It’s depressing that the likely average age of Councillors will increase for the second successive election, but that is a function of the electoral system, which favours the retired and unemployed (unemployable) as candidates.

See you (or anyone else) for a BBQ on the beach if you are passing Berneray this summer. We’re usually on de west beach round sunset:

http://www.silversprite.com/?p=241

Fantastic, John – good to hear from you. These thoughts need to be a proper post, not relegated to a comment! Your blog’s still going, right? =]

Hope you find a way to share your neighbours’ experiences with those of us who don’t get to live in such a wonderful place, as well – looking forward to seeing it!

On the surface, the Digital Natives concept would appear to be valid. The schoolkids do appear – prominently – to be using a wide variety of digital media, with games prominent (though not as central as convention points out) as is the Internet. I know this from research am doing that will be presented shortly.

However, it’s the other 111 who are becoming more interesting. For after a while, it becomes apparent that they use various online resources and services, often to a quite serious depth. It’s just that they aren’t so open (brash) about it, and just quietly get on with using such technologies in a more functional way. For example, there’s a knot of people in their 50’s and 60’s who are avid buyers of spare parts for their cars on Ebay. Not casually, but frequently. One retired person has used video conferencing for years (on dial-up!) to keep in touch with her family in New Caledonia (a pacific island).

Online shopping is something a lot of the older folk have down to a fine art, which is why the four delivery companies are always on the island. The resident who is most skilled and experienced in Internet use is a somewhat angry middle-aged man who has run a campaign against tourists in campervans through setting up false websites and re-routing IP stuff for many years. Some of the locals who claim never to have played a video game are suspiciously good at them, even taking into account the ease of using the Wii. Several adults have got together to experiment with many cat food and cat litter online shops to work out the best. Many adults online banking, which is very much a necessity if you are self-employed, as the mobile bank van zooms through once a week and is difficult to stop. Most book airline tickets online as it’s quickest to find out the cheapest option.

I run a local e-news mailing list (no kids, only adults on it), and whenever I say that the minutes of the Community Council are available on the island website – http://www.isleofberneray.com – the hits on said website rocket *within the hour*. From the stats, there is evidence that many local adults go online frequently. There’s other stuff that happens online here you wouldn’t believe, so there’s little point in describing it – suffice to say, it’s usually older people who are the catalyst for it. Some specific people involved in local groups are frighteningly skilled in monitoring and finding funding online (there is a local phrase “to catch a passing grant”).

And probably the website that gets the most hits from residents collectively is … not MySpace, Bebo or similar, but … http://www.findafishingboat.co.uk/ as used by most of the fishermen; they buy and sell their boats (for scary amounts of money) on there. When I tried to explain Web 2.0 concepts to some, they looked puzzled and replied but that’s what they’d been doing for years with this website and others. When broadband arrived a year ago, there was a domino effect – as soon as one place got and people saw how quick it was, others have followed. Now we’re up to 18 buildings with it installed, and as soon as they’ve sorted out the relay masts most of the others will go for it as well.

There are aspects of contributing – openly – to various “social” websites that probably give the impression that it’s just younger people using them, especially various forum such as http://www.stornowaychat.co.uk/ However, the only councillor in the Outer Hebrides who is openly blogging is approaching retirement age – http://angusnicolson.blogspot.com/ – while many if not most of the bloggers and commenters on the BBC Island Blogging service – http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/islandblogging/blogs.shtml (very local humour that possibly doesn’t transmit) are people aged 30 to 50.

I’ve come round to the idea that the kids tend to cluster around a fragmented culture of digital “stuff”, using a lot of software and hardware but nothing to great depth. However, most of the adults use digital/net stuff, usually a narrower range of “stuff” but in much greater depth and experience. And they do it with quiet confidence.

So my local idea of a “Digital Native” (if we have to pigeonhole a “typical” person) now is a crofters wife, in her 60’s, first language Gaelic, who goes to church then goes online (but NOT on the Sabbath) and does her emails, online shopping, ebay, and checks the weather forecast and the latest price that sheep have fetched in Lochmaddy market for her husband. Even that is way too simplistic; it’s too “messy” a concept to be pinned down here, and therefore perhaps has limited use. I’m glad I’ve read Richards piece, as it’s focused and inspired me to go find a bit of funding to interview all 130 residents and get some solid data on local adults and their digital use.

This is poetry Richard!

btw I’ve collected a variety of critiques of Prensky’s saying here

What has really amazed me is how casually many of the digital native concepts were introduced with absolutely no foundation or evidence.