The place where everyone has a voice...provided they were taught how to speak
I see "the digital divide" as a radical narrowing of a greater topic. I think a better term would be "the educational divide". The question is raised in our assignment for this week (among many other places) if those who has don't know how to use the internet really have access to it. Do the illiterate really have access to libraries? Do those who don't understand how to read bus schedules really have access to mass transportation? What about the people who are afraid of flying...do they have access to the rest of the world?
Yes these examples take the idea too far but it serves as a reminder about the idea of knowledge in the world we live in. If someone chooses not to fly yet wants to see the world, they can take a boat, or maybe realize that flying is safer than driving a car (assuming they drive). Even if I've never seen a bus schedule in my life and I need to find my way downtown one day, Metro Transit has informational lines to call for information. For those who don't know how to read, the library very well might be their best resource for learning. This works for the internet just well. For those without a computer, again...the library (check out the first paragraph of the policy).
The real issue here is desire. I hate old adages but here's one I actually think is true when it comes to public resources: "You can do anything you put your mind to" (or maybe "Where there is a will there's a way"....meh you decide). There are enough resources in the world currently to allow everyone access if they look to long standing public sources of information for help. Tools available today even permit the blind to access the internet with or without a "standard" computer.
I believe that today the "digital divide" can easily be overcome by any of various, easy-to-access, means. Education is the real limiting factor in people ability to access the wonders of the digital age. And it is this very reason that it is important that our children continue to learn about the world they live in. When I was in grade school I learned to use a card catalog to locate library resources. Such a practice would be scoffed nowadays as obsolete and blocking access to the powerful indexing and search abilities of the internet and similar computer systems. (ok, that probably didn't need a wikipedia link in this crowd but the concept of treating something I learned in grade school as history makes me laugh) In order for anyone to have access to resources in this world they must be taught about them. In order for any kind of education to be effective, it must be flexible enough to change with knowledge considered relevant to the era in which it is being taught. This is true for the internet just as it was true for microwave cooking.
The important thing to remember that knowledge can be gained everywhere you look. It just needs to be applied in relevant ways. The digital divide is real but it is not a result of availability as commonly thought. It shares the same problem as many public works. If people aren't educated about their benefits, they will not be able to share in those benefits.
Comments
I too remember the good old days of "library" class once a week being taught to use the great Dewey Decimal System. I would agree that desire, or even one's willingness to learn how to learn may be the divide, as well as the commonly cited problems like age and economic levels. But these desires are usually taught through life growing up with parents who have that same desire. So we may see the trickle down effect not only as children who grow up in poverty stay in poverty, but also when children grow up in households with no desire to try something new. Speaking of "you can do anything you put your mind to", there was just an article in the StarTribune about American young adults being conceited.
Posted by: William | March 1, 2007 06:05 AM
I too remember the good old days of "library" class once a week being taught to use the great Dewey Decimal System. I would agree that desire, or even one's willingness to learn how to learn may be the divide, as well as the commonly cited problems like age and economic levels. But these desires are usually taught through life growing up with parents who have that same desire. So we may see the trickle down effect not only as children who grow up in poverty stay in poverty, but also when children grow up in households with no desire to try something new. Speaking of "you can do anything you put your mind to", there was just an article in the StarTribune about American young adults being conceited.
Posted by: William | March 1, 2007 06:56 AM
This is an interesting point. If you asked someone who lacked computer literacy if they had internet access, would they say yes or no? I know there are those examples out there of people asking their more tech savvy family or friends to do things online for them, but then there are also those who choose not to have anything to do with computers or the internet. I still think there's a distinction between having that access and being able to use it though.
Posted by: Carl Cassel | March 4, 2007 10:03 PM