David White and Alison Le Cornu (2011) present that web users can be divided into two groups, visitors and residents, according to how they use it. The following text is a short description of what categorizes visitors and residents.
Residents see the web as a place like any other in the “real world.” The line between their online and offline lives is blurred. Residents spend time with other people in virtual communities, have profiles on social networking platforms, and have a digital identity. On the other hand, visitors use literacies for specific tasks, like searching databases for information, using email to keep in touch with friends, etc. The visitor is anonymous online and avoids having a digital identity as they find little value in belonging online (White and Le Cornu, 2011).
During our first topic, I’ve been thinking about my own use of digital literacies and what is considered private and professional. I was born in 1988, and my childhood was without computers and an online presence. I still remember when my parents got us a family computer with a dial-up modem, and I was excited to dive into the online world. In the beginning, I used the computer for web searching, emails, playing games, and talking with friends online. My usage changed in 2007 when I moved to the U.S for a year as an au-pair. I started to use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family and later joined other social network platforms. In the beginning, I was more of a resident than a visitor. It became a way of being close to home and made posts regularly, and had an open profile for anyone to see.
Before teaching, I worked as a social worker in social services with children and their families. Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for social workers in this area to receive threats in their profession from parents due to decisions made regarding their children. As a new social worker, I soon realized that clients had accessed my personal Facebook profile. This made me uncomfortable, and I didn’t want the line between personal and professional to get blurred and made my digital presence barely noticeable. Since becoming a teacher and entering this ONL-course, I’ve started to consider if being more resident would be such a bad thing?
Reference:
White, D. & Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
Anja Schmidt-Christensen
Thanks for sharing Johanna! I can relate in a way. My husband is police officer and quite active on facebook for personal use in groups for his sport and a charity project. We agreed that he would never show faces of our kids and me, because we are worried that some day a crazy person would show up on our door step…
David Bevington
Johanna
This is an interesting exploration of David White’s visitor resident model. I like how you map your own experience on to the model and demonstrate how we can move from visitor to resident and back again depending on personal circumstances and situations. It would be interesting to see your maps for the different periods of your life. Your final comment show how deeply the digital environment has permeated our lives.
Marwa
Good and Interesting blog that focuses on how our digital map changes with time during our different periodes of life and that it depends on age, work , occupation ..
Selen
I don’t know if I can use this term for a digital environment where I am newly introduced but your blog looks cozy and I really liked it:) The same feeling with the post too; you were “open” (a subtle reminder of our Topic 2 work for the PBL11 members reading this post:) about your preferences of not being so given the circumstances. That creates an instant feeling of connection. Thank you for sharing that.
Agata
I liked the title of your blog because I thought the same about my role here in this course. I agree that showing off entirely in your Facebook account feels uncomfortable but it seems inevitable in current society. I compare it to the use of phone 50 years ago. Those who didn’t have it simply couldn’t communicate so quickly and seemed ‘delayed’ in a civilized world.
Bahareh Aghajafari wolde
Dear Johanna!
Nice clean blog design. I wonder as teacher which group you are blonging to now adays? Do you see any benefits of openness on the web?