Chapter26: The Digital Divide: A perspective for the future

Quote: " The existence of a digital divide is not universally recognized. Compai
ne argues it is a perceived gap."
What I expect to learn:
I expect that providing schools with technology is not sufficient to close the
digital divide. Teachers must receive the appropirate training in order to use t
echnology effectively and to increase student learning.
Review:
The term initially referred to gaps in ownership of computers between groups, d
uring which time the increase of ownership was concentrated in certain ethnic gr
oups.The term came into regular usage in the mid-1990s, though the term had prev
iously appeared in several news articles and political speeches as early as 1995
.The President of the United States Bill Clinton and his Vice President Al Gore
used the term in a 1996 speech in Knoxville,Tennessee.This term initially referr
ed to gaps in the ownership of, or regular access to, a computer. As Internet ac
cess came to be seen as a central aspect of computing, the term's usage shifted
to encompass gaps in not just computers but also access to the Internet. Recentl
y, some have used the term to refer to gaps in broadband network access. The ter
m can mean not only unequal access to computer hardware, but also inequalities b
etween groups of people in the ability to use information technology fully.Due t
o the range of criteria which can be used to assess the imbalance, and the lack
of detailed data on some aspects of technology usage, the exact nature of the di
gital divide is both contextual and debatable. Criteria often used to distinguis
h between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' of the digital divide tend to focus on
access to hardware, access to the Internet, and details relating to both catego
ries. Some scholars fear that these discussions might be discouraging the creati
on of Internet content that addresses these needs.Typical measurements of inequa
lity distribution used to describe the digital divide are the Lorenz curve and G
ini coefficient. In the Lorenz curve, perfect equality of Internet usage across
nations is represented by a 45-degree diagonal line, which has a Gini coefficien
t of zero. Perfect inequality gives a Gini coefficient of one. However, the ques
tion of whether or not the digital divide is growing or closing is difficult to
answer.
What did I learned:
I learned that conteual and debatable is both digital with the ability to be us
e in technology aspects.
Integrative Questions
1.) What is Current usage of education for
Digital Divide?
2.) What is Global digital divide?
3.) What is E-domocracy?
4.) What is E-Governance?
5.) What is Knowledge Divide?