Discovering New Lands

Teaching digital rhetoric is a topic that brings to mind chaotic classrooms of overwhelmed students and failing technologies. If the technology cooperates and the students are able to keep up with any demonstrations, however, such teaching could be successful. I read the DigiRhet article with some skepticism, especially since it's difficult for students to make use of things like Facebook in productive academic ways. That is not their fault, since that space is intended for a social setting. Who are we (As Erin mentioned) to say the space should now be colonized by academia?
Some of the technologies mentioned in this article did seem fascinating, such as the "networked PlayStation console." I do wonder about technology's entrance into the classroom, however. In the "old" days, it was considered rude or inappropriate for students to read the campus newspaper in class. Countless professors always requested that we please not read the newspaper in class. Now, educators face tiny iPods, cell phones, etc. that come into the classroom with students. Do we colonize these spaces for academic use, or do we ban them? Or, do we do something entirely different? We cannot ignore them, though. That much is clear.
The article mentions beginning a digital rhetoric course with definitions. I wonder if students and instructors would define this term and others in the same way. Let's think about the following: A teenaged boy defines his videogame use a a socially relevant and relaxing way to spend free time with friends, while his parents define it as a waste of time and intellect. We might think about how we define spaces normally used for social purposes. How close can academia get to our students' personal lives?
Bethany