Interview with a "Digital Native"

Interview with a "Digital Native"

Below is the transcript of an interview I conducted with a young man, age 18, which I will use as a case study for my final project.  Following that, are some quotes taken from the Introduction and Chapters 1-3 of the book "Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices" edited by Victoria Carrington and Muriel Robinson.

The Interview

Julie: What would be a pseudonym, or username, you would like me to use to represent you in my paper?

Tiny Tyman: I don’t know.  I guess I usually go by Tiny Tyman on all of my accounts, so you can just use that.

Julie: Why do you use that as your username in all of your accounts?

Tiny Tyman: Well, because I was pretty short until like the last couple of years, shorter than most everyone else at school, so they called me that.  But now I’m like taller than almost all of them, because I’m almost six feet tall now, but I still use it.

Julie: What electronic devices to you have?

Tiny Tyman: Gosh, I have so much stuff.  Do you want to know everything?

Julie: Just tell me the newest things you have that are the most high tech.

Tiny Tyman: Ok, I have a laptop, an iPad, an iPhone 4, a Wii, and an Xbox.  I also have a 3DS, but I don’t know how high tech that would be considered.  I have a bunch of older video gaming systems, too, like around ten others.

Julie: Well, let’s just stick with the ones you told me about.

Tiny Tyman: Ok

Julie: What kinds of things do you use the laptop for?

Tiny Tyman: Well, I use it for searching the Internet, watching movies, watching videos. I play games, go on social media, play around with drum loop programs. I do art. I do drafting. I don’t know. I guess that’s about it.

Julie: What is your favorite thing to do on the computer?

Tiny Tyman: I can’t say.  I like all of them.  That’s a hard question to answer, because I like my computer, in general.

Julie: Ok, so how did you learn to do the things you do on the computer?

Tiny Tyman: I’m not really sure exactly. I just grew up with a computer, and kept using them throughout my life.  I’ve always used computers, even when I was a little kid.  I started playing games at around 6 or 7.  If I want to learn something new, I search the Internet.  Google is my primary search engine, but I’ll go to sites that are valid.  When you see 3 or 4 sites that say similar things, then you know that they’re probably not lying.

Julie: What do with the drum loop programs on the computer?

Tiny Tyman: A lot of things.  I listen to loops people made, I edit loops people made, I make my own stuff, or at least try to.

Julie: Do you spend a lot of time using loop programs, or is that a regular thing you do?

Tiny Tyman: Yes, I usually spend hours on them.  Some days I spend less time. I don’t use the loop programs every day.  Sometimes I use them every day for a while, and sometimes I go for a while without using them.

Julie: How did you learn how to do things on the loop programs?

Tiny Tyman: I always screwed around with it when I was a little a kid.  I look up videos once in a while, or look up on the Internet how to do certain things.

Julie: What do you with the songs you make?

Tiny Tyman: It depends on how good they are.  I’ve really only made like one or two songs that I think were worth sharing. I put them up on music websites, like SoundCloud, and I advertise on social media, like Facebook and Instagram.

Julie: Why do you do drafting on the computer?

Tiny Tyman: That’s something I usually do at school on the computer, because I’m in drafting.  I don’t usually do that at home, but I can.

Julie: What is your favorite game?

Tiny Tyman: That’s a hard question.  I’ve played so many games.  But, I would probably narrow it down to Metroid and Minecraft, because those are the ones that I’ve played the most, and I know the most about them.  If someone were to ask me questions about the games, they’re the ones I would have the most answers about.

Julie: Do you know other people who play Metroid and Minecraft?

Tiny Tyman: I don’t know very many people in person who play them.  I don’t have very many friends who play those two games. 

Julie: Then, how did you find out about those two games?

