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!