Digital Divides Video

This week in discussion we watched a movie called Digital Divides. This movie focused our attention on youth, computers, education, and employment. I'd like you to post your initial reactions to the movie as well as provide more analysis about what this film adds to our overall class discussions. Please provide several paragraphs so that we can get a good idea of the point you'd like to make.

Some good starting points would be to compare and contrast the differing stories. We witnessed four different stories--those of Luisa, Cedra, Travis, and Kep. How do issues that we've been discussing in class relate to their stories? How can we think about their narratives in terms of racial ravines, 4Cs, or social capital? What sorts of differences allow some of them to do well but not others?

I'd also like everyone to reply to one of the responses. In particular, I'd like you to respond to a classmate that noticed something you hadn't. Was there any reason you didn't notice that particular point? Do you think about labor and race differently now because of that post?

LIS 202 Study Guide Post

This week will be used to prepare for the exam.

A study guide will be distributed later this week, and your online blogging assignment this week is to choose one part of it and answer a question for your peers. As others fulfill this assignment, try to choose something someone else hasn't answered. The test preparation will be much more effective if it covers a broader set of questions.

Cite page numbers, too! Part of good scholarship is allowing others to check your work. Be kind, and be as specific as you can about how and where you are getting your answers.

To keep this all organized, please respond in the comments to this post.

Children and Teenagers' usage of Cell Phone, it affects their brain to get cancer.

i read an article about Children and Teenagers' usage of Mobile Phone. As we know that technology is developing so quickly, as i say that, there are a lot of teenagers and children using mobile phone. It is not a big deal for them to have their own mobile phone. Some people have a opinion that, when you are growing and old enough to brain your storm it is time for you to get used to the new technology, which is cell phone for them. There could be bad affect for the teenagers who don't have a cell phone and low class family, because some teenagers have cell phone and despise them. Thus teenagers ask their family to buy a cell phone for them. This article talks about children and teenagers are using mobile phones a lot, and they are at risk, because their brain and nervous system is still developing, and also their head is smaller and thinner, thus the radiation penetrates deeper into their brains. we all know it but, nobody really really cares about it. people will not really care about it till they meet the result, thus rate of having cell phone in younger age will be increase year by year.
if you guys want to read this whole article here is the link

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mobile-phone-use-raises-childrens-risk-of-brain-cancer-fivefold-937005.html

Thursday's Online Lecture- Community Analysis

Hey fellow 202ers! I am not sure if I should be blogging on the discussion blog or on Professor Whitmire's blog, but I figured I would share my answers to the questions from Thursday's online lecture!

First of all, the issue, as Professor Whitmire said in the online lecture, building new libraries and developing new resources for the less advantaged groups will take extreme dedication not only amongst librarians and politicians, but amongst the community members as well. As everyone is well aware during this time especially, money does not grow on trees. Projects like building new libraries and providing those resources to less fortunate groups will cost large amounts of money. Without the funding and resources, the digital divide and information gap will continue and spread even further. 

Also, when I did my comparison of libraries in Chicago, IL and Urbana, IL, I did notice similarities to the study Professor Whitmire presented. The library in Urbana was placed right in a collegiate area, thus was being used by more students and young people for studying, researching, and a simple gathering place. However, the urban Chicago library was not lacking in its use. I can see the parallel that could be drawn between education level and library use. Through my own education, I have learned so many new ways to gather information whether its through the internet, libraries, books, or interviews. I think that this knowledge that I take for granted may be one of the main reasons why less advantaged groups may not use the technological resources as readily. 

Stimulus and Digital Divide

So I just came across an article about how a part of the stimulus package is going to try and help. The package is giving about 7 billion dollars to "accelerate broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas and to strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or provide significant public benefits." While the money may seem like a lot the "the amount is but a fraction of what is needed to establish the United States in terms of broadband versus other developed countries." One of President Obamas aides has said that the "broadband piece of the Obama agenda is not going to be done solely in the economic recovery package" and that the President "Obama will still pursue goals of expanding broadband access for the unserved and underserved and getting public safety officials a national network." I think this is interesting because when I looked for things about the digital divide and former President Bush I found articles on how little he tried to do. When President Bush entered office the US was 4 in broadband penetration and coming out of office the US was 15th. I think its interesting how the President can influence the digital divide. Also Obama is a man who e mails a lot and Bush didn't at all so its funny how there is also a generational gap between the two Presidents.

