5) What is the 'semantic web'?

The semantic web is a push by the World Wide Web consortium to standardise data and information in a universal format. By establishing these standards the semantic web aims to create a WWW that is understandable by computers on a similar level to that of human understanding. By improving computers understanding of information on the WWW it is hoped that they will be able to do more of the everyday tasks normally associated with human interaction. Examples of these include searching and combining of information. An example of this being the W3C group's "Scientific Publishing Task Force" which aims to revolutionise the way scientific research is performed by allowing the real time publishing of data online.

6) How does it differ from web 3.0?

This links into the notion of web 3.0 as semantic web is seen by some as part of this new 'web' . Wed 3.0 attempts to blur the boundaries between human-computer interaction by attempting to make computers 'think' more like humans. For example if you wanted to go our for a meal and see a film currently you would need to search online for film times/locations, choose your type of restaurant, location, opening times and then bring all of these searches together to make sure everything worked ( e.g. your film doesn't start half way through your food ). Web 3.0 aims to allow users to input more complex 'human' search information. "I would like to have a Chinese meal and then see a film. Which places are best?" Web 3.0 would then 'decode' your search, perform the necessary searches for restaurants etc. and collate the possible options for you (the inclusion of information from 'review' sites could also be used to provide you with peoples opinions of your options). Some even claim that web 3.0 could begin to 'learn' your preferences and make informed recommendations. The best way to imagine this system would be to look at the current trend for 'price comparison websites' These take a lot of data from different companies and turn this into usable information for the user. Web 3.0 proposes this kind of usability but on a dramatically bigger scale.

4) Is there a potential problem being stored up for people if 'education' is tailored to fit into their cultural and personal preferences?

If tailored educational programs were widely available, I believe it would change the way our society work and learn completely. It is because I was forced to learn the same way as everyone else that I excelled at certain subjects and struggled on others. I'm a visual learner, so I found maths hard to learn without using something physical in order to understand it. My maths teacher struggled to understand my problem and therefore thought I was lazy. This was the main reason I never bothered pursuing the subject and barely scraped a pass. If I hadn't have achieved a C grade I would have never gone to 6th form and thus never attended University either (even though I never endeavoured in studying maths).
This is just one example, but personal preferences in learning would allow many people to become more knowledgeable and also more interested in a lot of subjects. However, the potential problems with this idea should also be highlighted. Attention to individuals can breed a spoilt attitude and allow the child to believe their way is the right way. This may not be harmful in education but it could certainly affect their later personality and friend making could become problematic. Personal learning could also affect life in the work place, as many might expect the same treatment with their managers as they did with their teachers.
This is all mere theorising, as for there to be a system of tailored education we would need a teacher to every student and the funds for different apparatus depending on the situation.
My conclusion is that although this idea would provide many with an education they may never have had, the notion is expensive and impractical, with some potentially damaging effects.

e) Describe the experience of a fictional technophile student in 2020.

I'm going to come back to this question, as it's impossible to tell what technology we will have in 2020. We could have not progressed very much (with micro chips being as small as we can make them right now). In this case, the technology will be the same, just upgraded. A technophile would have all the new technology and be very proud and possessive of it. However, we may have made a huge discovery in technology. We may have pulled off using technology to advance medicine, or be using some sort of virtual technology by this point. A technophile would probably be incredibly excited about any technological advancements and want everyone to be as enthusiastic as themselves.

d) Describe the daily frustrations of a fictional neo-luddite at university now in the UK.

Meet Pixie, my fictional neo-luddite, currently studying at Lincoln University.

