A2WillBairdMattSmith

Will Baird

Matt Smith

Assignment 2: Digital Divide

Due: 9 September 2008 9:00am

The digital divide is the rift between populations of different backgrounds and cultures presented by computer, software, and the internet use in the new century. It is not necessarily a lack of computers or access, but more of a lack of knowledge and IT literacy of how to use the new technology as well as content provided (MS). Usage of this term has evolved since it's birth in the the mid-1990's. Initially the divide was quantified with the metric of percentage of homes with possession of computer hardware. Now we have broadened the term to more meaningful objectives such as broadband access and IT utilization (WB). The divide seems to be centered around those who have resources and education and those who don't. The internet was pioneered by middle to upper class American society which has contributed to the divide. Language and literacy has become an issue since the entire world does not know how to read and speak English. This factor has also another barrier with the lower classes, when the lower class population does have access to the new technology and the internet, they have a harder time finding content that is relevant to their lives so they do not see the potential or need for the new technologies. The largest disproportion of the divide in America today is found in the African American, Latino, and Disabled populous. The main factor that has been reducing the rift has been the price point of new technology. Over the past ten years the price of the computer and internet service has dropped significantly. There have been many factors that have supported the divide as well, including discrimination against low-income areas, unequal investment in the infrastructure of connectivity, and the insufficient policy efforts attempting to actually reduce the rift (Servon #bubblec('4-8', 'Does this mean you refer to pp 4-8?'))(MS).

Misplaced millions have been spent on just providing computers to try to close the rift, with no execution of teaching how to use the materials provided (Servon 6). The U.S. government has been combating the digital divide by placing computers in classrooms, but have not taken the initiative to train and teach the teachers how to use the new technology to expand the curriculum, instead teachers have been thrown on their own to learn how to use the new materials. Most have just used the new technology to do simple exercises due to lack of personal knowledge instead of using them as a tool to teach more in depth concepts. Another misconception of how to narrow the divide has been through charitable companies who have thrown money at Africa. Their intentions have been good, but their implementations lack long term care or training for the populations they donate the new technology to. The end result is a continent scattered with broken technology due to lack of training on how to use, fix, and maintain the products that could benefit their lives (MS). A main part of the lack of education in these new technologies in these countries is that they were never exposed to preliminary technology such as wired communication, before given wireless communication. It is this reason they have a hard time seeing the benefits of the new technology and have no background in using the technology (WB).

Another factor producing the digital divide is government(MS). Government can be quite influential on both sides of the digital divide. A governments motive will be revealed in their policies related to IT. The governor of Maine funded an initiative to provide every seventh grader with a computer so that his state could become more educated and prepared for thriving in the new economy. (Servon 5-6) In contrast China closed 70,000 Internet Cafe's in 2004 as part of a censorship initiative ("Internet Cafe"). I believe that libraries are an efficient location for local governments to make bountiful internet resources available to all community members.

Like libraries, schools are an area that efforts and investments can be fruitful for decreasing the digital divide. As students increase their skills in IT they will share this knowledge and benefits with parents. This will cause IT to trickle into the community. Great progress has been made towards improving the traditional metrics of the digital divide. For example the E-Rate program (which allocates telecom taxes to purchase IT resources for poor school) has increased the percent of classrooms with Internet access to 95% ("Digital divide and education"). However the No Child Left Behind act has shifted focus away from this initiative. Currently the digital divide is discussed in terms of Digital Equity. This refers to the availability of teacher IT training and the quality of the educaional uses of the resources ("Education Week"). (WB).

In class we watched a video about trying to reduce the digital divide involving the CLever project. The CLever project is an effort to leverage IT to contribute to the the section of society with cognitive disabilities. This group is clearly underrepresented and might not be able to reach toward IT without adaptations to port it to the needs and wants of these groups (WB). This is an example of one of the many new angles groups have taken to try to reduce the digital divide among different groups of people in different situations. This is a more efficient way in breaking down the walls of the digital divide, because it focuses more on education of using the technology instead of just creating a tool and giving it to the group to learn on their own (MS).

Works Cited:

Servon, Lisa J. Bridging the Digital Divide. New School University, New York. 2002. pp 1-23.

Education Week Vol. 01, Issue Fall 2007, Pages 26-28

"Internet Cafe." Wikipedia. 9/8/08.

"Digital divide and education." Wikipedia. 9/8/08.