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Debunking the 'digital native': beyond digital apartheid, towards digital democracy.

This paper interrogates the currently pervasive discourse of the 'net generation' finding the concept of the 'digital native' especially problematic, both empirically and conceptually. We draw on a research project of South African higher education students' access to and use of Information and Comm...

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Published in:Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 357 - 370
Main Authors: Brown C, Czerniewicz L
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Oct2010
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Oct2010
      vid: 26
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
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        10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00369.x
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        atl: Debunking the 'digital native': beyond digital apartheid, towards digital democracy.
      aug:
        au:
          Brown C
          Czerniewicz L
        affil: Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa. Email: cheryl.brown@uct.ac.za
      sug:
        subj:
          Computers and Computerization Utilization
          Students, College
          Access to Information
          Adult
          Age Factors
          Colleges and Universities
          Descriptive Statistics
          Female
          Funding Source
          Human
          Male
          Socioeconomic Factors
          South Africa
          Student Attitudes
          Students, Foreign
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: This paper interrogates the currently pervasive discourse of the 'net generation' finding the concept of the 'digital native' especially problematic, both empirically and conceptually. We draw on a research project of South African higher education students' access to and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to show that age is not a determining factor in students' digital lives; rather, their familiarity and experience using ICTs is more relevant. We also demonstrate that the notion of a generation of 'digital natives' is inaccurate: those with such attributes are effectively a digital elite. Instead of a new net generation growing up to replace an older analogue generation, there is a deepening digital divide in South Africa characterized not by age but by access and opportunity; indeed, digital apartheid is alive and well. We suggest that the possibility for digital democracy does exist in the form of a mobile society which is not age specific, and which is ubiquitous. Finally, we propose redefining the concepts 'digital', 'net', 'native', and 'generation' in favour of reclaiming the term 'digitizen'.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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