done and the guides for teaching them. I believe this outlines the positive future the Chinese educational board believe this method of teaching has.

The fact that technology is always developing and the new media scene is now occuring, it is apparent that this teaching method must be expanding and increasing its opportunities. This is proven through the increase in graduates and the amount of courses available, "Enrolled all-subject students have totalled over 1 million, and all-subject graduates have amounted to more than 500,000.","By 1990, about sixty new types of multi-media course will be developed." It is astounding the speed of the growth of TVU's and the standards are always improving as well.

Therefore, it is evident that the method of TVU's dived in at the deep end far too early, and many students suffered because of this, however this growth of resources and technology available, i think it is a great idea and has been very successful, and will only get better.

http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/Technology/broadcast/tv-02.html

Week 6 - Website analysis

The website i have chosen to analyse is http://www.skysports.com/, which has been around since July 1998. I have decided to analyse this website because i use it everyday because it is the quickest and most reliable site to get scores, results and information frequently updated on any sport.

It uses a very simple navigation system, providing the information for the reader in an easy to read format. The homepage is full of text, images and videos, however it is all layed out neatly, using a similar structure to a newspaper, making it familiar. It has the main story with a big picture in the top left of the page, main headlines to the right of that and then other stories, polls, scores and other links below them. It has a stylish sheet menu on the top on the page so you always know where you are and a search bar so anything can be located quickly. The homepage allwos the user to quickly browse over the page and know everything important that has happened throughout the day, without clicking on anything, very simple usage.

It includes an accessibility statement, help and FAQ's as well as contact information, therefore it can be trusted as being a well develped and a highly regarded website, as well as being very popular and very well known. It also has a privacy statement, so when i'm on it, or post a message in the forum, i feel safe. In addition it has a copyright notice and a terms and conditions notice, reassuring me that i am on a secure website with all the correct standard features.

As Lister points out, interactivity a very important commodity to a website and skysports.com is full of opportunities to get involved, as it provides forums to discuss the hot issues, blogs that anyone can post, emailing and even podcasting. Therefore it is very up to date with the 'new media' scene, providing something for everyone, allowing communication, discussions and opinion polls. This creates massive amounts of feedback for the website, providing users with the possibilty to have their say and get involved making it sociobly interactive. It is even possible to watch skysports live and even bet online on the current events.

Nevertheless, it is not this vast amount of interactivity and feedback options that appeal to me; it is the amount of information i can view and find out in such a short amount of time, that is updated as soon as they get the information, with very high standards of grammar and vocabulary. It is also so in tune with todays culture because at least every other person is interested in sport, and this website has all the information with all the gadgets, developing and changing in tandem with the new media scene.

Lister et al. (2003) New Media: A Critical Introduction, London: Routledge