Dear marketers and future employers…

The concept introduced by David S. White and Alison Le Cornu (2011), has sparked different views on how exactly it is defined as. Many of us embarked on the research of the concept and found some interesting pieces of information that were pretty insightful. I was able to relate some of the information that was posted by my course mates to our past modules such as HRM and Strategic Marketing Decisions.

This concept may be valuable in the marketing context where information may be relayed easily to those that “reside” in the digital world. What would pose as a challenge for Marketers are targeting the “visitors” who are wary of their “footprint” online. Even though the target audience of the web may be vast, “segments of one” (Capon & Hulbert 2007) is crucial in the industry. This point was raised indirectly from Ebrahim’s (2014) post on the vulnerabilities of digital “residents”.

Another key factor that was taken from this topic is the “learning” that takes place around the online environment. Yvonne (2014) raised a point: stating that human interaction may not be well received by students. I do agree to a certain extent in her point. However, I do believe that there is a need for students to be exposed to the online environment as the expectation of future employers on Millennials may lie in our “online network” (Forum 2014).

With that being said, I do see a huge potential in how this concept may be brought forward. Is it just digital “visitors” and “residents” that Marketers or future employers should be concerned of? Many of us do not realize that sometimes, it is not even a choice for us whether to leave a “footprint”. A swipe of a card at any stores would simply mean, “signing off” our personal information to companies!

References:

Capon, N. & Hulbert, J.M., 2007. Managing Marketing in the 21st Century: Developing and Implementing the Market Strategy, Wessex Incorporated. Available at: http://books.google.com.sg/books/about/Managing_Marketing_in_the_21st_Century.html?id=RQFticcBQRwC&pgis=1 [Accessed November 28, 2014].

Forum, W.E., 2014. Five way Talent Management must change. World Econmic Forum. Available at: http://forumblog.org/2014/10/don-tapscott-talent-management-millennials/ [Accessed November 27, 2014].

Loh, Y., 2014. A new age of “Digital Residents”? Available at: http://yvonneblogs.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/digital-visitors-and-residents/#respond [Accessed November 28, 2014].

Shakir, E., 2014. The World Online. Available at: https://ebrahimshakir.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/the-world-online/.
[Accessed November 28, 2014].

White, D.S. & Cornu, A. Le, 2011. Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9). Available at: http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049 [Accessed November 27, 2014].

Comments made on:

Loh, Y., 2014. A new age of “Digital Residents”? Available at: http://yvonneblogs.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/digital-visitors-and-residents/#respond [Accessed November 28, 2014].

Shakir, E., 2014. The World Online. Available at: https://ebrahimshakir.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/the-world-online/.
[Accessed November 28, 2014].

A new typology, or a modernized concept of the old?

The concept of digital “visitors” and “residents” is believed to be an update of the concept of “digital natives and immigrants” introduced by Prensky (2001). A ‘replacement’ as described by David S. White and Alison Le Cornu (2011), would very much suggest that Prensky’s work was absolutely redundant. Although the much-criticized work by Prensky was even questioned by Prensky himself in 2009, there is some validity in his work, to be more precised, at his point of time. As the study was done more than 10 years ago, a more updated concept of the typology was introduced as digital “visitors” and “residents”.

As I ventured upon the concept, I realized I was pretty much trying to put myself on the ends of the continuum:

Figure 1: Visitor-Resident continuum (White & Cornu 2011)

However, the concept became much clearer when I came across videos and articles by JISC. To explain this concept further, I was introduced to a ‘mapping process’ (JISCinfonet 2014) and created my own V&R map:

Figure 2: My personal V&R Mapping

As how we were once ‘boxed up’ or categorized as digital “natives” or “immigrants”, the expectation of the digital “natives” were to be more au fait with anything and everything that has to do with technology. And “immigrants” to have to learn it like a “second language”. But how true is that today? That is where the concept of a Visitor-Resident continuum came about.

Age and generation does not constitute to whether one is a “visitor” or a “resident”. It is not even a mutually exclusive category where we may classify ourselves. It is merely a continuum where we perceive ourselves to be. And most of the time, we lie somewhere in the middle. “Context” would define where we would lie in the continuum. To prove my point, I do believe some of us were very much inclined in creating a separate Twitter account for this particular module. And that would suggest that there is a fine line drawn between personal and institutional/work life. Prof. Edgar Meyer briefly introduced this concept when he asked, “would you add your boss on Facebook?” The debate sparked many different views on how our engagement online may create implications. That debate would probably explain why the bottom right quadrant, would always be empty for most people.

Whether I myself, am a “visitor” or a “resident”, is a question I would very much want to know at the end of this module!

References:

JISCinfonet, 2014. Evaluating digital services: a Visitors and Residents approach. Available at: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/evaluating-services/ [Accessed November 27, 2014].

Prensky, B.M., 2001. Digital Natives , Digital Immigrants. , pp.1–6. Available at: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky – Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants – Part1.pdf.

White, D.S., 2014. Visitors and Residents, UK. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI&list=PLgO50IKGkqyaX21RaPiSpCKsf87O8S0Yv.

White, D.S. & Cornu, A. Le, 2011. Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9). Available at: http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049 [Accessed November 27, 2014].