Pixie is woken at 7:00 am by the annoyingly loud bells of her retro alarm clock. After a few disgruntled attempts at switching the darned thing off she manages to knock it off the desk where it makes a few last dings and falls silent. Pixie grumbles to herself that the alarm is the bane of her life, but she wasn't allowed a cockerel in student accommodation. Her other flatmates have quieter alarms on their phones, and hate being woken by Pixie's alarm even more than she does.
Pixie gets herself up and dressed. She checks her appearance in the mirror and reminds herself that she must see a dentist soon. Her crooked teeth make manual brushing hard and consequently have started to deteriorate. She snarls at her bed hair, but carries on getting ready regardless. "No need to try and do anything with it" she tells herself. The muggy air left by having no heater or air conditioning always left her with fluffy hair, but straighteners were out of the question. She knew the students at university thought she was strange and this was the main reason she was shy in class and therefore had not made friends.
Pixie grabs her coat and bag and sets off to uni, grabbing an apple before she goes in order to avoid having to cook a big breakfast. She knew she'd be hungry before she got back, but it just seemed like the least complicated option.
Pixie's accommodation was just out of town. She'd opted for one closer to the university, but as she wanted to book herself in in person rather than over the phone she missed the opportunity and was left walking down Steep Hill every day. It was for this reason she had to get up so early. Pixie seemed cheerful this morning however - the weather was sunny so she wasn't too cold by the time she made it to uni.
Pixie sat herself in the corner of class and tried not to be noticeable. She'd decided to study English as she loved reading, but struggled to keep up with the lecturer's notes. Most of her classmates brought laptops into the lecture theaters and she was amazed by how much they could write! Mostly, by the time Pixie came to revise she could no longer read her rushed handwriting and the notes were disregarded as useless. Pixie hadn't recieved the best marks for her last assignment and she was reluctant to start revising for the next. She was supposed to type her essays up on the computer and her excuse of "I don't own one" had not gone down well with the board. She was told for her next one she must use the computers provided at the University and she felt embarrassed to explain she'd never used a computer in her life. Pixie felt more and more alone every day.
After arriving back at student accomodation after a hard day avoiding peoples gazes at university, all Pixie wanted to do was go home. She'd been feeling progressively more homesick the last few weeks but was worried about getting a train on her own. She had no money left to use a payphone and as she didn't own one herself she contemplated writing her parents a letter in hopes they'd visit her.
She spent the day reading up on the upcoming exam categories. The books were boring but she had no idea how to research on the internet and had no desire to do so. Pixie spent most evenings in her room bored. She couldn't understand her flatmate's obsession with TV and the lads with their computer games. It all seemed childish and scary to Pixie. Her flatmates thought Pixie was a boring recluse and never bothered to ask her to go clubbing with them, though she wished they did occasionally. As much as Pixie wished to be normal, she knew she wasn't accepted in this new age where everything seemed to do what you want by just looking at it.

From Pixie's experience, we understand that life is lonely for a neo-luddite. She is different to her friends, and they don't understand her. With so many other people getting on with each other fine, Pixie gets left out and this effects her social and work life. Pixie struggles with her grades because she doesn't wish to use the new technology, but is embarrassed to be sectioned as needing special treatment so carries on regardless.
New media is part of our everyday lives. Those who get left behind in this age are quickly becoming referred to as strange or in some cases stupid. It seems it is not acceptable to refuse technology in modern society.

c) A person known to you (could be you, but you don't need to admit it!) who most threatens the notion of native/immigrant in digital culture.

This would have to be my example of the oldest digital native I know, as this person should technically be a digital immigrant. Without repeating myself with the explanations made in the previous post, I think the notion of environmental technology threatens and challenges this theory. By this I mean the amount that a subject is exposed to technology throughout their life affects their ease of understanding of new technology. My digital native subject played Atari and Commodore computers when they were younger and I expect would have known other types of technology. My digital immigrant subject had no interest in technology other than television until the last few years. I believe any experience of digital media furthers our knowledge of new technology. This helps us to implement this knowledge into stretching our boundaries and learning new ways of using media.

b) The youngest digital immigrant you know.

This is a tricky question for me to answer, as most of my friends are very much into technology with around 80% being on the games design course at Lincoln University. I only have one example of a digital immigrant and they are around 54-55 years old. Although this is not a particularly young example, they are the person I (and my oldest digital native subject) help with technology. The things that make this most obvious are not their compliance with computers but their comfortability with them. It is the little things that give them away. For instance, they text with one finger (whereas most digital natives will hold a phone between both hands and text with two thumbs) and they read every button thoroughly before clicking it on the PC (most digital natives recognise button functions by their mere colour/image/shape/words.)

