about the research process

[bunnyjadwiga]

Supposedly about the research process of 'digital natives' but frankly this sounds like the research process as a whole:

For example, digital natives gather information — as a building block in any learning process — through a multistep process that involves grazing, a deep dive, and a feedback loop.

Digital natives are good at grazing through the vast ocean of information online.

While browsing the Web, digital natives might decide to go beyond the headlines of a story and to take a deep dive, for example by following a hypertext link, listen to a commentary, or download a video clip on the topic of interest. In this way, they are searching for what’s behind the bit of information that got their attention in the first place.

The feedback loop, finally, includes some sort of enhanced interactivity with the content they’re interested in. The digital native, for instance, may decide to share the information with friends and family. Or to post a comment to her blog to critique the story he just learned about. Or to share thoughts on a mailing list. The form of a digital native’s feedback loop varies, but his level of engagement with information and the world he lives in tends to be higher than the one of the previous generation.

We’re optimistic that these features are generally good for learning.
-- Urs Gasser, Interview, "Understanding Students who were 'born digital'"-- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/02/digital

Comments

[iestynapmwg.livejournal.com]

Oh, this definitely describes the research process as a whole. Reading this, it reminded me of spending over a month among Lehigh's stacks with your help and your colleagues'. "Following a hypertext link" is analogous to tracking down the papers referenced in the one you're reading. The feedback loop may be slower, and involves many sleepless nights in a lab, and having everything online makes it accessible to more people than at a university, but the principles are the same.

On a side note, why does the term "digital natives" make me giggle? :)

O RLY?

[ren_flora.livejournal.com]

Hai! U can google teh intarwebz all U want but kin U spels it?!? LOL!!! srsly mr gasser U R missing the point!!! ur "research process" is as good as teh peeps 2 do it. Good rsrchrs R on ded-treez 2 not just Webz! Iz just EZ now!!!

BTW, IM not a librarian but i <3 my online toyz & my Ded Trees 2. If U R a researcher, U can write or linkz to blogosphere or ZOMG take it 2 meatspace + ***TALKZ** 2 ur palz!!! BTW, props 2 U 4 posting this. KTHXBYE

In other words...

[ren_flora.livejournal.com]

Yes. Good researchers have always done this - found something interesting, looked it up, and shared it with others who might also appreciate it. Think scholars who publish articles, industry organizations, even SCA classes. Sharing information is not limited to online.
That said, the Internet has made it much easier and quicker to discover related information, and share it with like-minded people. The point of my original response is that it's sometimes hard to discover the information among all the noise (and bad spelling) that the "digital natives" often use.