Individual Research Proposals

Davina Goh’s Research Proposal:

Digital Literacy and Generation Y (Summary)

             Oblinger and Oblinger (Is It Age or IT: First Steps Towards Understanding the Net Generation, 2006) observe that the Net Generation (those born from 1982 – 1991) have grown up with technology thus enabling them to “intuitively use a variety of IT devices and navigate the Internet.” Oblinger and Oblinger (2006) examine “for the Net Gen, the Internet is like oxygen; they can’t imagine being able to live without it.” The Net Generation consider computer and Internet access important because “it’s a part of [their] world, and technology is so embedded in […] society.”

>>> Interesting that for the Net Generation, technology; Internet use; computers; etc.; are like second nature. This generation view technology as a necessity like “oxygen.”

Question: Is digital literacy a necessity in today’s culture?

English 112 Research Proposal:

The Net Generation: Is digital literacy a necessity in today’s culture?

The Net Generation is the term used to describe the first group of people growing up in a world immersed in digital technology. I have a number of questions concerning the impact of growing up in such an (Internet driven and technological) environment, and how these individuals view the importance of such inventions to their everyday lives and culture.

Felicia Herman’s Research Proposal:

The everyday life of young children: society’s contribution towards equipping them with digital literacy

Digital literacy is a major part of everyday life. In fact, children today are created by and impacted by the ever-changing communicative mediums of the twenty-first century (Marsh, Digital Childhood and Youth: New texts, new literacies, 2005). Therefore, I would like to “explore the ‘digitextual practices’ of children in an effort to understand how society has equipped young children to be digitally literate (Everett 2003, cited in Marsh 2005). 

A little difficulty with phrasing here Felicia, and I am not sure  what are 'digitextual practices'?

Esther Lee’s Research Proposal:

Digital Literacy and the Digital Divide: Civil Rights Issue?

"The digital divide is the most pressing civil rights issue of the new Millenium" (Trevor Evans, Toshiba UK - 2001 < if you can, please link this article in for me Esther] ). I would like to analyze the inequalities of the opportunity to access both technology and information between developed and undeveloped countries, their engagement with digital literacy, and their short term as well as long term consequences and benefits with the engagement. With this analysis, I'd also like to delve into several social issues in a form of social exclusion, and how we can bridge the digital divide.