This is not a brilliant example but it proves that in my life I have seen the people around me grasping technology as fast as I have myself.

a) The oldest digital native you know.

I would describe this person as a digital native as they are the person I (as a digital native) go to with help with my technology. When I had my first computer it was this person who set it up and taught me how to use it. In order to explain why this person is still a digital native in my own mind is to say they seem comfortable around technology. I believe the reason why many older people cannot grasp new media is because they are scared of the consequences and have no background knowledge of its capabilities. This may conclude that it is my subjects confidence that makes them so good with technology, and not their knowledge. Either way, for a person of this age to be seemingly better at technology than someone half their age makes them an honorary digital native in my mind.

3) Should education 'stretch a person do you think? (What do you mean by 'stretch'?)

Stretch: extend the scope or meaning of; often unduly; "Stretch the limits"; "stretch my patience"; "stretch the imagination"

By my knowledge, stretch usually means to over extend oneself in order to obtain something just out of reach. I believe education should work in similar ways. Learning at University should never be too difficult that one can not hope to understand it. However, in a metaphorical sense, learning should not be as easy as picking up the remote control and switching on the TV. Our education should force us to get up and switch the thing on ourselves!

As I was new to the Media course this year and have no experience in the field, I have definitely found the course to be a broadening experience. Some parts of the course required me to have knowledge of new technology, history or theorists. This I have had to read up on in order to catch up with the rest of the class. Other parts required my common sense and reasoning - for instance this blog often asks my personal opinion on issues or to explain a tricky contemplation in a way that makes it easier to understand. Both have stretched my knowledge and intellect, yet I have not given up hope on furthering myself, as every time I arrive at something that was out of my reach before, something else appears in the distance.

Week Eight - Task One

What is digital immigration?

Find out about 'Digital Immigration'. What Is it? Who cares about it? What sort of general attitudes have been based upon it?

Digital immigration is a term introduced by Marc Prensky that describes the state in which our society find themselves in in this digital age. With technology evolving rapidly and becoming more and more integrated within our daily lives it is up to us to find where we fit with the change. This is where digital immigration comes in. Digital immigration has been described as a language which we must learn - and like any language, there will be those who have grown up understanding it and therefore will be far more fluent and at home with it. These are the digital natives - the new generation of the population who have known no different to having computers, phones and digital TV as part of their everyday lives. Digital immigrants on the other hand are those of us 25 and above who have to try and grasp this rapidly advancing technology.
This term is especially important to academics, researchers and those interested in education and media. From the URLs I have mentioned below I have shown journalists, media and education researchers and even neuro-scientists are interested in this phrase.
Although many are shown to agree or merely muse the possibilities of digital immigration there are others who claim the idea as impossible (as shown in the earlier URLs). I personally believe the scientific approach can prove or disprove the theory. If indeed, digital comfort is linked with language learning then it is definitely a possibility. However, if we are all wired to react with technology differently, it doesn't matter how many generations pass - there will always be those who struggle to grasp the media.

Week Eight - Task Two

Identify five different websites/five-pages-on-different sites dealing with digital immigration and digital nativism. Give their urls.

(I did a few more as I struggled finding actual websites on digital immigration. Some of these I consider articles instead)

http://jsavage.org.uk/?p=34

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_native

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

http://weblog.siba.fi/msalavuo/2008/09/12/are-university-students-digital-natives/

http://www.newsweek.com/id/163924

http://www.wordspy.com/words/digitalnative.asp

http://privateschool.about.com/b/2006/07/24/are-you-a-digital-native-or-digital-immigrant.htm

Week Eight Task Three

In your blog critisise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, useability and practising what it preaches.

