Brief description of the technology I use in terms of the metaphor is composed of 4 categories.
The functionality of tools I use varies according to my roles online (White & Cornus, 2011). When using the Internet as a conduit for communication and information searching, I act as a digital visitor. The frequently used tools include social media like who Twitter, Facebook, where I go to check others’ profiles and activities. Also, informative platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Wikipedia act as troves of free information, while Google scholar and Google doc provide access to various academic documents. For example, I watch video recordings on YouTube to learn how to operate a new computer. Meanwhile, all these platforms are places where I create my own content when my digital role turns to residents. Back to YouTube, when being a resident, I can upload my own recordings and communicate with viewers in comments area.
Also, different motivations also decide which tools I use (White & Cornus, 2011) – While learning literacy, I use university libraries or other media homepage for searching documents, and some platforms for group communication such as Padlet provide a platform for me to ask others for answers. On the other hand, when it comes to social functionality, it is online banking, shopping sites, coupled with communication tools like email and skype that I stick with to deal with daily affairs and communication.
References
White, D. S., & Cornus, A. L. (2011, August 9). Retrieved from Peer-reviewed Journal on the Internet: https://firstmonday.org/article/view/3171/3049
Eric,
I was how you consider yourself a resident of Google Scholar and Wikipedia. I would love to be a resident of these forms of online media but cannot fathom a way to do so other than editing or contributing to Wikipedia.
Hi Michael,
THanks for your reading my despcription of the residents/visitors reflection. My role in the digital world is diametrially different between work and life. While at work, I act more as a resident creating content of courses for students, whether it be learning tools sharing of abstraction of specific points, or just retwitter of other experts’ articles. However, when back home, i spend most of my time in searching informaion like a visitor, both for future work or leasure, via various tools like youtube or some social media. But I have hardly any intersting informaion in my leisure time to scontribut to the virtual commmunity, and most of my contribution is in relaiton to my work, which sometiems limits my choices in the technology tools and the networking as well.