[Air-l] On-line behaviour

[John Veitch]

Alexis Turner wrote:
> This response is indicative of something I have been thinking about a lot 
> lately, which can basically be summed up by asking "WHY do we expect people to 
> use the web to the extent to which we, web professionals and scholars, do?" and 
> "WHY are we so dumbfounded when they don't?" In particular, I have really begun 
> to question my own horrified, but, ultimately, knee jerk reaction to discovering 
> that someone does not "engage," "participate," or "produce" things on the web.  
> After all, I don't grow my own food, fix my own car, or build my own 
> calculators, so why should I expect others to learn HTML, join a list, or 
> defrag their own harddrive?  

Hello Alexis

I've very pleased to see you take this up.
Yesterday I thought I'd found somebody who agreed with concerns I've 
been expressing for three years. I refer to "The Digital Divide and What 
to Do About it" by Eszter Hargittai and drawing on the work of Paul 
DiMaggio. Sadly this paper acknowledges the same problem that I've 
identified and then gets lost.
(Thank you to the person who posted that link.)

Researchers: Find some real live "ordinary people". Sit them in front of 
a terminal. Ask them to do what they always do on-line.  Watch and 
learn. I promise you the FIVE people will be enough to convince you that 
there is a serious problem and to give you research work that will keep 
you busy for about 10 years.

Alexis; you might contract out your vehicle maintenance and your 
vegetable growing, but I hope you are not going to contract out your 
ability to think, your eating, and your ability to make friends.

If people are going to be on-line they need to understand the value of 
and the importance of three simple things.
1. Know how to keep your computer safe.
2. Find and join groups of people who share your interests (Both on-line 
and off-line).
3. Join and participate in a social network on-line.

About 50% of people can't do number one, about 80% of people are not 
doing number two, and about 95% of people don't do number three.

These three things are basic to on-line engagement. If you are going to 
learn to think more deeply, more widely, and to more purpose, you need 
to be connected to other people. The promise of the digital age is a 
fraud if you as an individual can't become part of it. That means you 
MUST be able to participate, not merely be a consumer. You have to 
develop your own brain. You can't buy one at the supermarket.

Regards
John

-- 

John Stephen Veitch
http://www.ate.co.nz
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