The problem is that the New York Times reporter doesn't understand that
technologies are fluid.. if I can use that as a descriptor.The state of the art
is
constantly changing and users have to adjust to continue to be good users.
Sometimes they have to buy a number of devices that modify or change use.
How we use the tools, how we see the use of technology is based on a number
of modifiers. One of those modifiers would be the people who are using it. I
am not sure how the cultural base should be defined but I suppose the minority
groups should be descriptors, but, should include those who speak English and
those who do not. They never mentioned those who may have to have some
adaptability to be able to use it because of disability. They never mentioned
the
applications of technology everywhere in society. Some of the new technologies
are not available to all for applications at home, in medicine, in school, in
the office, etc.
The government often uses fuzzy modifiers too. All of the schools are wired?
Well , what constitutes wired? A cable drop in a school in the office. A lab
in a high school? There are other ways now of connecting . There has to be a
reason that there is a big struggle for wi-fi and that is that the citizens of
many cities don't have connectivity. Having a computer, or a computer lab does
not constitute fluency of use.
Remember that during Katrina first responders did not have use of
technologies. As people watched that gathering storm, there were modifiers that
made them
decide on actions to take. We may never know the whole story of what happened
but we know that the digital divide in that case was information, and
emergency service difficulty with a breakdown in communication. There was a
considerable Latino and Vietnamese part of the citizenry, whose needs were not
covered
by mainstream media for the most part. That was a digital divide.
The problem of Katrina was one heck of a digital divide for all the world to
see. Information was a modifier and transportation was also. Permission was
not granted for some to use the information they had and or to travel out of
the
place. But the most interesting thing about the legacy of Katrina is that the
Hollywood and television lenses were not there, we were seen in all of our
separate but unequal economical apartheid practices. You may remember
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
That literature was not a quirk, and could be written again, with an update.
Ralph might be blogging , is all and his companion could have been the coyote
in Central Park.
Research in the past decade has shown that computer technology is an
effective means for wideningeducational opportunities, but most teachers
neither use
technology as an instructional delivery system nor integrate technology into
their curriculum. This qualitative study examined the classroom practice of 30 “
tech-savvy” teachers who used computer technology in their instruction, how
much they used it, the obstacles they had to overcome to succeed in its use,
and
their general issues and concerns regarding technology.
No Child Left Behind, according to the NYTimes has reduced many schools to
teaching two subjects, reading, and math. Apparently some of the kids do get
Physical Education. Yippee...no science, and humanities, and then afterschool
more of the same. No wonder the children don't like school as we have created
it.
If one is in very rural and distant areas, some of which at this time are
being connected with wi-fi in a variety of schemes, the struggle is to create
communities of connectivity. Think of the people in Navajo .. the land of the
Navajo. Few, sparse phones some 60 miles apart in special community places. A
struggle to get the basic telephony ( can you hear me now?)
A person with a computer , who does email, is one application, but if we are
talking about the digital divide there are so many other modifiers. Facility
of use is a modifer. What can you do with the technology you have? What
adaptors or cool tools do you have and how do they affect the ways in which you
are a
user.
Why did the New York Times get the idea of the digital divide wrong?
They talked about connectivity, in basic terminology. We all know that there
are various
levels of technology infrastructure. Sometimes the location of where you are
in the world
make a difference in the resources you have to use. Basically you have to
• analyze the technology
• describe its effects
• interpret those effects
understand infrastructure and deployment , and areas within a country that
need more support or different kinds of infrastructure. Tell people that there
are areas that are just getting connected, and describe the ways of connecting
that are available with some percentages. Global data is available too But
this one was specifically targeted for the US.
We know that cities are struggling to do the wi-fi because they
