Table Of ContentDECONSTRUCTING
DIGITAL NATIVES
There have been many attempts to define the generation of students who
emerged with the Web and new digital technologies in the early 1990s. The term
“Digital Native” refers to the generation born after 1980, which has grown up
in a world where digital technologies and the Internet are a normal part of everyday
life. Young people belonging to this generation are therefore supposed to be
“native” to the digital lifestyle, always connected to the Internet and comfortable
with a range of cutting-edge technologies.
Deconstructing Digital Nativesoffers the most balanced, research-based view of this
group to date. Existing studies of digital natives lack application to specific
disciplines or conditions, ignoring the differences of educational fields and gender.
How, and how much, are learners changing in the digital age? How can a more
pluralistic understanding of these learners be developed? Contributors to this
volume produce an international overview of developments in digital literacy
among today’s young learners, offering innovative ways to steer a productive path
between traditional narratives that offer only complete acceptance or total dismissal
of digital natives.
Dr. Michael Thomas is Senior Lecturer in Language Learning Technologies
and Digital Business Communication in the School of Languages and International
Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.
DECONSTRUCTING
DIGITAL NATIVES
Young People, Technology
and the New Literacies
Edited by
Michael Thomas
First published 2011
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
The right of Michael Thomas to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Deconstructing digital natives: young people, technology, and the new
literacies/edited by Michael Thomas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Internet in education—United States. 2. Technology and youth—
United States. I. Thomas, Michael.
LB1028.5.D353 2011
371.33′44678—dc22 2010042832
ISBN 0-203-81884-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978-0-415-88993-3 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-88996-4 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-81884-8 (ebk)
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Foreword ix
DAVID BUCKINGHAM, University of London, UK
1 Technology, Education, and the Discourse of the
Digital Native: Between Evangelists and Dissenters 1
Michael Thomas, University of Central Lancashire, UK
PART I
REFLECTING ON THE MYTH
2 Digital Wisdom and Homo Sapiens Digital 15
Marc Prensky, Educational Technology Consultant, USA
3 Students, the Net Generation, and Digital Natives:
Accounting for Educational Change 30
Chris Jones, The Open University, UK
PART II
PERSPECTIVES
4 Disempowering by Assumption: “Digital Natives” and
the EU Civic Web Project 49
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics, UK
vi Contents
5 Japanese Youth and Mobile Media 67
Toshie Takahashi, Harvard University, USA, & Rikkyo
University, Japan
6 Analyzing Students’ Multimodal Texts: The Product
and the Process 83
Mike Levy, Griffith University, Australia
Rowan Michael, Griffith University, Australia
7 Citizens Navigating in Literate Worlds: The Case of
Digital Literacy 99
Ola Erstad, University of Oslo, Norway
8 Beyond Google and the “Satisficing” Searching of
Digital Natives 119
Gregor E. Kennedy & Terry S. Judd, University of Melbourne,
Australia
9 Actual and Perceived Online Participation Among
Young People in Sweden 137
Sheila Zimic & Rolf Dalin, Mid Sweden University, Sweden
10 Young Children, Digital Technology, and Interaction
with Text 151
Rachael Levy, University of Sheffield, UK
PART III
BEYOND DIGITAL NATIVES
11 Intellectual Field or Faith-based Religion: Moving on
from the Idea of “Digital Natives” 169
Sue Bennett, University of Wollongong, Australia
Karl Maton, University of Sydney, Australia
12 Reclaiming an Awkward Term: What We Might Learn
from “Digital Natives” 186
John Palfrey & Urs Gasser, Harvard University, USA
Notes on Contributors 205
Index 211
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
9.1 Internet activities by age group 144
9.2 Internet activities among 17–31 year olds according to
perceived feeling of participation 145
10.1 An application of Moje et al.’s (2004) construction of
“third space theory” 161
10.2 Shaun: Third space in between discourses of home and school 162
10.3 Caitlyn: Third space in between discourses of home and school 163
Tables
7.1 Different aspects and categories of digital literacy
(translated from Erstad, 2010b) 107
9.1 Sample sizes for 12–31 year olds 142
9.2 Questions related to the concept of “participatory culture” 142
9.3 Regression analyses—Gender, writing a blog, and information
about society on the perceived feeling of participation in the
information society 146
FOREWORD
The idea of a technological or media-related generation gap is by no means new.
One can look back to the 1960s, when the idea of the “television generation”
was popularly used as a shorthand means of explaining social change; and there
is an extensive history of such claims being used in relation to earlier popular
cultural forms. Such ideas are a staple element of “moral panics”; although they
also typically invoke much more diffuse and generalized concerns about the impact
of modernity. The idea of the generation gap entails a narrative of transforma-
tion, and even of rupture, in which fundamental continuities between the past
and the future have been destroyed. Such arguments have considerable emotional
appeal: by aligning claims about media and technology with ideas about childhood
and youth, they provide a powerful vehicle for some of our most intense hopes
and fears.
The contemporary idea of the “Digital Native”—and related formulations
such as the “digital generation” and the “net generation”—generally place a more
positive spin on this basic narrative. The problem here is not with the natives
themselves, but rather with the rest of us, the “Digital Immigrants” who remain
obstinately tied to older media, and who are failing to catch up with the times.
Such arguments often entail an almost utopian view of technology—a fabulous
story about technology liberating and empowering young people, enabling them
to become global citizens, and to learn and communicate and create in free and
unfettered ways.
Despite its popular appeal, the problems with this narrative are fairly apparent;
and many of them are rehearsed by the contributors to this volume, which usefully
brings together a range of empirical evidence on the issue. Proponents of the
digital natives argument typically overstate the extent and effects of technological
change and ignore elements of continuity. Yet the history of technology suggests
