I recently returned from the NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) Annual Conference interestingly entitled, Barbarians at the Gate? The focus of this conference was on the impact that “digital natives”—defined as those born after 1980—and emerging technologies have on the future of information services.  As one might imagine, based on the conference title, there is a perception that digital natives are very different than those of us outside this generation.  The word “barbarian”also implies that somehow their skills are not as refined as those of us born before 1980.  But is this really the case?

Conference keynote speaker, John Palfrey, author of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, found in his research that adoption of new technologies is more dependent on socioeconomic status than on generational affiliation.  This idea was echoed by Dr. Ian Rowlands, managing director at the Center for Information Behavior and Evaluation of Research, and director of the Research Centre for Publishing, University College London.  In his research, he found that in the UK those over 65 were online four hours more per week than 18-to-24-year-olds.  Both of these findings refute, in part, our common perceptions of technology utilization.  In the end, it seems as though search behavior and technology utilization are less of a generational issue and more of an issue of access.  This raises the question that if socioeconomic status and access to technology define who uses technology, are “digital natives” really different than the rest of us?

Mimi Ito is a research scientist at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, Annenberg Center, University of California and a visiting associate professor at Keio University. His research has found that there are some fundamental differences in what digital natives do with information (a link to her speech from the conference can be found here).  In particular, the idea that digitalnatives use information and media to tell stories about who they are—essentially making and sharing media is a fundamental literacy for this generation.  This is a fundamental change from previous generations and one that we should take note of.  This generation can be defined (again loosely as not all digital natives have access to technology) as being part of a remix culture.  To many in this generation, it is okay to take something that exists, change it slightly, and republish it.  Traditional ideas of copyright are not as important to them as it may have been to previous generations.

As instructional designers, what does this profile tell us about how we should be designing classes for the newest generation of college students?  I would argue that we should consider the following:

• Use of media should be purposeful and provide meaning to the course—these students are not going to be impressed that instructors can embed a video lecture in their class. 
• Information should be provided not only in multiple technology formats (video, audio, multimedia, text) but also in various genres (narrative, fiction, nonfiction) and remixing should be encouraged.
• Along with traditional research papers, course assignments should also allow for multiple means of completion including the creation of digital media like short films, animations, digital images, etc.
• Students need to be educated about laws around copyright and fair use.  Creative Commons licensing should be encouraged.
• Collaborative spaces should be provided for those students who prefer to work in a collaborative environment while options for those students who prefer individual work are still maintained.
• Inquiry and problem-based learning should be included as well as more traditional methods.

So are “digital natives” really that much different than the rest of us?   I would argue that what these “natives” really want is to be able to find information quickly, easily, and freely; use what they find to create new knowledge; and easily share what they find and create with others.   Does that make them different?  You decide.