A2 Daniel Delany

The "digital divide" is the rift between those in the world who have the access and prerequisite knowledge to use computers (and the internet), and those who do not. The divide is present in many contexts:

Financial: Put simply, many people cannot afford a personal computer. Even though the cost of owning a computer has plummeted since PC's were introduced, a computer with an internet connection is still an investment of hundreds of dollars of disposable income, a price far out of reach for many residents of developing nations.

Social: Computers, like any technological paradigm, must slowly trickle through the complicated roots of social acceptance, no matter how fast technical innovation takes place. Since this process is far from over, a child born into a niche of society in which computers are approved of as an important part of economic and social evolution is far more likely to own a computer or be computer literate.

Educational: An extension of the socioeconomic divide. Many school systems, either by choice or due to lack of hardware or teacher resources, do not place as much (or any) importance on computer literacy as others.

Accessibility: In general, people with disabilities have a more difficult time interacting with computer systems than those without. To me, this is one of the more interesting parts of the divide to tackle. Unlike other categories, providing "accessible" computer systems does not require technological innovation to drive the cost of computers to new lows, nor does it require a foundation-shaking new social paradigm. In fact, I believe technology already has the tools it needs to start closing this gap on many fronts:

• People with sensory disabilities have a hard time comprehending computer outputs due to physical issues. At its basic level, this is only a problem of format; that is, once the data is translated into another format (audio for the blind, captions for the deaf, etc.), the problem can be largely eliminated.
• People with physical disabilities often have trouble physically manipulating computer interface devices such as a mouse or keyboard. Again, this is only a problem of format: once an interface is constructed or repurposed that can detect the physical motions the disabled person ~~is~ capable of, the problem can be considered largely solved (though it may require many hours of 'training' on the interface).
• People with cognitive disabilities often have a difficult time understanding or remembering what their computer system does for them, how to use it, and who to call when it doesn't work. While I believe that personal computers might not be a good choice in all cases (depending on the severity of the disability), UX designers and the cognitively disabled can and should work together to build interfaces which strike a balance between being flexible enough to adapt to many disabilities, easy to use, and powerful/useful in the user's everyday life.

Age: Older generations tend to be much less computer literate than younger ones, due to the fact that computers are a relatively nascent technology. Younger generations tend to absorb computer education more quickly, since they have been immersed in the technoculture like a second language since early childhood, while the concepts of computers are still relatively new to the elderly.

The CLever project discussed in class was a great example of an attempt to "bridge" the digital divide by providing computer access to more people. In this case, the project focuses on cognitively disabled individuals who might not otherwise benefit from computer systems.