Website 7

My last website is an earlier addition, written on July 24th 2006. The author is an educated man interested in private schools and education. This means that although the article is written in the style of a blog, the piece comes over as well structured and written - and also fairly entertaining.
Because of the authors' interest in schools and teaching, this blog relates to the idea of teachers dealing with the digital age and their reaction to digital natives. Therefore, this gives a new context to the theory, making the site a good example of the ways in which those who are not natives change also.
There are few links provided, but a poll and comment field are in place in order to attract public opinion.
Although this blog is well written and easy to understand, I would say it's usage serves little purpose other than putting theory into different context. It should therefore be used as another acknowledgement of digital natives and immigrants and how such theories affect different lives.

Week Eight Task Three

In your blog critisise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, useability and practising what it preaches.

Website 6

My sixth website article was posted on 10th April 2008 and works in similar ways to website 3. The format is similar again to a dictionary, yet this time offers a more formal style and goes into more depth, including quotes, links and related words / categories of digital natives. An interesting addition is its 'earliest citation' field, giving insight into the age of the theory and it's origin.
Although the links confirm the credibility of the theory described, because the site is user-based there is no credibility for the descriptions provided. It should therefore be used as basic information via informal content (such as website 2 and 3 are). I would trust this site over the other dictionary based one however, because it does seem to practise what it preaches by providing a wide range of relative links to the subject field.

Week Eight Task Three

In your blog critisise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, useability and practising what it preaches.

Website 5

My fifth website is written in the style of a news article and was written on October 14th 2008, making it one of the most up-to-date sites mentioned. The site takes a scientific approach, focusing on the evolution of the brain due to digital technology. The site links to scientific research from neuro-scientists expressing the possibility that the brain is evolving due to changes in lifestyle affected by the digital age. This is to say that digital technology is learnt like a language that the brain adopts - meaning you can be native to such a language if you are from a certain generation.
Although the site is not as relevant as others in our particular interest in digital immigration, it allows for the theories to work in more factual ways. I believe this scientific approach to be important in fully understanding how digital immigration can and should work. This site should be therefore used in order to have a wider scope on the way in which digital natives can be understood. There are few links to other research, but a comment field is included for the public to give their opinions in response to the article. This site firmly places the theory of digital immigrants in reality and research done in this field could clearly indicate its reliability.

Week Eight Task Three

In your blog critisise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, useability and practising what it preaches.

Website 4

My fourth website is for those who wish to further understand digital natives. Although there appeared to be no date, quotes are as up-to-date as 2008, so it is fair to presume the article is little over a year old.
The website speaks of university students describes as digital natives. It includes research along with facts and figures in order to evaluate Marc Prensky's theories. Bennet et al is particularly mentioned, who discredits the idea of digital natives, claiming they don't exist.
The site includes updates and a bibliography linking to further research.
This website offers a nice up-to-date alternative to the theories put forward by Marc Prensky and tests their relevance in modern society. The author practises what they preach by linking their research to their opinions, and the site should therefore be used as a contrasting opinion to sites preaching Marc Prensky's works.

Week Eight Task Three

In your blog critisise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, useability and practising what it preaches.

Website 3

My third website acts as a online dictionary, written in an informal manner concerning content not included in real dictionaries. The site bears no date, but is presumably relatively up to date.
The page briefly describes what digital immigrants are and how the phrase should be / is used.
There are links to quotes where digital immigrant is used and labels other related searches.
This page is sparse on information and should be used to understand the very basics of digital immigration. Although there are links to relevant searches, website 2 offers better links in terms of 'staying on the same tracks' with information hyperlinking. This site is only useful to those who know nothing about digital immigration and wish only to understand it's meaning and usage.

Week Eight Task Three

In your blog critisise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, useability and practising what it preaches.

Website 2

My second website acts more like a true website, rather than a blog or article. Although it bears no date, it is fair to presume the site is updated from multiple sources in order to keep it relevant and correct. The page focuses on digital natives, briefly explaining the phrase and the theories behind it. It also speaks of the backing of such a phrase and also the critisism recieved.
The site offers links Marc Prensky, articles, further descriptions, related articles and a link to a site where the theory is explained in full. I would say this site is the best place to start any research into digital natives, yet needs the backing of the links provided in order to be relevant. For this reason, it's useability should be as a good starting ground to creditable and trusted sources.

