The digital divide is more than just a geographic problem!

Don P. Jason III
Dj320306@ohio.edu


I have isolated my topic to barriers to the accessibility of new technology: Bridging the digital divide. I found an article titled “The Impact of the Digital Divide on E-Government Use,” written by France Bélanger. ”The article discusses the impact of the digital divide on the access to online government information and services, also called e-government. The digital divide is defined as both the gap between those who have access to the Internet and those that don't have Internet access as well as the gap between those with the skills necessary to interact with the government online and those that don't. Other topics include demographic factors affecting technology usage including gender and ethnicity and U.S. government spending on e-government initiatives,” (EBSCOhost abstract article description)


I want to talk about the digital divide in general; however I want to specialize on everyday things people do that not everyone has access to. Things such as emailing a city councilman/woman or a mayor or using a government Web site to pay a fine or ticket. The nature of American society places a great importance on the internet; when on TV government officials rarely give phone numbers as means of getting more information to the public, they give out Web sites. While, Web sites are easier to remember and are open 24 hours a day as apposed to phone numbers that often go to voicemail after business hours, Web sites are only useful sources of information if a person has the ability to connect with the internet. This article gave shocking statistic about the digital divide, “In 2001 60% of white households in the U.S. had internet access, while only 34% of African American and 38% of Latino households did. Similarly… 78% of high income families had internet access compared to only 40% of low income families.“ This quote shows that the digital divide is more than just a geographic phenomenon; it is a racial and socioeconomic one as well. The article also talks about age and gender in relation to internet access.


I also found an article talking about how social networking and new technology is making the digital divide worst. The article starts off talking about a juror that had to be thrown into contempt of court because he was posting twitter updates about his on-going jury deliberations. In this same case jurors were caught using cell phones to surf the internet to find evidence not presented in court. In an article titled “Tweet! (You won't believe what I'm doing right now!)” Don Campbell talks about how new technologies such as Twitter have underscored “how the digital divide has changed and is growing wider as creators of newer and newer technology cater exclusively to people driven by impudent self-indulgence and a voyeuristic interest in the minutiae of other people’s lives.”