A recent presentation from America’s Pew Internet entitled “Network Learners” demonstrates why we have to be imaginative when it comes to employing the new media and not just treat it like newspapers, TV or the media we’ve been used to since people learned to communicate.
What is most interesting is the development of the digital natives themselves. They have developed, as one would expect, within the technology they’ve grown up with. So, as I’ve always argued, trying to focus on generation X, Y, Z or whatever it is, from a government approach, is an impossible task, since the goal posts are far from stationary.
So what do governments do in the circumstances? I don’t have a specific answer, but I believe that if we are to jump on every passing development, we’ll waste further money on top of that which already been wasted on poorly planned e-government. That’s not to say we don’t experiment with them, if we have time, or watch out that they don’t become more than a fad but I suspect there are a lot more to come before we get an answer!
The Great E-mancipator 