Week Eight Task Three

In your blog critisise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, useability and practising what it preaches.

Website 1

My first website mentioning digital natives and digital immigrants is dated March 23rd 2006, making it a little out of date, however the context it is being used in seems to fit. The writer is a Reader in Education who is interested in all forms of media and research. The article speaks of Marc Prensky and his theories of digital immigration and is written in blog format. There is a link to such an article and a short summary of what digital immigrants are and how the term is best used. The site is a good introduction to Marc Prensky including quotes from his theories and also offers further links to more in-depth information. The musing ends with a question to it's readers in order to state whether they think they are digital immigrants or natives and allows the public to post their response. This allows the website to keep itself up to date and as well as being a stepping stone to related websites, allows for discussion to take place without having to move. I cannot say the site practises what it preaches, as these are but musings of theories and their "releventness" - however, it does seem to be interesting to the author and therefore something kept in mind for further articles.

Website analysis

BY/FOR WEEK SIX:
Briefly analyse a website (not blog, forum nor SNS) you like that you have come across recently.

a) How is your chosen site structured

For my website analysis I chose to research www.tokyojazzpanda.co.uk

Tokyo Jazz Panda is a website that sells all sorts of cute, Japanese children's products, boasting a wide range from Hello Kitty kitchenware to panda toys. A further description of the site’s appeal will follow in a later post.

The website is fixed, with the blue outer edges and ‘Tokyo Jazz Panda’ banner making up the background. Cart and checkout hyperlinks are included for ease of navigation to the most important parts of the site. A hierarchical branch of your navigational status is displayed, making it possible to move forward and backwards through the pages already visited. There are two columns along the left and right sides, which are persistant whilst navigating through the website. The left side displays links (by the use of buttons) to main categories with a TJP related banner advert and search facility below. This facility allows for one to search the site for more specific products with the use of a keyword search system. An information link is below the search facility with legal and trade links.
The right side features the current contents of the virtual shopping cart, with the price of items total. Under this is a link to the current most popular items and a randomised ‘featured product’ used to hotlink to certain popular search results. Another TJP informative advertisement banner is shown and payment methods and details are clearly indicated.
At the base of the page the payment methods are recapped via company icons. The encryption and security status of the website as well at the VAT and company registration number are displayed along with a TJP style footer.
The middle of the page features the content of the website. While the rest of the features already described are persistent, this part changes depending on your navigational status within the website. The content of the website is arranged in a hierarchical branch style, with categories splitting into further categories until a final product is reached. The usual format shows a large picture of the relevant product/theme, with a small description of its status. If the featured page is a product, there will be a price marked and a link to add the shown product to the virtual cart.

b) What is it about on a cultural level?

Tokyo Jazz Panda appeals to children, with it’s wide range of toys and school accessories. However, I believe the site is not aimed at this market alone. Japanese culture (in particular Decora, Fruits, Harajuku and Lolita subcultures) encourages the colourful and childish decoration of one’s clothes and accessories. This is described under the definition of ‘kawaii’ (meaning ‘super cute’). The particularly large amount of Hello Kitty and other Sanrio based products also welcomes those who enjoy brand related merchandise. Kawaii culture is slowly becoming more westernised, with many emo’s and scene kids purchasing kische bows and accessories for self decoration. TJP fills in the gap in the market for British Japanomanics and Harajuku fashion lovers to buy Japanese kawaii products without having to pay a large shipping price.

c) What is the appeal for you as a user?

As I am interested in Japanese culture, I fit into the category explained above. There isn’t much I can say particularly different to how the site appeals culturally. Personally, I would not buy much from the site as I feel it socially unacceptable in Britain for a woman my age to adorn such childish accessories. However, with Hello Kitty being a recognised fad, if I were to purchase anything it would probably be Sanrio-related.