Since the digital revolution began some time in the early 1980s, we have broadly and arbitrarily categorised users as "digital natives" (those born after 1982) and "digital migrants" (those born before 1982). I was born in 1958; that makes me a digital migrant. I am therefore not a good user of digital technology (not IT savvy). The focus of digital technology worldwide today is to cater for the wants and needs of digital natives (they would be less than 30 years old today). If you are less than 30 years old, you are considered a digital native. That also means you are an able and good user of digital technology; you are highly receptive to almost all technology that comes on the market today and in the future. You are IT savvy (more often than not). Now that digital technology is here to stay, how does that affect our education - the way we learn, and the way we work, now and in the future?
Let's discuss hardware first. Well, all I can envision is the laptop is here to stay and everyone wants to own one. If you have not got your own laptop, then it is high time to save for one. In Kota Bharu, there in KB Mall and a shop called Monaliza that sells reasonably priced new laptops which come with pre-installed bundled software. Nowadays one can get a new laptop for RM1,200 (which translates to saving RM200/mo for 6 months). Acer brand has been dependable and reliable so far for me. I wouldn't buy other brands. For SONY brand sold in Malaysia, these laptops cost ~RM1,4000 and are made in China and often develop some problems later on. The last SONY laptop I had went for repairs at a SONY repair centre in Jalan Gajah Mati. If you really need a SONY laptop, then buy ones that are priced above RM7,000 each - these are assembled in Japan and are genuine machines (check the packaging) - buy them from Queensbay Mall, Penang. The external hard disk (HD) is a necessity to store a lot of multimedia files and high-resolution (hi-res) digital images in the form of digital albums. Today, an external HD (298GB) costs ~RM300. Toshiba and Imation are reliable brands (I use a Toshiba) - buy external HD from Monaliza. A pen drive of 16GB is good to have to store some big files and presentations for a meeting or workshop. A good place to bargain for pen drives is a small shop in First Avenue, Penang (on the third floor) - it is called Asus Shop (smthg like that) - here the pen drives come in attractive shapes and will make you crazy - the store assistants are helpful too, in case you don't recognise pen drives. Harvey Norman in Queensbay Mall, Penang used to sell 16GB Toshiba pen drives. Buy lots of pen drives as you will them at odd times when there are no shops around. A digital camera, either built-into a mobile phone or separately. The digital cameras have jumped from being 8 megapixels a few years ago to 10 megapixels now (which means each file captured occupies a larger footprint and needs a larger storage space). I keep 2 digital cameras for my hectic work (8 megapix and 10 megapix). In Kota Bharu, digital cameras can be bought at a small outlet on the ground floor in Billion Shopping Centre; the parent store is on the second floor - it also does digital camera repairs for a postal fee of RM25 if the camera is still covered by warranty - it ships the defective camera to KL - you pay for to-and-fro postal charges). Beware though, these digital cameras are made in China and tend to become faulty for no reason. That's what you get for cheap technology.
Let's talk about software in another post.
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