Stimulus and Digital divide
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessCompany/idUKTRE51F3GS20090216?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Bush and technology
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/03/6811

Obama
http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/news/story.html?id=36db9037-6054-4eea-b9c2-8d58d2123228

Online Lecture

Am I missing something, or was the online lecture for this week not posted? I have no week four listed on Learn@UW...

Accidentally ignorant parents and the internet

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/10/pirillo.kids.internet/index.html

This article published by CNN.com on Tuesday, February 10th talks about parents unknowingly allowing their children to surf the dangerous net without guidelines and rules. The author, Chris Pirillo, gives a few suggestions to help clueless parents control what their children view on the internet, including investing in some parent controls and establishing firm rules about what kinds of websites are appropriate.

As Pirillo explains, it's not that these parents are intentionally being negligent in their parenting, but rather the disparities of age and even education are inhibiting them from making good decisions regarding what their children do in their free time. This article relates with what we've been learning about because people of our parents' age were not raised with the internet, and some therefore do not understand it and/or are familiar with it. This is a great example of two cultural disparities (age and education) getting in the way of understanding/accessing a modern information technology (the Internet).

comparison of 2 libraries

Chicago Public Library
-total income: $90,988,539
-branches: 77
-interlibrary loans recieved: 4,340
-bookmobiles: 2
-public internet terminals: 1,500
-librarians with ALA-accredited MLS: 276.59 without: 10.17
-book and serial volumes: 4,896,854
-total circulation (per year): 6,746,110
-circulation of children's materials: 2,617,312
-Chicago's caucasian population is the largest, followed relatively closely by African American. Its largest age group is 25-44, and median family income is $56,151. Its total circulation per year is lower than that of Los Angeles'. This may be because Los Angeles' median income is lower than Chicago's and has a younger population, thus people may not be able to afford buying books and therefore visit the library more often to borrow books and utilize other servies.

Los Angeles Public Library
-total income: $108,260,972
-branches: 71
-interlibrary loans recieved: 312
-bookmobiles: 0
-public internet terminals: 2,502
-librarians with ALA-accredited MLS: 425.5 without: 0
-book and serial volumes: 6,393,429
-total circulation (per year): 15,694,601
-circulation of children's materials: 4,871,133

Technology Article Blog

Instead of picking an article that deals directly with technology inequalities, I picked an article that deals indirectly with it. I chose an article that deals with highering minimum wage. I think that a lot of libraries and people dont get the opportunities for technology because most can barely afford to live week to week much less afford extras such as computers cell phones etc. This might not directly affect technology use in libraries, but then again it might. It costs a lot to upgrade libraries, so they can serve technological needs, but not all of this funding comes from the state, some I believe is used in taxes. So people might go against upgrading because they can't afford it that way either. I think that raising minimum wage would give people more money or options to make technology upgrades

tech. divides

"Bridging the Global Digital Divide, One Laptop at a Time."

I thought this article was interesting because as the title states, it addresses global technological inequalities, specifically with computer/internet access. It seems that in areas of great poverty, access to computers is especially difficult and hard to come by. Because of their economic status, these people are put at an unfair disadvantage towards recieving information as well as the knowledge people who do have computers available are able to possess. Many computer companies and activists are trying to bridge this divide through the creation of easy-to-use and affordable laptops that have already been distributed around the world to underpriviledged developing countries, most noteably Africa in particular. The non-profit organization, One Laptop per Child for example, has already released its first model and is working on its second version. They are hoping these computers will not only bridge the digital divide, but also educate the people recieving this technology. Some are skeptical that such laptops will really improve these people's education, but I think that technology companies are doing a good job in initiating the first steps towards bettering citizens of third world countries' lives and making resources available to them. I praise their efforts for sincerely trying to create a small sense of equity in the world through their laptop programs.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1978

Week Four Discussion

Hey Guys! I missed discussion this week because I wasn't feeling well last night. I thought I would post some of my comments about the reading just to keep in touch.

