With Apologies to Jeff Foxworthy...
Topic: Getting Started
Getting back to thinking about digital natives and digital immigrants. At a recent workshop, I spent some time with the participants talking about the concept and how a digital 'accent' manifests itself. One thing led to another, and we ended up having a little fun with behaviors that identify a digital immigrant. Like the old Jeff Foxworthy jokes about being a redneck, we launched into "If you..., then you might be a digital immigrant."

Here are a few they came up with:

If you know how to make and receive a call on your cell phone, but can't use any programming features, you might be a digital immigrant.

If you know how to view a VHS tape or DVD, but can't set the clock on the player, you might be a digital immigrant.

If you send an e-mail and then call the recipient to make sure s/he received it, you might be a digital immigrant.

If you remember when your modem had a cradle for the telephone receiver, you might be a digital immigrant.

If you have a collection of 5 1/4" diskettes you can't bear to throw away, you might be a digital immigrant.

Although this was not planned, I think I'll use this as an activity in future workshops. Folks had a good laugh, relaxed, and were not so worried about making mistakes!

I'd like to collect more of these to share.