Tiny Tyman: I got started into Metroid out of curiosity. What started me on it was when I played Super Smash Brothers. The character in that game that I always played with was named Samus, so I wanted to know what the game was like that she came from, and it was Metroid, so I got it and really liked it.  Metroid’s one of those games that’s not very familiar here in the US because it’s origin is Japan, so that’s where it would be more popular. As far as Minecraft goes, it’s a totally different story. It all started from a Facebook game request.  Somebody I was friends with sent me a Minecraft Tower Defense request, so I decided to try it because I’d heard a few people on Facebook here and there talking about Minecraft, and it looked interesting.  So, I tried the game, and I thought it was really fun, but I didn’t know anything about the game Minecraft, so I went to their site and played the trial version and really liked it.  When my demo expired, I got the full version, and that’s how I got into Minecraft.

Julie: How long ago was that?

Tiny Tyman: Well, my account says 2013, but it feels so much longer than that. 

Julie: Okay, so now who are the people you know who play the games?

Tiny Tyman: There are many people who play them.  You just have to find the right group of people by joining a forum or playing online in a multiplayer game. 

Julie: How does that help you with the games?

Tiny Tyman: You can discuss different things with them, and meet people to play with.

Julie: Have you ever answered other people’s questions about games?

Tiny Tyman: I haven’t really answered questions on forums as much as answering people’s questions while playing the game itself online. Sometimes I help people, and sometimes other people help me.

Julie: So have you met a lot of people doing this?

Tiny Tyman: I’ve met a lot of people, all different ages from all over the place.  It depends on the game, though.  Minecraft usually has younger people playing it. Metroid’s not an online game, so I go to forums for that, and I watched videos on YouTube to show me how to do stuff on there.  That’s how I learn to do a lot of things.

Julie: What other things do you watch videos about?

Tiny Tyman: I watch videos about a lot of things.  I can’t be all that specific because I watch so many different things.  It’s usually just the things that are running in my head at the time.  Mostly it’s about how to do something, or how to make something, or watching different games being played, and other things like that.

Julie: How do you use the computers at school?

Tiny Tyman: I use them to do work in classes, typing, English, drafting, research.  When they give us free time, I play games and draw on the computer.

Julie: Are there other ways that you would like to be able to use the computer at school?

Tiny Tyman: Well, you know there are a lot of restrictions on what you can do on the Internet at school, like we're not aloud using any social media. I wouldn’t mind if the restrictions weren’t as strict, but the teachers say they’re there for a reason, to keep kids from doing things they aren’t supposed to. It would be nice if teachers would let people play certain games that would teach you something, but they don’t.

Me: Do you think teachers would let you use the computer to do other things if the restrictions weren’t there?

Tiny Tyman: Some would let us do other things, but it depends on the teacher and the class you’re in.  Some teachers are strict, or they don’t let you use any technology in class, because they don’t want you to play games or get sidetracked. I don’t usually want to use the computers at school to do the same things I do at home, because at school I’m too busy doing assignments, and most of them aren’t on the computer.

The Connections

“And yet, in many classrooms these devices and the texts produced with them are still perceived to be irrelevant, and even dangerous, in relation to children’s learning and their development of powerful practices with text.” (Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices, Introduction)

“Children and young people walking though the school gates each morning are required to leave behind an entire suite of competencies, practices and knowledge about digital technologies and digital text.” (Introduction)

“It is time our classrooms became places where digital and print literacies come together to allow children opportunities to develop the skills and attitudes they will need to navigate complex urban sites and social forms.” (Introduction)

“Learning through game play is active, meaningful, multimodal, scaffolded, and entails participation in social networks, encourages learners to take risks and allows for self-reflection.” (Chapter 1)

“Members of a community of practice are brought together by common activity centered on an area of knowledge.” (Chapter 1)

“Learning occurs through centripetal participation in the learning curriculum of the ambient community.” (Chapter 1)

“…learners require guidance in reading multimodal texts and…we need to ‘redefine the work of the reader’. “ (Chapter 2)

“Limitations of schooled conceptions of literacy both in the UK and elsewhere, as predominantly skills led and paper based, need to be expanded to systematically and consistently include digital texts…” (Chapter 2)

“Digital Literacy is the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyse, and synthesize digital resources…” (Chapter 3)