Digital divide refers to the inequality of access to the internet.[1] The victims of digital divide are those without or with limited access to the internet and those unable to use the internet effectively.[2] They are mostly the poor living in the developing countries. Their low accessibility to the internet and inability to use internet has sustained the digital divide over decades.
I especially concern the phenomenon of the digital divide because
I am interested in social issues. I want to explore the factors of digital divide and its relationship between economic divide, usability divide and empowerment divide.[3] I firmly believe that root problem of digital divide is the unevenly distributed wealth and power. I will investigate this part in depth in my final research paper.
Personally, I do feel anxious about the destiny of the poor countries. I concern the welfare of them. Under the free enterprise capitalist system, their ultimate aim is to increase their income. It is true that many wealthy people deprive the basic right of the poor in order to maximize their gain. Many of them neglect or frankly ignore the benefits of the poor. It seems to me that wealth is the most important bargaining power in any aspects of this world. Most high-technology investment which can generate great profits is concentrated in the developed countries whereas the high-risk and heavy industries which are not environmental-friendly activities are mostly located at developing countries. That means they do not even have much chance to shorten the digital divide on their own. It is also apparent that owing to the absence of access to communications in the internet, the less developed countries (LCD) fall behind in the research and education. And this adversely affects their economic development. Therefore, the rich will just become wealthier and the poor are just remain impoverished. I wonder whether this vicious cycle will be put into a halt.
I believe everyone can contribute to this world. We all can do something to help the needy. They are of lack resources whereas we, who lives in a more developed countries have abundant resources and got chance to learn new technology. It is just because we born in different cities, thus, we have a better living standard thanks to our living environment but not because of our ability. It does not mean we are smarter or even more deserved to it. If the greatest purpose of technology is to improve human beings’ living standard, then it is not justified that the poor cannot benefit from it. Therefore, I hope to seek or suggest good resolution or measure to deal the problem induced by digital divide.
Bibliography
[1] Manuel Castells, The Digital Divide in a Global Perspective in The Internet Galaxy, ( Oxford: Oxford University Press) p. 248
[2] Manuel Castells, The Digital Divide in a Global Perspective in The Internet Galaxy, ( Oxford: Oxford University Press) p. 247
[3] Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, Digital Divide: The Three Stages, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html, 2006
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Research questions:
1)What does digital divide this phenomenon implies?
2)Is it true that people and countries become excluded because they are disconnected from internet-based networks?
3)Under what conditions, does inclusion in internet-based networks provide better opportunities ?
4)What are the difficulties of carrying out the resolution of the digital divide?
5)Can knowledge of internet change the destiny of the poor?
2)Is it true that people and countries become excluded because they are disconnected from internet-based networks?
3)Under what conditions, does inclusion in internet-based networks provide better opportunities ?
4)What are the difficulties of carrying out the resolution of the digital divide?
5)Can knowledge of internet change the destiny of the poor?
Bibliography
1) Andrea Edmundson, Globalized E-Learning Cultural Challenges, (Information Science Publishing, 2007)
2) David Gauntlett, “Glossary”. In David Gauntlett (ed), Web Studies, (London:Arnold, 2000)
3) Henry Kressel, Competing for the future, (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
4) Jean- Noel Jeanneney, Google and the Myths of Universal Knowledge, (The University of Chicago Press, 2006)
5) Manuel Castells, The Digital Divide in a Global Perspective in The Internet Galaxy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
6) Mike Holderness, “Who are the World’s Information-Poor?” in Brian D. Loader (ed), Cyberspace Divide: Equality, Agency and Policy in the Information Society, 1998
7) Pippa Norris, Digital Divide, (Cambridge University Press), 2001
8) The Digital Divide Network http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/
Retrieved on 23rd October 2007
9) THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S CHILDREN 2005, THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN CHINA, http://www.unicef.org/china/media_1164.html
10) International telecommunications Union: http://www.itu.int/partners/flash/index.html
Comment about why I think those items might be useful
1) It is useful because it helps us in understanding the E-learning situation in Lesser- Developed Countries, like some Asian countries. And this looks easy to understand. The language or terms it used is quite simple.
2) It helps me to understand the specific terms used in the internet. It shows that there are quite a lot to learn for new users or even current users.
3) It talks about how digital innovations are changing the world. It also mentions the role of the government, like what they do to help further develop the digital industry.
4) It analyzes different approach of different countries towards digitization. It helps us in understanding the recent development of the digital industry.
5) It is helpful in defining the meaning of ‘digital divide’. It also examines the digital divide in a global perspective and illustrates the ideas by US data which is a good statistical source that has analyzed differential access to the internet since 1995.
6) It provides information about the poor who suffered from digital divide which I think is useful for my final paper because I am going to analyze the situation of the poor in depth.
7) It proved the relationship between economic development and the digital divide is strong.
8) The Digital Divide Network is the Internet's largest community for educators, activists, policy makers and concerned citizens working to bridge the digital divide. At DDN, you can share documents and have discussions with others.
9) Unicef always provide reliable source. And this article helps us to understand more about the digital divide in China.>
10) There is an interactive map which provides us different countries’ profile which is convenient for us to find data in order to make comparison.
