Bill's Notebook

My other day job is teaching web development and political communication for the University of Louisville.  I’ve taught college classes for ten years now and to a wide range of ages.  That is why I am skeptical about the concept of the Digital Natives (students born between 1980 and 2000).  In my experience, age is not a good predictor of the technical expertise of students.  This is why I was glad to see a recent article in The Economist that validated my anecdotal experiences.

According to the “Net Generation, Unplugged,” there is growing skepticism among academics that the digital natives are any better at technology than the other generations.

“Michael Wesch, who pioneered the use of new media in his cultural anthropology classes at Kansas State University, is also sceptical [sic], saying that many of his incoming students have only a superficial familiarity with the digital tools that they use regularly, especially when it comes to the tools’ social and political potential. Only a small fraction of students may count as true digital natives, in other words. The rest are no better or worse at using technology than the rest of the population.”

This is important to the OpenGov community because preconceptions about how the generations approach technology can hinder efforts for openness and engagement.  These preconceptions can also affect how new government managers are treated as they enter the workforce.  As Jennifer Deal argues in her book, Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground, the generations all want the same things (family, recognition, achievement, etc.) but how they perceive each other is what causes the gaps.  Changing perceptions is the first step in better engagement.