The Digital Divide

America's Digital Divide: A New Line Drawn In The Sands of Class

• Abstract
• The new Digital Divide
  • Students
  • Job Market
  • Affordable information
  • Empowered users

• The Old Digital Divide
  • Costs
  • Mentality
  • Infrastructure
  • Public Access

• The Divide In Our Community
• Data on The Divide
• Old Problem Solved?
• Bibliography

ABSTRACT: Greetings, my name is Isaiah Rembert. I am a third year student from Earlham College. This is a research project that I have conducted for my MGMT 110 class that seeks to address issues pertinent to the Digital Divide.

INTRODUCTION: America is a nation that prides itself on being the land of opportunity, a land where people are judged by their character, and equal opportunities and access are basic human rights of no more importance than food shelter and clothing. The sincere belief of any capitalistic democracy is that participation by all it's citizens is essential to its functioning, and that absolutely anything is achievable with an unrelenting work ethic. Unfortunately another symptom of a capitalistic democracy is competition, which is by definition divisive and encourages people to not appropriate opportunities and access equally as to the aim of winning the capitalistic competition. This is not to say that serious efforts have not been made to equal the playing field of opportunity and access but it is a difficult feat at best, to achieve in our society.This is by no means a new dichotomy, but is one that seems to be worsening in a world that is supposedly more connected, and grants a broader range of opportunities afforded by the use of technology. Surprisingly enough we are seeing the larger disparity during "The Information Age" in equal access than we saw during the Civil Right Era and this is due in large part to technology. This site will compare the "New Digital Divide" with "The Old Digital Divide" both exploring their origins of existence and methods of improving these situations in our society.

THE NEW DIGITAL DIVIDE: The last four decades America has seen an increase in the use of technology that is astonding, and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. The internet's place as a normative tool for every household is no different than the telephone was 100 years ago. We use the internet for everything from shopping and banking, to voting and filing our taxes. This new use of cyberspace is not only found in our personal and daily applications, but has an even more significant role in the business and academic world, greatly placing those who do not have internet access at a distinct disadvantage. Among those most compromised by the new Digital Divide are African Americans and Hispanics. While it is true that these two particular ethnic groups are increasing their participation in technology, the information is advancing way too quickly for them to keep up. This brings me to the apparent distinctions between the new digital divide and the old. The differences are subtle but important to the issue. The Children's Partnership says that, "Most studies of access have focused on the gap between those who can afford the hardware and software they need to go online and those who can't. A new dimension of the "digital divide" is beginning to take shape, however -- one with a profound impact on young people and those who guide and teach them: content." So it seems that the new digital divide is not merely about internet access but has shifted to knowledge about how to use the internet and its sources in an affective manner. Moreover, the new Digital Divide alienates poor or under represented Americans because their isn't enough information posted that is relevant to or addresses their needs. Some of those under addressed needs include scholarship information, diversity of languages, limited-literacy, and job seeking procedures. I will explore some of these and other ways that the new digital divide has manifested itself in our society.

Students that do not know how to use the internet as a resource are among those most compromised by the digital divide. Knowledge about how to use the internet to find useful and accurate information is essential to student life. Most of the research information that students use in now neatly packed in a digital format and readily accessible. One needn't worry about due dates for unreturned books, finding archived materials, or locating current information and statistics. However, those who have not been taught the skills necessary to find accurate and relevant information on line may be unfairly graded on something about which they have expert understanding but lack the resources to complete the project with in a set time frame. The following scenario will illustrate my point: Three students of the same intelligence level have to research the digital divide and they all choose different methods of doing so. One decides to research via books, one searches online without proper training and the last with proper training. The student that researches the traditional way may find that books are unavailable, some he has to wait on, and others are not up to date. It is likely that his grade will be compromised as a result. The student that looks on line my find information but may present inaccurately because he lacked the training to find good resources. The third however would find accurate information in a timely manner. This illustration serves to show the difference between the old, and new divide, finally showing us where students level of knowledge must be in order to compete and participate in our educational system.

Those who cannot use the web properly will not even be considered for a job even if they have years of experience and advanced degrees in a particular subject. Employers want all the information complete, concise and presented on line. They will not even consider the application if correct procedural processes are not followed on the application. Employers are equally interested in one's credentials as they are in one's ability to demonstrate necessary tech skills to partake in the current business world.

Every citizen has the right to know who is running his country, representing his ideas, and how he can contact those people if he wishes. The New Digital divide is compromising citizens basic rights. More political information than not in know disseminated on the internet and knowing how to find it is important. During the last election several people were unable to vote because they didn't know which voting district they were in nor did they know were the ballots were presented. In the past, community members went from door to door bringing people's attention to the zoning changes that had occurred. This time the information was posted on line, resulting in many never getting the chance to vote thus stripping them of their basic right as a citizen. This story probably happens more than people realize and should never happen again. Unfortunately, those even with internet access may not know how to find that information on line. In wealthier communities such information would certainly be made public.