Links to websites relevant to Digital Divide
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, November 20, 2006: Digital Divide: The Three Stages: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html
The Digital Divide Network, a project of Taking IT Global: http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/
Sites for 2004 figures on the digital divide:
http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/
Interactive map – figures from 2003: http://www.itu.int/partners/flash/index.html
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS): http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/
Bridging the Digital Divide
A Vision to a Digital Inclusive Society: http://www.sinchungkai.org.hk/demo/eng/scks_publication/policy_paper/Digital_divide.pdf
Internet World Stats: http://www.internetworldstats.com/
UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/china_33546.html,
http://www.unicef.org/china/media_1164.html
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide
1) Key quote:
Internet users in China have increased from 620,000 in 1997 to over 87 million today, making the country second only to the United States in Internet connections. But this massive expansion has been uneven; so that the country’s six most developed administrative units have 50% of these connections, while the six poorest account for less than 1%. It has also been estimated that the over 60% of the total Chinese population living in predominantly rural areas has access to only 0.8 % of total Internet connections.
(Author’s name: Unicef , Web address: http://www.unicef.org/china/media_1164.html retrieved on 26th October 2007 )
2) Key quote: The term digital divide refers to the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and those without it.
(Author’s name: Unknown, Web address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide retrieved on 26th October 2007)
3) Key quote:A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), representing numbers or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous range of values.
(Author’s name: Unknown, Web address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital retrieved on 26th October 2007)
4) Key quote: There are still 30 countries with an Internet penetration of less than 1%.
(Author’s name: ITU World Telecommunication, Web address: http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/ retrieved on 26th October 2007)
5) Key quote: Almost 40% of the population has lower literacy skills, and yet few websites follow the guidelines for writing for low-literacy users.
(Author’s name: Jakob Nielsen, publication details: written on November 20, 2006,Web address: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html retrieved on 26th October 2007)
1) Andrea Edmundson, Globalized E-Learning Cultural Challenges, (Information Science Publishing, 2007)
2) David Gauntlett, “Glossary”. In David Gauntlett (ed), Web Studies, (London:Arnold, 2000)
3) Henry Kressel, Competing for the future, (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
4) Jean- Noel Jeanneney, Google and the Myths of Universal Knowledge, (The University of Chicago Press, 2006)
5) Manuel Castells, The Digital Divide in a Global Perspective in The Internet Galaxy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
6) Mike Holderness, “Who are the World’s Information-Poor?” in Brian D. Loader (ed), Cyberspace Divide: Equality, Agency and Policy in the Information Society, 1998
7) Pippa Norris, Digital Divide, (Cambridge University Press), 2001
8) The Digital Divide Network http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/
Retrieved on 23rd October 2007
9) THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S CHILDREN 2005, THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN CHINA, http://www.unicef.org/china/media_1164.html
10) International telecommunications Union: http://www.itu.int/partners/flash/index.html
Comment about why I think those items might be useful
1) It is useful because it helps us in understanding the E-learning situation in Lesser- Developed Countries, like some Asian countries. And this looks easy to understand. The language or terms it used is quite simple.
2) It helps me to understand the specific terms used in the internet. It shows that there are quite a lot to learn for new users or even current users.
3) It talks about how digital innovations are changing the world. It also mentions the role of the government, like what they do to help further develop the digital industry.
4) It analyzes different approach of different countries towards digitization. It helps us in understanding the recent development of the digital industry.
5) It is helpful in defining the meaning of ‘digital divide’. It also examines the digital divide in a global perspective and illustrates the ideas by US data which is a good statistical source that has analyzed differential access to the internet since 1995.
6) It provides information about the poor who suffered from digital divide which I think is useful for my final paper because I am going to analyze the situation of the poor in depth.
7) It proved the relationship between economic development and the digital divide is strong.
8) The Digital Divide Network is the Internet's largest community for educators, activists, policy makers and concerned citizens working to bridge the digital divide. At DDN, you can share documents and have discussions with others.
9) Unicef always provide reliable source. And this article helps us to understand more about the digital divide in China.>
10) There is an interactive map which provides us different countries’ profile which is convenient for us to find data in order to make comparison.
Links to websites relevant to Digital Divide
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, November 20, 2006: Digital Divide: The Three Stages: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html
The Digital Divide Network, a project of Taking IT Global: http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/
Sites for 2004 figures on the digital divide:
http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/
Interactive map – figures from 2003: http://www.itu.int/partners/flash/index.html
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS): http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/
Bridging the Digital Divide
A Vision to a Digital Inclusive Society: http://www.sinchungkai.org.hk/demo/eng/scks_publication/policy_paper/Digital_divide.pdf
Internet World Stats: http://www.internetworldstats.com/
UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/china_33546.html,
http://www.unicef.org/china/media_1164.html
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide
1) Key quote:
Internet users in China have increased from 620,000 in 1997 to over 87 million today, making the country second only to the United States in Internet connections. But this massive expansion has been uneven; so that the country’s six most developed administrative units have 50% of these connections, while the six poorest account for less than 1%. It has also been estimated that the over 60% of the total Chinese population living in predominantly rural areas has access to only 0.8 % of total Internet connections.
(Author’s name: Unicef , Web address: http://www.unicef.org/china/media_1164.html retrieved on 26th October 2007 )
2) Key quote: The term digital divide refers to the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and those without it.
(Author’s name: Unknown, Web address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide retrieved on 26th October 2007)
3) Key quote:A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), representing numbers or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous range of values.
(Author’s name: Unknown, Web address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital retrieved on 26th October 2007)
4) Key quote: There are still 30 countries with an Internet penetration of less than 1%.
(Author’s name: ITU World Telecommunication, Web address: http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/ retrieved on 26th October 2007)
5) Key quote: Almost 40% of the population has lower literacy skills, and yet few websites follow the guidelines for writing for low-literacy users.
(Author’s name: Jakob Nielsen, publication details: written on November 20, 2006,Web address: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html retrieved on 26th October 2007)
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