I thought that the article by Koontz did a very well job explaining throughout the whole article that you can not judge which libraries deserve to remain open and which ones should be closed by their statistics. Koontz explains this because libraries now do more than check out books. This is explained well when Koontz there is an increased "use of various media formats such as audio and video, CD-ROM, and eventually electric resources." Aggregated statistics also overlook the increasing amount of people who use the library for strictly internet use. I also think the fact that they were looking at diverse neighborhoods, aggregated statistics fail to examine at what the minorities use the libraries for.

For the Community Analysis article I liked there method of analysis better. I thought it was important that they performed the drive thrus they could witness for themselves what happens in these communities that way they can get a better idea of what the people are like. I also thought this analysis was better because it seemed like they were going as far as they could to get answers to all there questions. This was made apparent when the authors state, "the systematic and overlapping process continued as long as there were unanswered questions."

Divides..

I'll admit, I had trouble finding an article for the project until I stumbled across an article on CNN about how Microsoft is coming out with an application store (similar to that for the iPhone) and will also be updating is software for so-called "smartphones," hoping to keep pace with Apple's gains while improving it's overall market share, as it fights with customers over brands like Blackberry. 

Let me just say, I have a "smartphone," and I love it because I continually have access to the latest information, either on CNN or Perez Hilton. That being said, I think smartphones really do contribute to the information divide, since some members of the population are give continual access to the latest information in the pocket, while others don't have that same access. For example, I was able to watch President Obama's swearing in ceremony on my phone despite the fact that I had class. Other students might have missed out on that experience just because they didn't have the latest technology in their back pocket. 

I think smart phones also contribute to a technological divide because they cost more and are becoming increasingly popular for cell phone providers to carry instead of traditional phones. As a result, people from lower income classes may no longer be able to afford cell phones at all, since they won't be able to buy the phone or the additional service that you often have to buy when you purchase the phone. Not only does this create a technological divide, I think it also creates a safety issue-- do we really want someone walking back from the library at 2am without a cell phone? If they were attacked, how could they call the police for help? Clearly, these type of innovations, while exciting and new, are likely to cause just as much harm as good. 

Technological Inequality in Television Switch

I found an article about the recent digital TV switch set to be instated on February 17th throughout the United States. In this Fox News article, it was discussed that President Obama is attempting to push back the digital TV switch due to inequity between class groups. Obama feels that if the switch is made, many rural, elderly, and minority groups will not have access to a working television. Also, switching from an antenna to the new technology requires a converter box, which may be too pricey for some families. The previous solution to this issue was to provide these families/people with converter box coupons, however, the waiting list for the coupons is currently exceeding 1.1 million people. The digital TV switch has many positive influences including freeing up airwaves to be used for other services such as emergency wireless lines. However, if minorities and many poverty-stricken people will lose this form of communication and information, are the benefits worth the cost? 

I can't really decide how I feel about this issue. I agree that people shouldn't lose access to this valuable communication medium, however, I understand the need for use of those taken airwaves. Does anyone have an opinion with some support on this issue?

Article: Can be found on Fox.com under Obama: Let's Postpone Digital TV Switch

The Divide is Everywhere

I had been searching the technology portion of the New York Times for quite some time trying to find the perfect article that showed the digital divide.  It wasn't until I read articles about the Kindle, new blogs on Google, street lights that could be turned on by cell phones, podcasts, Twitter and chip plants that I realized how much technology our society depends on.  Think about it, if you had no money to buy a computer, or a cell phone, look at how much stuff you would be missing out on.  There would be no blogging, no podcasts, let alone a Kindle.  People on low incomes have to choose which technology is more important to them.  Is it a computer?  A cell phone?  If they choose to have both, maybe that means they don't have a car or can't make the rent payments.  The digital divide is much more prevalent than we think.  Even among those teenagers who have texting and those who don't, the divide shows.  Those that don't have texting tend not to be contacted as much as those who do.  The digital divide is all over the place, just looking through the New York Times reminded me of that.

