Digital Immigrants and Natives (more)

posted by hal….

Last week, as reported here and elsewhere, Lord Saatchi, the Briritsh advertising icon, pronounced advertising as we know it dead.

One facet of his thesis which kept coming up over the weekend was the notion that the brains of Digital Natives are physiologically different than those of Digital Immigrants.

If you recall, Digital Natives are people under 25 – those who grew up with the internet. Digital Immigrants are geezers over 25. We’ve learned the customs and language of this new land, but will always speak with an accent.

So it turns out that the brains of the Natives have developed differently than our own. They are wired differently. This phenomenon is called CPA, or Continuous Partial Attention (sometimes Constant Partial Attention).

Natives are constantly doing three, four five things at once, processing information, making decisions, taking action on many simultaneous levels. It’s beyond multitasking. It’s hypertasking.

Digital Natives hang out on Web 2.0 places like YouTube and Flickr.To be successful in our brave new world, marketers and communicators will need to learn how to blend in with the Natives and communicate without a thick Immigrant accent.

It might require that we re-wire our brains.

Speak Yankee or Dixie?

post by Hal…..

Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Stanley Cup has taken up residence in the South. Whatever the reason, NPR had a story this morning (and an online quiz!) about the causes and differences of regional speech patterns in the United States.

The quiz introduces itself thusly: “To find out how much Southern blood your speech shows, simply choose the words you use below, then press ‘Compute My Score!’ at the end.”

The test is based on research by the Harvard Computer Society and enhanced by Dr. Robert Beard, the CEO of Alphadictionary. The quiz is 20 multiple choice questions and bears absolutely no resemblance to “You might be a Redneck If…” surveys.

Take the Quiz Right Now: AlphaDictionary / Rebel or Yankee?

Internet Acronyms

posted by hal…..
In the word dodge, two rival camps compete for dominance: those who would keep the language “pure,” and those who see language (especially English) as changing and dynamic.

Shakespeare coined many words, gravitating particularly toward Latinate endings. Lots of people are still pissed. Authors, journalists, bloggers and writers of all stripes coin new words and phrases daily. Some terms will join the main body of language (“google it”) while others will wither away (“bling”).

But what do we make of Internet acronyms? You know, that annoying little shorthand used for IM-ing and text messaging. Scourge or savior? What would Shakespeare make of it?

Lots of websites have sections on internet acronyms, but Netlingo has one of the most complete.

Here are a few amusing entries –

BTHOOM (Beats the Heck Out of Me)
BTSOOM (see above)
CSL (Can’t Stop Laughing – it’s the new LOL)
DQYDJ (Don’t Quit Your Day Job)
GAL (Get a Life)
IIIO (Intel Inside, Idiot Outside)
ILICISCOMK (I Laughed, I Cried, I Spat Crumbs On My Keyboard)
KYPO (Keep Your Pants On)
OMIK (Open Mouth, Insert Keyboard)
PAL (Parents Are Listening)
SSEWBA (Someday Soon, Everything Will Be Acronyms)

You get the idea. Some of these terms are migrating into everyday language – my teenage daughter seems to speak exclusively in acronyms.

ME: Hey Jill, you want to help me wash the truck?
JILL: Kimwas, Dad.

It means “Kill me with a Spork.”

Whatever our position on the “sanctity of language” as enshrined in the OED, it’s beneficial for us as marketers, writers and advertisers to recognize the widespread usage of Internet Acronyms and employ them where it is appropriate. It may also help us communicate with our kids.

What’s a Spork?