Transcript Slide 1

Digital Divide(s)
COMM 2P26 – Jan 29th 2015
What is the Digital Divide?
• The term ‘digital divide’ describes the fact that
the world can be divided into people who do
and people who don't have access to - and the
capability to use - modern information
technology, such as the telephone, television,
or the Internet.
• Examples?
Digital Divide(s)
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Gender
Race/Ethnicity
Age
Disability
Location
Income
Other Approaches to Digital Divides
• Norris (2001) points to divides at three levels:
• the global divide which encompasses
differences among industrialized and lesser
developed nations;
• the social divide which points to inequalities
among the population within one nation;
• a democratic divide which refers to the
differences among those who do and do not use
digital technologies to engage and participate in
public life
Other Approaches
• DiMaggio & Hargittai (2001) suggested five
dimensions along which divides may exist:
• technical means (software, hardware,
connectivity quality)
• autonomy of use (location of access, freedom to
use the medium for one's preferred activities)
• use patterns (types of uses of the Internet)
• social support networks (availability of others
one can turn to for assistance with use, size of
networks to encourage use)
• skill (one's ability to use the medium effectively)
Skills (Hargittai 2002)
• Looks at distinguish varying levels of online
skills among individuals
• Skill = “the ability to efficiently and effectively
find information on the Web”
• Why is it so important to consider ICT skills in
the information society?
Different Divides
• Literacy
• 22% of adult Canadians have serious problems
dealing with printed materials.
• An estimated 875 million adults are illiterate
worldwide. Nearly two-thirds of them are women
• How can people participate in the information
society if they can’t read?
Who is Divided?
Wealthier people
town dwellers
able-bodied
people
white people
younger people
poorer people
are more likely to rural folk
have computers people with
and Internet
disabilities
connection than:
ethnic minorities
older people
DD in Canada?
Canada ranked 12 in the world for Internet usage with 28.0 million
users
Digital Divide in 2015
• 2015: the year the digital divide will reach
tipping point in the workplace
http://bit.ly/1AuWqlF
• Will a Gulf in Energy Services Become the Next
Digital Divide? http://bit.ly/1yVCV49
• Digital Divides: The New Challenges and
Opportunities of e-Inclusion
http://amzn.to/1uvknlI
Gender Divides - Wikipedia
• 3.5 million articles in 250+ languages
• 85%+ of articles are written by men
• New initiative to increase number of female
contributors
• “Everyone brings their crumb of information to
the table,” she said. “If they are not at the
table, we don’t benefit from their crumb.”
• Access isn’t the only thing going on
• Is the internet still a boy’s club?
http://bit.ly/1Lbqvdv
Social Barriers are also Local
Mark Goldberg, a telecom consultant
based in Toronto, said government policy
should focus less on infrastructure and
more on social barriers such as poverty:
“I think we’ve got parts of Toronto that
have more people who don’t have
[Internet] access than all parts of rural
Canada,” Mr. Goldberg said.
- 70% of Aboriginal communities have at
least basic Internet connectivity;
- of which, almost 20% use high speed
methods to connect;
- 5% use alternate methods; thus leaving
-30% being disconnected.
-http://bit.ly/1CYz9WD
Rural Canada – Access issues
• No Broadband Access: Dial-up or slow
DSL
• Rural areas Fixed Wireless and/or satellite
access -> $$$
• C$49 per month for 1.5 Mbps for fixed
wireless, to $70 per month for 1 Mbps
satellite,
• compared with $47 per month for 10 Mbps
for fibre optic cable in urban areas
Rural Canada – how to fix?
Increased Competition:
• restrictions on ownership of Canadian telecom
companies = less competition & less innovation by
Canadian carriers
• carriers generally just winged the high cost of
providing broadband access in rural areas, rather
than looking for innovative solutions.
Government Policy – local/national
• Golden, BC – decided to install its own fibre optic
LAN because telecoms won’t do it
• “Broadband internet access is viewed
as essential infrastructure for
participating in today's economy, as it
enables citizens, businesses and
institutions to access information,
services and opportunities that could
otherwise be out of reach.”
Canadian Government
How does Canada compare?
Out of 30 countries:
• ranks 9th for broadband penetration
• ranks 14th for monthly subscription costs at
$45.65 (U.S.) per month
• ranks 24th for internet speed
• ranks 28th when price & speed are combined
• http://bit.ly/1JtMkTI
• http://huff.to/1yVAe2L
Slow as maple syrup
• http://bit.ly/1JtMkTI
• Slow as maple syrup: Canada ranks 54th
in global Internet upload speeds
• (Feb 2014)
North American Comparisons
USA
National Broadband Plan
• sets a target speed of
“affordable” 100
megabits-per-second
Internet service
connecting at least 100
million homes by 2020.