The internet is not only faster but often cheaper when trying to find affordable information, and the very group of people who need it the most have the least knowledge of how to do so. We see this especially in regards to home loans, and grant information. The uninformed man that looks on the net trying to find a reputable company may find that he's been scammed while the knowledgeable man may be abe to better detect a fake and find resources to the genuine article. Now, can this happen to people in the non cyberspace world too? Absolutely, but the medium for information is changing to web based, and someone with prior knowledge of how trustworthy information is found may be better able to find a reputable resource.part of this category includes email entertainment.

Lastly, those who are new-commers to the web usually have knowledge of how to play a consumer roll on the web but not how to design web pages or use it as a resource for personal advancement or empowerment. There are indeed many social and even state run organizations that are trying to bridge the gap but they teach people only how to pay utility bills, and perhaps type. Nevertheless, they do not teach web design in these courses. This practice allows the indigent community to spend their money but doesn't allow them perhaps to start their own business. The new divide must take measures to show people how to participate in web-culture, as participants and not merely consumers.

THE OLD DIGITAL DIVIDE: The Old Digital Divide started with the technology's inception during the 1970s. As with most innovations digital technology was first used in a laboratory and was seen as an innovative devise for recording, storing and transferring information. During the 1980's there were some gains made to digital technologies but its use was still quite cumbersome. The tech boom of the 1990's really placed digital technology among the most important tech achievements of the last fifty years. One of the reasons that digital technology made such gains is because there were many useful and accessible applications for the new technology, and that it was made available for consumers. The other main reason that it made such gains is that it greatly facilitated the way businesses were run, and the way information was disseminated.Unfortunately the technology developed at such a fast pace, it soon outran more people than not. While the early divide was less concerned with utilizing the nouveau technologies, it was greatly concerned with access to those technologies, as people began realizing its practical application in daily activity. There are three main components that comprise the old Digital Divide

The most practical is cost. Whenever new technologies are developed they tend to be quite expensive. Their production is usually costly, and new technologies need to make a profit in order to stay afloat. Therefore many Americans could not even afford a computer, making the use of the internet an irrelevant factor in the problem. While the normalization of computers was occurring in our society the poor and much of the lower middle class were unable to participate in that changing society.

Another factor that added to the first divide was mentality. Many were intimidated by the computer, seeing it as something that the most elite and the most tech savvy people in America used. I've seen this behavior in the most educated and sophisticated of people. The largest shortage of doctors and nurses in America history is due in part to this factor. Many professionals retired early so that they would not have to learn this new digital technology that was required.

Many who were interested in the internet and realized that it was a fast growing aspect of our society, were literally unable to gain access to the internet due to infrastructure in their communities, especially those in rural communities. It was difficult to find a practical way to route wire far out in to the country side with minimal restructuring. This task however has been quite aggressively addressed by the Government. New wireless technologies have also facilitated this matter greatly.

Actual access to a computer and the internet are the basis of the old divide. While not everyone in more affluent communities had a computer they all had access to them in their libraries,and schools. Affluent communities have the tax base to support new technologies communally even if not on an individual basis. The inverse in true for poorer communities who cannot consider such a matter when they haven't the funds to hire and maintain a librarian. While in the long run internet access would save them money that the spent on human resources but they lack the funds to purchase the initial machine and the knowledge of how to use it properly.

THE DIVIDE IN OUR COMMUNITY: The digital divide is alive and well in the Earlam Community. One has only to visit the computer lab on any given week night and there will be found someone that is stranded, relying on the help of others to find the desired function. There are those in our community that don't even know what the process is in saving formation to the (h)drive, while others try to find their way around Power Point for presentations due the next day. This problem should be addressed in our community if we are to remain a competitive school and give people truly equal opportunities. This does happen to a certain extent during Humanities courses in which we learn research procedures, but neglects tobe addressed in other forums. The goal of a liberal arts education is to create well informed, well educated human beings that can participate in and contribute to society, and a large component of that is basic computer knowledge.

Data On The Divide

OLD PROBLEM SOLVED?: The Old Divide has yet to be completely solved and it will be quite some time before such numbers are truly known. We have however seen an increase of computer ownership among America's poor and under represented population. We have also seen a sharp rise in those who use the internet on a daily basis in their usually activities. Among the largest strides that have been taken in infrastructure is the set up of DSL in America's rural communities who were once silenced in many ways and were limited in their inclusion. As of today most libraries and schools have access to computers and the internet. Additionally, most people have ample skills at sending and receiving emails and know how to use search engines at the very least. Since the beginning of the old divide the cost of computers has dropped by %15 and there have been great successes in first war against the digital divide but we are for from victory.

The Digital Divide Network

This was a very helpful resourse, which contains several links to other pages which I've referenced in my text. I used this web site for most of my statistical information.

Digital Divide Basics

This is in deed the site that I used for my graph in oredr to give a basic quantitative view.

A Low-Tech, Low-Cost Tool for the Homeless
This site was marvelous for the subject matter of internet and class. It doesn't seem that there is a welcome place for the indigent in our community, much less enough sites to address their issues.

The Evolution of the Digital Divide

This is a great source that gives perspective to the Digital Divide's origins.


Bridging the divide

This site offers some speculative ideas for bridging the divide.