Double Journal Entry #5

"Deconstructing Digital Natives"
Young people, technology and the new literacies
Edited by Michael Thomas

Chapter 8
Beyond Google and the "satisficing" searching of digital natives

    "Digital Natives"- young people who due to their digital upbringing are said to be adept and persuasive users of a wide range of technologies. Obviously students today are brought up and surrounded by a world consumed with technology. It is virtually everywhere and in everything that he/she does. Does this fact automatically ensure that every student is considered a "Digital Native"? According to Gregor E. Kennedy and Terry S. Judd modern students in the current world of academics, seem comfortable with the idea that they are avid users and adopters of new technologies, or fluent in information literacy. Information literacy is defined by the set of skills and knowledge that allows us to find, evaluate, and use the information we need, as well as to filter out the information we don't need" (Eisenberg). The the time has come to debunk the common misconception that because most students are technologically inclined they are too considered information literate. Most students like to learn through running Internet searches...but are their searches done correctly or at least beneficial to their research? It is in chapter eight that Kennedy and Judd state that 55 percent of all Internet users aged between 18 and 29 used a search engine on a typical day. But how credible is the information that is being read and received? It is understood that anyone has access to information on the web...this includes adding to and taking away. Anyone can create a website solely based on biased opinion and any researcher can come across this information and believe it to be credible. This is where the so-called "Digital Natives" (students) lose their leg up. Students are lazy and find googling needed information  a lot more simple than conducting serious research. They do not care if the source is credible or even factual. They search simply to get the quickest answer to their question. In return this lazy business completely cancels out the idea of information literacy.

Guiding questions:

1. In your opinion, what did the author meant by “digital natives?”
   As explained by the writer, digital natives are simply the people or younger generation who has grown up surrounded by technology.
2. What is Eisenberg’s definition of information literacy? "The set of skills and knowledge that allows us to find, evaluate, and use the information we need, as well as to filter out the information we don't need."
3. What are the stages of Eisenberg’s “big six” model? task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.
4. Are search engines like Google beneficial at all, and how are search engines affecting students internet search behaviors? Google is a major corporation, and naturally profit from every search that is conducted. With having said this some can argue that Google is nothing but a money making scheme, which in part it can be...however Google is extremely helpful when needing information quickly.
5. Do you think today’s students are sophisticated enough to fit the “Digital Native” definition? Students are incredibly surprising in everything they do. As a student, myself, I naturally believe that students can be and very much are sophisticated enough to be considered "Digital Natives".
6. How do you relate to this chapter? I am of the younger generation. I live in a world thriving on every form of technology and I am a Digital Native.