Stop the Meter on Your Internet Use
http://bit.ly/1GZPZuz
Canada
Usage Based Billing (UBB)
• letting the dominant
Internet Service Providers
charge broadband
subscribers and smaller
competitive ISPs by the
quantity of data use.
Should high-speed Internet access be a
human right?
Racial Disparities in the US - 2000
• 50% of whites now have Internet access,
compared to 36% of African-Americans.
• 36% of African-Americans with Internet
access go online on a typical day,
compared to 56% of whites.
• 27% of African-Americans with Internet
access send or receive email on a typical
day, compared to 49% of online whites
who send or receive email on a typical day.
Race & the internet in the US – 2010’s
PEW research:
• Blacks & Hispanics online more
often than whites – via mobile/cell
phone
• a higher percentage of blacks &
Hispanics own mobile phones
• 33% of white mobile phone users go
online with their device, 46% of
blacks do and 51% of Hispanics
Prof Craig Watson – Uni of Texas
• "If mobile is the primary access
point," Watkins asks, "is that a
quality experience that's similar or
equal to Wi-Fi on a laptop? Rather
than just a mobile entertainment
device, are they using (cell phones)
for citizenship and engagement?...
Are they really experiencing all the
Internet has to offer?”
Digital Inclusion
• DI is about access and the ability to
effectively use (ICT) to obtain information
and services
• Historically: a lack of access to ICT =
Digital Divide; the concept that society
should not be separated into information
rich and poor
• reflected an emphasis on providing
hardware to marginalized and
disadvantaged groups
Digital Inclusion
• 'Digital Divide' is best understood as part
of a socio-economic context and related to
the issue of social exclusion
• solutions need to go beyond technology
• we need a detailed understanding of the
relationships between information, people
and technology
• we need to broadening of our
understanding of the digital divide drawing
on multiple disciplines and viewpoints
Digital Inclusion
• "The bottom line is that there is no binary
divide, and no single overriding factor for
determining such a divide". (Mark Warschauer)
• “Re-conceptualizing the digital divide in terms
of digital inclusion and exclusion requires
policy and projects to focus attention on the
social, cultural, economic, educational and
material factors that continue to exclude
people from participating in society generally
and specifically the information economy”.
Digital Inclusion
• technology use and skill = complex setting of
physical, digital, human and social resources
and relationships
• attention, planning and resources need to go
into the human and social systems that
supports ICT use
• using ICTs to promote social inclusion is a
more productive approach to ensuring digital
inclusion
Global Issues
Internet Censorship in China (1996-97)
No unit or individual may use the Internet to create, replicate, retrieve, or
transmit the following kinds of information:
• 1. Inciting to resist or breaking the Constitution or laws or the implementation
of administrative regulations;
• 2. Inciting to overthrow the government or the socialist system;
• 3. Inciting division of the country, harming national unification;
• 4. Inciting hatred or discrimination among nationalities or harming the unity
of the nationalities;
• 5. Making falsehoods or distorting the truth, spreading rumors, destroying
the order of society;
• 6. Promoting feudal superstitions, sexually suggestive material, gambling,
violence, murder;
• 7. Terrorism or inciting others to criminal activity; openly insulting other
people or distorting the truth to slander people;
• 8. Injuring the reputation of state organizations;
• 9. Other activities against the Constitution, laws or administrative regulations
Examples of Blocked Sites
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Lists of words
Phrases
Concepts
People
Events
Pornography
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8474011.stm
Egypt Turns off the Internet
• Jan 27th 2011 - 80 million
Egyptians are cut off
• In preparation of mass
political protest, the Egyptian
Gov’t instructs ISPs to shut
down the internet to reduce
the ability for protestors to
mobilize and allow both their
own citizens and the rest of
the world to know what was
happening.
• (by the way – China blocked
news of Egyptian protests)
Finding ways…
• Europeans supply
Egyptians with dial-up
phone #s & usernames
• Live TV/video feeds
• Networks &
communities spreading
info
http://huff.to/1uvjgCG
Food for thought…
The Future of News: Digital Democracy
“Who will control the channels of news and
information on the Internet? Guests Aneesh
Chopra, chief technology officer, and Ellen
Miller, co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation,
discuss privacy, net neutrality and the digital
divide.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_-yGqLv_pE