Visitors and Residents

David White's "Visitors & Residents" talk distinguishes groups of web users based on their ideas toward the web and the way in which they use it. At first, when he presented the terms visitor and resident, I thought that I was definitely going fall in the resident category. I have a Facebook account, which I use regularly, I use the internet as a tool for my own learning as well as the teaching that I do in my classroom, I have and use email regularly, I go on Pintrest to find ideas, I get almost weekly deliveries from Amazon.com, I watch TV through Hulu and Netflix, I'm a pretty active internet user. However, when he got further into what it really means to be a "visitor" or a "resident" I felt more comfortable with the visitor label. I mostly see the web as that messy toolbox; I find the tool I need, and I leave. I certainly have come to rely on the internet as a tool, but I see it as just that, not a "space" and certainly not a park with groups of people hanging out and chatting. I definitely relate to the idea of privacy making me resistant to creating a web presence. I have never liked the idea of having a lot of information about myself out there on the internet - my ideas written and out there for strangers to see. White points out, though, that most of this exposure is, really, to people I already know. This I am comfortable with. It is why I use Facebook - to maintain or extend relationships, negating the distance between friends and family. I think that in White's own reflection of his web presence, I gained a better perspective on how I can find a balance between maintaining privacy and adapting to the "resident" culture of the web. He explains that he falls on different ends of the spectrum based on context. Like White, I'd like to maintain personal privacy and continue to use the web in the way that I have been - as a tool. However, professionally, I can become more of a resident. I am open to using social media and blogging to create a web presence that allows me to be visible, social, and networked in order to help me develop professionally - to be a better educator.