Health Inequities and Green Areas

An article in the USA Today brought an interesting approach to the idea of inequity and inequality in health. A British study found that health differences between rich and poor could be narrowed with the simple addition of green, open areas.

"Dr. Richard Mitchell, of the University of Glasgow, and his colleagues noted that previous studies have shown that the presence of green space has an independent beneficial effect on health and health-related behaviors.... In areas with the most green space, the health gap between the richest and poorest people was about half as large as that in the least green areas..."

Though this is not directly related to Informational inequalities, the connection between social class and well-being is prevalent. This finding provides support for the idea that if people, regardless of class, have somewhere to be active in a good environment, their health will benefit. This is especially crucial, the article says, for those in poverty because costly health care creates a divide in who can and who cannot receive adequate health treatment.

This study shows how important a natural environment really is. Green areas not only improve standard of living by making people happier and more relaxed; they also can improve health and reduce the mortality rate of all incomes for preventable diseases such as circulatory disease and coronary heart disease.

This article made me think of the those that would be most affected by a hypothetical "green space" in a Metropolitan area. Those in urban settings, where a large minority population can be found, would benefit the most.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-11-08-green-inequality_n.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Las Vegas's Latest Gamble

The February 8th New York Times article, Roll of the Dice on Las Vegas's Shabby Downtown, investigates the mayor of Las Vegas's decision to raise taxes on the lower-income parts of the city during the present economic decline. Downtown, which is faded and ignored "like a worn-out show girl," is mostly filled with older bars, wedding chapels, cash-checking stores, and a few new things like outlet malls. Mayor Oscar B. Goodman wants to dump cash in the eroding area to revive its glitz. Consider some of the plans for the editions/additions:
The project would include a new city hall (never mind that the existing one, built in 1973, has an addition only six years old), a casino resort (the first in downtown in some three decades) and office, residential and commercial space (because, the developers of this project assert, the eventual economic recovery will create demand for it).

The project would include a new city hall (never mind that the existing one, built in 1973, has an addition only six years old), a casino resort (the first in downtown in some three decades) and office, residential and commercial space (because, the developers of this project assert, the eventual economic recovery will create demand for it).

While the idea of revamping a decaying or tired part of a city is admirable and part of a mayor's responsibility, the timing and choice of neighborhood is unfair to the rest of a city known for swimming in money. "For taxpayers, the bottom line could mean borrowing $150 million to $267 million, with tax revenue from new development paying it back over time," the journalist reports. That is a lot of money to invest in a hope for the "eventual" for an area struggling with rent, mortgages, and business expenses. Especially as the burden is on those who live there and the reason is to clean up the face of the main drag.

He [the mayor] thought little of suggesting that federal stimulus dollars help finance a planned museum — downtown, of course — commemorating the mob’s role in building up Las Vegas...The downtown casinos have, however, never matched the allure of the Strip or its gambling and hotel revenue, and the area, though popular with some locals, has long struggled with crime and blight.

The injustice of imposing taxes on struggling communities to build and buy sports teams, arenas, more casinos, land, unnecessary city buildings, 1,000-room hotels, etc. is unnecessary padding of reputation for the wealthy without concern for the critical economic climate of less-prosperous areas or impoverished areas. It's not unlawful injustice, but it's inconsiderate social injustice. The downtown will not gain the most from this makeover--even if the will accrue more business, it will take more than newly-painted walls and fresh pavement to make it safe, and welcoming, and the fall before the eventual decline could be widespread and caused by one man concerned with appearance. Improvements can only be made when people can afford it, and the mayor is risking the entire low-income downtown by raising taxes.

