Denying 'digital natives' is costly

By Leon Engelbrecht for Gartner
Johannesburg, 10 Sep 2007

Denying so-called "digital natives" their daily social networking fix can be costly, counter-productive and unnecessary, say research firm Gartner and Polycom, the collaborative communications equipment manufacturer.

Gartner says Generation Y workers (those born after 1980), take social networking and other collaborative tools for granted and expect to have them available in the workplace.

"Allowing workers to use collaborative tools such as social networking sites and other technologies that they are familiar with may be the only way companies can hold onto their young recruits," Gartner says.

Students attending Gartner's recent ITxpo, in Cape Town, said: "We will not work at a company that stifles our creativity or denies us access to the collaborative tools that we are used to working with on a daily basis."

"Collaboration and a sense of community is what the Internet gives us. We would be completely cut off without it. We use wikis, blogs and podcasts as a way to share information between lecturers and students, as well as just between students," says Richard Longden, an honours student in information systems at UCT.

Widely available tools

Polycom EMEA MD Steve Leyland adds that it is "not good enough anymore to have a notebook, pen and telephone on a desk. People, especially young people, want access to the same technology they use in normal life."

He says the connectivity required for collaborative tools are now widely available, even in SA with its known cost and cap problems. He adds that the necessary audiovisual equipment and software for tele and video conferencing, as well as remote presentations, can be obtained from a number of vendors and OEMs. Much of these facilities can run off laptops using USB or wireless links.

Gartner calls Generation Y workers "digital natives", a term the wikipedia defines as "being applied to individuals who have grown up immersed in technology".

The wikipedia says the opposite term is the "digital immigrant" - those individuals who are trying to get to terms with digital technology. A "digital native" will refer to their new "camera"; a digital immigrant will refer to their new "digital camera".

The wikipedia adds the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, at Harvard Law School, and the Research Centre for Information Law, at the University of St Gallen, in Switzerland, are running a digital native research project.