The Digital DivideEssay Preview: The Digital DivideReport this essaySlide Show ContentThe Digital DivideMany groups will be affectedWhat can be done?As a society we have to provide this information to everyone. Sometimes it takes creative ideas to obtain the desired outcome. One place to start would be the Library. Its free and can be accessed by most people.
The DisabledA disability can make the learning about the digital world frustrating.The ElderlyThe elderly faces a different type of frustration when using computers.The Poor and DisadvantagedThe Poor and Disadvantage are so busy trying to survive learning the computer is not a priority.MinoritiesEven though most languages can be accessed in the digital world. Culture can be an obstacle for becoming a digital demon.The DIGITAL DIVIDELorraine GainesINF. 103 Computer LiteracyProf: Nasser HalwaniMarch 6, 2012In this paper we will explore the “Digital Divide”. Using our text and other references we will define and delve into various aspects of the digital divide. Technology has reached revolutionary status. For the last 25 years we have seen an explosion of new electronic devices and concepts thats nothing short of amazing. Like all revolutions there are casualties. The casualties of this revolution are the elderly, disabled, disadvantaged, and minority races. Simply put the “Digital Divide” are those with lack of knowledge and capability on one side and everyone else I-pods, tablets and smart phones in hand moving on without them.
The “Digital Divide” is just another phrase born in the wake of the technology revolution. Many such words and phrases have developed as a result of the technology explosion we have experienced globally over the last 30years. Cyberspace, blogging, and texting are just examples of the new language that is emerging. The Digital Divide is more of a situation as opposed to a phrase. According to our text the digital society are those born before 1980. These individuals have the advantage of being a “digital native”. The digital native enjoys growing up in a world where social media is the norm and electronic devices are introduced in early childhood. The people born before 1980 can be part of the new “digital society” but they have to adapt to the new digital world or be left behind where it is almost impossible to survive as a productive part of society. The “Digital Divide” is the world divided into two sides. On one side you have people with access and the ability and upgrades to use technology and the other side who doesnt. These two groups have subgroups. The main subgroups of the side that doesnt have access are the elderly, disabled, minority races and disadvantaged. Some of the groups overlap or share a common circumstance. Each group has different problems and reasons for their lack of access.
Computer technology and the internet can be a life changing event in the life of a disabled person. For those who have trouble walking or in need of transportation could shop and catch up with friends from home. Voice recognition could help the blind or people who have difficulty with movement. Even though these ideas hold a tremendous amount of promise and hope for the disabled it is unlikely that the majority of the disabled community will use it. According to The Disability Statistic Center only one fourth of people with disabilities own a computer and one tenth ever used the internet. Of course the statistics for the elderly, minority and disadvantaged disabled members of society are even less.
The elderly also are among the fallen when dealing with technology sometimes called the “grey digital divide”. Some of the problems with access are like the others but the elderly are unique in some ways. Mistrust of the internet is one of the evils that plague the elderly and the internet. Many elders have a hard time understanding the privacy issue. When the media is constantly revealing people who have been convicted due to evidence found on the computer or “Facebook” it makes the older citizens weary of what can be trusted on the computer. There is also an opinion among the elderly that information and communication technology is for the young. This mindset leads a lack of interest in the internet and technology. There was a case study on the elderly and the internet a group of elderly individuals were chosen to be trained to become more functional in their own health care.
I agree. With that, with a few more paragraphs, I will address what I consider to be the key problems of the situation in a few key areas:
The internet and technology have changed the way society is governed.
Many states have passed laws to change lawmaking and to reduce the level of regulation.
The age of decision making in government has changed rapidly.
Technology has changed how we are connected to each other and our families.
Many governments, universities and large corporations are taking some action on issues of internet governance and online governance, however, there are issues that the government and the industry can agree or disagree on. The internet has changed the way we interact with each other so we don’t have to deal with problems of social media control, abuse of power, etc. etc. This change in online governance can and should be discussed carefully in a meeting setting.
The most well-known issue in the internet governance and internet governance areas is the power differential between a country and a nation (or states). The new country has to choose which states have free speech and which do not. Even though it has a good and democratic reputation, it is the United States that should decide who has the right to exist online or what not in their country.
I won’t go into what this should be about. Most of the above issues can be mentioned in terms of technology, government, government technology and the internet governance process, but ultimately I believe the most important message from the United States today will be about the world, and about the people who are at fault. It will be a process that will take time because in our generation there are so many people who are taking the wrong roads and there is no single person or group responsible for this mess. We are all in this together.
What do we want to make of the global Internet with the majority on one side, the most technologically advanced group of people on the other? Let’s look a little bit more objectively and ask three very simple questions: 1) How much of our Internet is owned by individuals who do not contribute to an industry and 2) What is the current cost of ownership of the net in terms of costs. I think the answer to what is the current cost of ownership of the net will depend on how much we now own the Internet compared to other industries and services.
According to the data on this project, there are five major US companies, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. Each of these companies have different levels of involvement, but these are those that operate on a scale that matters and they do have some impact upon the size of their companies. Their market share increased 2-3%, or about one third of net market shares in the five largest US companies. The only company without an average net market share above 18% had a net market share below 12%. It did not exist then. In fact, the only company with a higher investment impact were Verizon which had a 5.5% share which became dominant in the last 50 years until the 2008 recession resulting from the introduction of the AT&T deal.
In the last year and a half, that changed. AT&T and Verizon both held an average net market share well above the median of 13% combined and within the bounds of the American Association of Broadcasters, the American Cable Association and the FCC. They do not have enough money to be considered an industry and therefore do not have the control of all of the internet