Technoligical Inequality

While researching the topic of this assignment, I came across an article that was very relevant to our class discussions and the overall theme of this class. This article explained the trends of homeowners owning a computer with Internet access. It concluded that the percent of families owning a computer and utilizing the Internet increases as the households income increased, and that income was the main reason why a family would or would not own a computer. The authors also discovered that African Americans and Hispanics still owned less computers than Caucasians, even if they were making the same amount of money. They explain that this may be due to the fact that Whites have a higher percentage of high school and college graduates than African Americans and Hispanics. In other words, just because one can afford the Internet doesn't mean they have the proper education to know how to use it. The article then goes on to talk about a program called "Computers for Youth" based out of New York, which basically gives out computers and educates inner-city students and faculty about how to use them. This is a very good way to increase the knowledge and use of the Internet, but there is still going to be a lot of work to do before inequality does not exist among everyone who should have a computer, no matter what their race or income is.

http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol112004/kleiman.pdf

Health Technology

The article I was reviewing dealt with expanding health information technology in hospitals. It was not only focused on the large complex hospitals, but also on the smaller local hospitals. The basis of my article was that hospitals were adding computerized technology to decrease the risk of error and provide better care to the patients. Things like computerized physician order entry, computerized decision support systems and barcoding for medication administration were all being introduced into the hospitals to improve the quality of care. Not only did they believe that these new systems would improve care, they also thought that the efficiency of the hospital would increase. Today it is certain that we are living in a technological based society. Everything is run on technology now, but 50 years ago it was not. Thinking about all of these computer based programs being introduced into the hospitals you have to wondering if the elderly people are going to be able to figure them out. Young adults have been around computers for long enough that they know the basic functions of them. Older adults, or people without access to computers are not going to be as competent with the computer systems and they are going to struggle. So are these technologies really improving efficiency? For many people YES but for many others NO.

I compared New York City and Chappaqua, both located in New York. The differences I found were the the city of New York has a service population of 3,313, 573 and has 5 buroughs with 1 central library throughout them. The library has a circulation of 15,710, 007. Chappaqua is almost all white in population 91% and New York has 44.1% white members. The economic status of Chappaqua is generally speaking, higher than New York which explains the difference in race and visitors.

Cell Phone Rings Annoy

I read an article on regarding cell phone usage (cnn) that piqued my interest as it was in regard to cell phone rings, an all so common topic in today's modern society. In the beginning of the article there is controversy on whether or not ringtones are appropriate depending on the location-- one woman in Virginia had "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" as her ringtone and it went off at her wedding rehearsal dinner, causing upheaval and mistrust among the groom and his family. The article also discusses how the older generations (that don't necessarily understand how to customize ringtones or retrieve them) are allowing their younger counterparts to customize and set their phones to ringtones of their choice. When the phone goes off, a message is sent (regarding the political and message of the song choice) to the outside world that the older member of society who has an unequal view of technology might not have chosen, might not approve of, and might not know how to remove. Lasty, the article talks about the million dollar industry that is being created  as people are intrigued by this "new" feature and constantly purchase. People that can not spend money on rent, per se, are therefore buying  on average, about 10 ringtones, at about $2.99 a piece. It add's up. Money is being wasted on a fleeting trend that people may not know how to use, may not know is hurtful to their image and may not be able to remove.

Last Thursday's lecture/assignment!

Hey guys! I don't see anything new on Learn@UW and didn't get an email from the professor about Thursday's lecture or assignment. Did we have a lecture or assignment to go over? Let me know! Thanks! -Julie

Digital Archivists, Now in Demand

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/jobs/08starts.html?scp=1&sq=digital%20divide&st=cse

Due to the growing importance of technology in today's society, the demand for digital asset managers, or digital archivists, is greatly increasing. lack of technological knowledge can put people at a great disadvantage in the career world, especially when pursuing a career in any field dealing with business or information processing. Jacob Nadal is the preservation officer at UCLA and he stated in this article, "If you want to work in a library, you have to deal in electronic resources." These days, technology plays a huge role in information sharing, as well as most business transactions. Those who are not fortunate enough to have a strong bachground in these types of technology will haev to work much harder at successding in these fields of work, creating many inequalities among people pursing such careers.

