John Palfrey would probably call himself a “digital settler,” someone comfortable enough with technology to help open up the new realms of pervasive digital media and online social networking. I just heard him speak about the emerging population of “digital natives,” those among the 1 to 3 Billion people born after 1980 with access to the new web and/or mobile technology and who have been exposed to the ways and means of its merger with daily life. ("Digital immigrants" make up Palfrey's third and largest clump of the human population--those of us slowly struggling to make their way in the post-email new world.)

For anyone working with youth in schools or youth-serving community organizations, Palfrey’s Born Digital, Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, is essential reading. Since reading it last winter, I have found myself referring to it repeatedly in planning meetings about on-line privacy and security on our sites, the constructions of line identities, how advocacy and services can mesh with everyday social networking as experienced by young people today.

To see what it’s all about, before mentioning any websites, I’ll start by just passing on this youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79IYZVYIVLA&feature=related.  

I joined Goodreads this weekend. I had heard of it, but not gone down that road before.  

Google has now splashed into the social networking pond (hmm, ocean really) with its OpenSocial initiative. OpenSocial joins the set of free tools from Google that software developers can use to embed functionality in their web sites. Unlike other Google tools, OpenSocial doesn’t open up things Google like its Maps or News. Instead, the goal is to allow developers to get at social networking information that more and more of us have up on sites like myspace or Linkedin.