I found the article to be very interesting. I will admit, I try to get an impression of where an author is going asap. When he started out the paper with overused catchphrases of the internet and stated that before the internet, "click here" was completely baffling, I started to get the feeling that somebody was about to feed me a line. However, I was relieved when the paper took a turn for the better and he gave me some numbers. I will paraphrase them here:
- Households making $75K or more were 20 times more likely to have net access. I took that to mean if you took a sample of people that was the same size out of each income bracket, that for every one household with an income under $75K that had internet access, there would be 20 households with the higher income that had access.
- 6.6% of Americans with education levels of elementary school or less use the Internet.
- In rural areas, people with college degrees are 11 times as likely to have a home computer and 26 times as likely to have home Internet access as those with only an elementary level education.
- People with college degrees are 10 times as likely to have Internet access at work than those with only some high school education.
I found these statistics to be pretty significant, although I would assume that conditions have improved over the last 8 years. He went on to state that although these statistics show a link between Internet access, education, and income, there are other implications aside from access alone. He goes on to mention that even if the people did have access, the type of content that would be accessible to them would be limited. People with lower literacy levels won't be able to take as much advantage of resources and information on the net as those who do. Other reasons he mentioned were that even though the technology is there, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be used and that if in order for the power of online communities to be utilized, a person has to be willing to make relationships in a virtual setting.
This paper got me to thinking a little more modernly about what the current generation of smart-phones and their Internet browsing abilities bring to the table of the digital divide. With a data plan, a typical phone can run close to twice the cost of broadband internet access at home. What kind of benefits will people with access to these devices with the world's information at their fingertips 24/7 enjoy? What sort of disadvantage will those without be at?
7 comments:
Well, they weren't so overused when I wrote that article nine years ago. But yeah, when I read it now, it certainly makes me wonder, what was I thinking? :-)
Also, just a clarification; I wasn't working for NPR when I wrote that piece. I was at the Benton Foundation, serving as editor of the Digital Divide Network.
@andy I didn't mean to imply that they were horribly overused, :) in the first sentence of your article said "American public has been exposed to more than its fair share of overused catchphrases" and I meant to reflect that sentiment. Thanks for the comments!
Those statistics overwhelmed me when I first read them. I didn't think that there were that many people with reading problems in the United States! I don't the smartphone people either, paying twice as much for internet access! Get an Ipod touch, free wi-fi!
I liked both articles by Carvin and Warschauer and what they both had to say about the Digital Divide.
I think that with the internet as it is today there is so much information readily available,unlike what it was almost a decade ago. But I like what Warschauer had to say about the degrees in which access to technology exist and why they do. That accessibility isn't just about having the hardware in front of you, it's also about knowing how to use it and understanding the need for it depending on your needs and wants.
The statistics in the Carvin article was staggering to me as well. It really got me thinking about how those numbers have changed since the article was written and about how much those people are missing out on attaining some of the most basic knowledge (found in the form of written communication, ie. books!). I cannot imagine the last 9 years of my life without the access to knowledge found in books [textbooks to be exact:-)]. I like how you brought up the idea of smart phones. I think that is really amazing that people can carry with them the "power" of the internet in their pocket, considering that not too long ago the idea of having a "home computer" was revolutionary.
Hey Jason!
I don't know if you're going to check this before tomorrow but I spoke with Crystal and our instructor today and they would like to know if it is cool if we push the presentation back until next Thursday? I'm totally fine with it if the others don't mind (which I'm thinking they won't). Just let us know what you think. I'll see you tomorrow a bit before class (we don't have to meet for an hour... maybe just 15 mins or so would be good). Have a good one!
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