That Digital Divide, Bridged in a Classroom

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/jobs/30training.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=Digital%20Divides%20in%20technology&st=cse


This article discusses the challenges of computer and technology use that older generations face while trying to advance in their careers. Today, many people are having to find second jobs or coming out of retirement in order to make ends meet. However, with a statistic of "computer use among adults 65 and older ...[at] 38 percent" finding suitable jobs can be really difficult. Luckily, many colleges and communities are offering computer classes for those who need them. Personally, I have noticed a divide in the use of computers in my family. My dad is not as familiar with computer programs, typing on a keyboard and using the internet as the rest of the family.But because he's the one who takes care of most of the finances and taxes, it takes him a little more time to do those things online, than it would if he was more familiar with the technology. I think that this often happens, and in some situations, people may avoid computer use all together because of their frustrations. This problem could expand to not just age, like the article discusses, but possibly race, ethnicity, and economic standing as well. Which in turn would create even more divides between all of these groups of people.

Technical college difficulties

This article describes the recent influx of students into the Wisconsin Technical College system. These students consist mostly of middle aged adults who have been laid off from their jobs because of the recent economic downturn. The students are seeking to re-educate themselves and gain a new career. Because these students have not been in school for a while, they often lack fundamental skills such as math and computer skills. Willingness to learn may seem to lessen the technology gap, but the economy may put learning to a stand still. Technical colleges receive much of their funding from state programs and property taxes. With the state budget in deficit, the schools aren't getting the funding they need. Likewise teachers and supplies are in high demand and low supply. Though citizens are willing to learn new technology, the state is unable provide.

read article here

Who Does the "Digital Divide" Effect?

I read an article about the "Digital Divide" and who uses technology, vs. who would use it more if it was avaliable to them. The article was interesting because it says that though research suggests lower classes would use technology more than upper classes if it was avaliable, upper classes use it more, and this is causing there to be a "electronic underclass", to which important technological services are unavaliable. However, they found that within those able to get online, the lower classes used the internet more. They had several possibilities as to why, including amount of leisure time, usefulness of the internet (for those who can't find the services elsewhere), and possibly the fact that lower- income people feel the cost of the internet is so high that they need to be on it more. This surprised me, because I have never had to pay for my internet, so trying to get alot of use out of it never occured to me.

http://www.physorg.com/news127403188.html

ADAPTING TO THE ERA OF INFORMATION

This article focuses on Northwestern Indian College and the increase of internet use at the college. It describes how recently professors started relying on the internet to get information to their students. This is creating a problem for many of the students because they do not have access to the internet. The college is all wireless but most of the students cannot afford to have their own laptop computers and the they do not have enough computer labs for all the students at the college. Since the college did not want people to have to drop out of college because they could not access course work online, they college used a grant to purchases laptop computers that they could lone to the students. The laptop loan programs works like checking out a book, they students simply request a computer from the library and then return it when they are done using it. This program has proven succesful to help bridge the digital divide at Northwestern Indian College because the computers are available to anyone and they create another option for students to be able to connect to the interent.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=29&did=1608989801&SrchMode=1&sid=6&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1234119990&clientId=12286

Technology Creating Inequality

In searching for an article concerning technology creating inequalities, I came across an article entitled "E-Cash: The Future of Money."  As the title suggests, the article gave insight that paper money will become virtually obsolete with online, electronic cash, and smart cards (on which money is loaded and can be used as a debit card for anything ranging from vending machines to store purchases) taking precedence. I found this to be really striking in the fact that, everyday, news articles highlight the fact that the digital divide is widening with computers becoming the means for the divide.  Therefore, in accordance with my article, creating e-money would greatly increase the digital divide.  Those who have no access or funds for computers, i-phones etc., and especially privacy in accessing to computers to manage his or her money will not at all be able to benefit from this act, maybe, to be more "green" or efficient.  Why can't "cold hard cash" done the old way without this new e-technology, and even the use of credit cards, online banking etc.?  Why does everything have to take a step in a direction away from efforts to close the digital divide? Is this a negligible argument? It may be convenient for some, but highly inefficient for others. 

