If it were coined in Uganda today, the phrase "Digital Immigrants" would be "Digital Bafuruki" for Bantu and “Digital Obini” (for the Langi). I do qualify to be referred to as a 'digital Mufuruki' or “Digital Abini”- I am actually a typical one.
"Digital Bafuruki", according to some school of thought, are people who were born and bred in the pre-digital (non-digital) world and have since migrated to settle in the digital world. Unfortunately for these Bafuruki, their former country has been obliterated and however much they are tempted, they have no where to return to - they have to live in the current country, the digital world. The Bafuruki do definitely come with their language and with such a heavy accent that cannot be missed. For them to survive in this new country, they must learn and speak the language of the natives. This reminds me of a report in one of the Kampala Newspapers that President Museveni did advise the Bafuruki in Bunyoro to speak Lunyoro (and abandon their 'former' language?). I believe this advice is very good for the digital Bafuruki.
In any part of Uganda (and I believe other parts of the world) we know Bafuruki by their accent, among others. Likewise, digital Bafuruki are known by their typical accent. If you find the following examples of 'accent' familiar (either in your recent past life or actually current life) then you are probably a digital Mufuruki:
- Your secretary, son, daughter, grand child or younger colleague at work created for you your first e-mail address (and probably helped/helps you check your emails).
- You request for your e-mails to be printed (and you scribble your reply on paper for somebody to type or maybe you type it yourself once in a while).
- You are a university teacher and you insist on assignments, however small, submitted in hard copy rather than soft copy (even for a small class).
- You send an e-mail and follow it up with a phone call to confirm that it did arrive or you call to tell somebody you have received their e-mail and then go ahead to reply it.
- You get irritated by the amount of time your children 'waste' chatting on their phones. You cannot even pronounce iPod. "What is this craze about phones, facebook?" you wonder forgetting that these kids have never known the alternative - your country of origin. You are an immigrant to their digital world, just adapt and live there rather than attempt to change it to look like your former country. Sorry, even you yourself cannot go back to 'your country' - it does not exist anymore.
- You have never pressed Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+S, etc on your computer keyboard. What do they mean anyway? Never mind if you cannot see a button on your keyboard labeled 'Ctrl+V'. You are a Mufuruki. Yes, your accent tells it all.
- You and your neighbour wondered why your 21-year-old son in second year in university wants 75,000/= to buy a 'stick'! Moreover he is not disabled and you do not expect a university student to be reduced to a herdsman. You wonder, "in primary school of my days teachers asked us to take brooms to school, these days in university they take sticks! Things have really changed”. Probably not. You have just migrated to a different world.
- When the young talk about Second Life, you either think they meant to talk about ‘Second Chance’ or they visited church recently and are talking about life after death.
Now, fellow Bafuruki, I encourage you to heed President Museveni's advice. Simply learn the language of the natives. I could bet that there are many Bakiga immigrants in Bunyoro (Bafuruki) who speak Lunyoro as well or even better than Banyoro. These guys have adapted. Likewise, there are Digital Bafuruki who have adapted well in this 'new land' of the digital natives and do even speak the language fluently. I consider myself in this category.
Considering the demographic structure of our population and the global trends, we have no choice but to plan for a digital-dominated life (current and future). We are actually late as a nation. As a learning process facilitator, standards regulator and budding entrepreneur, operating in the digital world, it is very urgent for me to forget my nonexistent country of birth (and early life) and learn to live in this 'new country'. I must therefore endeavour to continuously follow the cycle of learning, unlearning and relearning to avoid illiteracy in this age that is greatly dominated by the need for “information literacy”. The challenge is heavy upon some of us who are teachers. Today’s students would have loved to be treated differently than what we subject them to (endure). What should we do to arrive at a balance? How can a teacher, born and bred in the land of chalk and blackboard, overhead transparencies, paper-based application forms, no talking in class, be effective and efficient in his/her work in this digital world of Smart Boards, LCD projectors, online application forms, class chat rooms, etc?
Fellow Bafuruki teachers, we simply must change and move with the times. Let us adopt education technologies and integrate them into our teaching to enhance learning (for the natives) in this era. Did you know that a student could now carry their class room (and you the teacher and some of his classmates) to their bed or to the bathroom?
Corporate managers also ought to be aware of the habits of the current generation and create working environments complete with technologies that enhance performance of the digital natives. About 5 years ago, I was amazed at how Fred, a friend of mine who lives and works in London, was managing the affairs of his office from Kampala with a small gadget in the palm of his hand. Phew! Such is the working environment for a digital native.
Bafuruki, I do implore you to endeavor to include words such as these in your vocabulary and practice: e-mail, chat room, blog, wiki, e-portfolio, trading online, search engines, folksonomy, emoticons, social network sites e.g. Facebook, etc.
About the constitutionality of 'ring-fencing' of some positions in the digital world (for the natives), I have no immediate comment. In the meantime, I encourage the Digital Bafuruki to simply adapt and swiftly develop capacity for harmonious and productive coexistence with the Digital Natives – speaking their language (with their accent) is one of the requirements.
Digital Bufuruki must speak the language of the Digital Natives
