My thesis defense presentation about social media use by digital natives and digital immigrants.

1. CYBERACTIVISM:
A GENERATIONAL
COMPARISON OF
DIGITAL ACTIVISM
A thesis defense by Ashley Noel Hennefer

2. TERMS TO KNOW
o Cyberactivism: Activism that occurs or is facilitate by the internet and/or
digital technologies (Amin, 2010)
o Digital natives: People exposed and immersed in technology from a young
age (Prensky, 2001)
o Digital immigrants: People exposed to technology at older ages (Prensky,
2001)
o Social media: Websites that facilitate social interaction across
geographical boundaries (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit) (Christensen, 2011)

3. SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY DURING
POLITICAL MOVEMENTS

4. SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY DURING
POLITICAL MOVEMENTS
o Used to coordinate in-person
protests and meet-ups
o Mimicked many in-person
procedures: general
assemblies, meetings,
strategy planning
o Livestreams, Tweets,
Facebook events became
outlets for citizen-driven
news

5. DIGITAL LITERACIES
o Ability to use technology and apply traditional literacy skills – reading,
writing, critical thinking (Bawden, 2001)
o Adaptation to multiple platforms – mobile and stationary devices, various
websites, software, and social networking (Howard & Duffy, 2011)
o Distributed intelligence: ―a complex, adaptive learning system that can be
sustainable in the face of unpredictable futures‖ (Innes & Booher, 2010)
 Social networking uses distributed intelligence—taps into unique skills offered by members
of the same community (Fisher & Konomi, 2007)

6. DIGITAL NATIVES AND
DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS
o Terms coined by Prensky (2001)
o Digital natives: People immersed in
technology from a young age; a familiar skill
(Prensky, 2001)
o Digital immigrants: People who use
technology later in life; a learned skill
(Prensky, 2001)
o Digital natives are avid users of social media
and mobile devices (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008)

7. CRITICISMS OF DIGITAL
NATIVES
o A Western construct; assumes
that youth has access to
technology
o Assumes characteristics of a
generation
o Words ―natives‖ and
―immigrants‖ has racial
implications

8. CYBERACTIVISM
o Technology-based activism; activism
that takes place on the web or using
internet/digital technologies (Amin,
2010; Rotman et al., 2011)
o Activist literacy: Requires skills of
activism as well as digital literacies
o Instruments of cyberactivism include
social networking, forums

9. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
o To examine any trends in web-based outlets and
habits associated with digital natives
o To have some context for how cyberactivism is
conducted
oTo determine if age plays a role in cyberactivism

10. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
o How do digital natives use web-based
resources to participate in political
movements?
o What are the habitual differences between
digital natives and digital immigrants in the
use of web-based resources to participate in
political movements and discussion?

11. DESIGN & ANALYSIS
o Quantitative
o Survey instrument
o Analyzed with Chi square, crosstabulated by age
groups
o Responses were coded based on literature review;
focused on active vs. passive actions, differences
between digital natives and digital immigrants

12. PARTICIPANTS
o Distributed through social networking: Facebook, Twitter
and Reddit
o Use of hashtags on Twitter: #Cyberactivism,
#occupywallstreet, #arabspring, #occupygezi (Turkey
protests were occurring at the time of distribution)
o Snowball effect gained responses
o Distributed to students in Northern California for additional
responses

13. LIMITATIONS
o Snowball effect meant an open sample population
o A mix of qualitative/quantitative questions in survey
o A Likert scale would have provided more consistent
responses

14. RESULTS: DEMOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION
Age of participants (blue = DI, green = DN)
Age of first computer usage

15. RESULTS: DEMOGRAPHICS,
CONT.
Digital natives more
likely to use the
internet at younger
ages
Age of first web use

16. RESULTS: IDENTIFICATION
AS ACTIVIST
Both digital natives
and digital
immigrants identified
as activists
occasionally

17. RESULTS: ONLINE PETITIONS
Both digital natives
and digital immigrants
signed or created
online petitions; DNs
more so, but only
marginally

18. RESULTS: DEVICE
PREFERENCES
Digital natives favored
mobile devices, digital
immigrants favored
stationary devices
Relationship between
age and device
preference

19. RESULTS: PASSIVE VS.
ACTIVE
Relationship between
age and preference for
passive activism;
digital natives more
likely to be passive

20. RESULTS: FORUM
DISCUSSION
Digital natives more active
than digital immigrants
when discussing politics
on web forms

21. RESULTS: ACCESSING NEWS
Both digital natives
and digital
immigrants used the
web to access news

22. RESULTS: RESEARCH
PROCESS
Both digital natives and
digital immigrants used
the web as the first step
when researching a
political cause

23. DISCUSSION
o Digital natives used computers and the internet at younger ages than digital
immigrants (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008; Prensky, 2001)
o Digital natives preferred mobile devices over stationary; are more social
and mobile (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008)
o Digital natives exhibited passive activism more so than digital immigrants
(Rotman et al., 2011)
o Internet plays a role for both digital natives and digital immigrants: both
used web for news access, online petitions and research (Sivitanides &
Marcos, 2011; Valenzuela, 2013)

24. IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH
o Exploring characteristics of specific groups of
activists: environmental activists, internet
freedom activists, human rights activists
o The role of education within cyberactivism
o The role of gender within cyberactivism
oDetermining if passive/active habits are true
of digital natives and digital immigrants

25. REFERENCES
Amin, R. (2010). The empire strikes back: Social media
uprisings and the future of
cyberactivism.
Kennedy School Review, 64–66.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants
part 1. (R. K. Belew & M. D. Vose, Eds.) On
Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. MCB UP Ltd.
the
Bawden, D. (2001). Information and digital literacies: a
review of concepts. Journal of
Documentation, 57(2), 218–259.
Rotman, D., Vieweg, S., Yardi, S., Chi, E., Preece,
J.,
Shneiderman, B, Pirolli, P., & Glaisyer, T.
(2011). From slacktivism to activism: participatory
culture in the age of social
media. Paper presented at
Christensen, C. (2011). Twitter revolutions? Addressing
the annual CHI
(Computer-Human Interaction)
social media and dissent. The
Communication Conference in
Vancouver, Canada. Abstract retrieved
Review, 14(3), 155–157.
from
http://yardi.people.si.umich.edu/pub/Yard
CHI11_SIG.pdf.
Innes, J., & Booher, D. (2010). Indicators for sustainable
communities: a strategy building on complexity
Sivitanides, M., & Marcos, S. (2011). The era of digital activism.
theory and distributed intelligence. Planning Theory &
Conference for Information
Systems Applied Research
Practice,1(2), 173-186.
(pp. 1–8).
Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2008). Born digital:
Understanding
the first generation of
digital natives. New York: Basic Books.
Valenzuela, S. (2013). Unpacking the use of
social media
for protest behavior: the roles of information,
opinion expression, and activism. American
Behavioral Scientist,57(7), 920-942.