Here is the article link, my comments may make a bit more sense in reading this article:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/ecash.aspx

Re: Gender Gap with Computer Use

There are a number of other articles that also play to what Caitlin said, but rather than just focusing on gender with regard to general computer use, they focus specifically on Internet use, looking at a variety of factors such as gender, race, income, and education. In the aggregate, the findings indicate what one would expect; the same factors that predict income levels or access to or use of other services are good indicators of Internet use as well. Rich, well educated, white males have always had societal advantages when compared to others and according to these other studies, the same is true of Internet usage as well. I'm not saying that this is a good thing, by any means, but it is not surprising that history still holds true in today's more technology-driven world.

One very interesting thing found in the article by Hargittai and Shafer was that, between genders, while actual abilities on the Internet may be the same, women tended to perceive their skills as "significantly lower than men." While this is interesting simply by itself, when put into a broader societal context, we can clearly see that society's preasures are felt just as strongly in cyberspace as they are in reality. What I mean by this is that women who are, say, doctors, even today, if they are just as good as a male doctor will percive themselves as being worse, and will also likely not be selected for a job against an equivalent male doctor simply due to ingrained, unintentional(hopefully) societal perceptions.

So, while I do think that the gender equality gap is closing, I am not sure how large a part the Internet is playing. As we have mentioned numerous times, "social networking" sites like Facebook, Myspace, etc. seem to bring people together, but it seems that they really hold everyone at the same distance. For long-lost friends, this might mean being brought closer together, or if the friend lives on the other side of the planet, but for the majority of our friends, the ones we actually have day-to-day (or at least week-to-week) contact with, it removes the face-to-face component, eliminating more than 50% of the conversation! This impersonalizes everything, and holds everyone at the same distance, effectively isolating people from the human interaction we desperately need!

Gender Gap with Computer Use

I read an article called "Information Technology and Gender Equality: A Contradiction in Terminis?" written by Ingeborg Janssen Reinen and Tjeerd Plomp. This article described the fact that females know less about information technology, computers specifically, and enjoy using computers less than males. Some of the factors discussed in the article included different access availability, different socialization experiences, lack of female rolemodels in the classroom, organizational issues with the school itself (such as timetables), the type of computer use (meaning which classes and activities), and the student's attitude and ability towards computers.


It was found that in most countries, females enjoy using computers less than males do and know less about computers than males do. Male access to computers was also found to be significantly higher than female. The number of participants in activities that require computer use was also higher for males. In all participating countries except the USA and Bulgaria, females scored lower on the FITT test. Even in countries considered to be very gender equal, males still use computers more than females.

I had no idea there was such a gap between genders in the use of computers. The article was published in 1997 and I think things have changed a bit since then. It seems to me that females are closing the gap on males.

Here's the link to the article in case anyone wants to check it out :)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6VCJ-3SWXXN4-1-1&_cdi=5956&_user=443835&_orig=search&_coverDate=02%2F28%2F1997&_sk=999719997&view=c&wchp=dGLzVlz-zSkWz&md5=a8af4e2be4d4787566337e6c17f78ee3&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FACEBOOK!

So I read this article called "Facebook Changed My Life" on BBC News. It featured all of these stories people submitted in celebration of the 5th anniversary of Facebook, which happens to be today. As I read through these peoples' stories, I got to thinking and realized that Facebook really has changed my life.

Before Facebook, I spent my freetime doing somewhat worthwhile things; reading, watching movies that interested me, spending times with my friends and family. I feel like ever since I was introduced to Facebook, my time spent doing all of these things has been reduced to nil. Who would have thought that a website designed to enable communication would have turned out to do the exact opposite?

Even though Facebook is probably not the most efficient way to spend time, now that it's become a part of everyday life, I don't know if I could live without it.

Thursday's assignment

Hey guys, I was having trouble finding information about the city that I chose from Thursdays online lecture assignment. I chose Baltimore, Maryland, if anyone else happened to choose that city or if anyone else had problems that would be awesome if you could give me suggestions. I would be grateful! Thanks!