Hi everyone,
School Library Journal has just published a feature story of mine in
their latest issue. It's called "The Gap," and it examines how the
digital divide, as a policy issue, has fallen off the radar screens of
politicians and the media, while marginalized communities continue to be
left behind.
Some highlights from the article:
This year, 2006, marks the 10th anniversary of the advent of the
digital divide—a major societal challenge that, sadly, has been pushed
aside and forgotten in recent years.
Rewind to 1996: middle-class Americans were just beginning to
explore the possibilities of the Internet as a tool for education, civic
engagement, and entertainment. Yet less affluent citizens, lacking the
necessary skills and exposure, did not enjoy the same access to these
opportunities.
The so-called “Digital Divide” made prominent headlines that year
when high-profile pundits, from President Bill Clinton to network news
anchors, popularized the term in addressing the growing inequities that
appeared to accompany the technological revolution. Today, however,
you’re not likely to hear much mention of the digital divide on the news
or your favorite political blog. As with other political and social
issues, conversation about the digital divide ebbs and flows—and for
several years now we’ve been wallowing at a low watermark....
... Unfortunately, the digital divide is rarely addressed as a
major policy issue in America. But as the U.S. struggles to improve its
schools, while dragging its heels at improving our national broadband
infrastructure, countries like India and China are churning out highly
skilled young people for their workforces. At the same time, Nordic
countries and Korea deploy ubiquitous Internet access. Other nations are
creating government ministries to spur technological and educational
innovation, while American digital divide policies have fallen off the
docket. America is losing its competitiveness because we’re not making
the necessary investments in education and infrastructure.
Fortunately, there is still positive work being done. The federal
e-rate program continues to enable low-income schools and libraries to
connect to the Internet, while nonprofit and private sector entities
invest in local and national efforts dedicated to bridging the gap.
Meanwhile, copyright initiatives like Creative Commons ease the way for
people to publish their own content for broad public use. And open
courseware initiatives from universities, such as MIT, are making some
of the most coveted curriculum freely available, whether you can afford
to attend the brick-and-mortar institutions or not....
Here's a link to the full text of the article in case you're interested
in reading it:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6312460.html
-andy
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Andy Carvin
acarvin (at) edc . org
andycarvin (at) yahoo . com
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://www.andycarvin.com
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