The Digital Divide
Social, Economic, Political in Nature
By: L. Townsend, M. Parks, S.
Stamadias
Our Focus
Our objective was to examine the effects of
the digital divide on a societal, economic
and political level and realize that there is a
gap between the affluent who have access to
internet resources and the less fortunate and
the impact it has on both international and
domestic affairs.
Social
On a more domestic level within the United
States- the most note worthy group disparity
is between blacks and whites.
Information Technology
turning the “have nots” to permanent underclass
The digital economy will compel employers
to give preferential hiring treatment to those
who have technology skills, thus
diminishing the members of a certain social
group the chance to compete for jobs
Talk about studies
Factors
Income and education
Age
Gender
Household Structure
Discuss studies and implications of these factors
The End of The Social Aspect
Although the internet has proven to be a excellent
source for information, however it has widened
the gap between the “have nots” and the “haves”.
This disparity of course is not just a black and
white thing rather an issue that all minorities and
those who are less fortunate experience.
United States is a nation that is suppose to stand
for equality, however there is no way that at the
fast pace society is moving, those on the other side
of the information rich will be able to compete
equally.
Economical Aspect
While the problem of the digital divide is
certainly one with vast social implications,
the economic aspect of this issue cannot be
underestimated.
The economical level can be measures on
different scales as well
– Smaller scale
– Larger scale
Domestic and International
The divide not only should be examined on
a domestic level, but on an international
level as well.
– Domestic level- the first issue that is thought of
is “the gap between those who have access to
computers and information technology (IT) and
those who do not”
– The problem goes deeper- it is a problem of
economics
The digital divide effects both those in
urban centers, and those in rural areas.
One of the main issues with the digital divide is
that not only does it hinder individuals from
certain underprivileged groups from succeeding,
but it can even make the situation for certain
groups and even entire classes even worse.
“many fear that the failure to address the gap will
likely aggravate current levels of poverty and
isolation and increase the already large gaps in
education and access to opportunity between
historically privileged and historically
disenfranchised groups” (Servon, 419).
Steps towards reform are being made to close
the gap in the digital divide:
In 1998, in the United States federal
government launched a program that gave 2.2
billion dollars in subsidies to public schools for
the schools to get web and related
communications technology
Goal: to close the digital gap between poor and
middle-class households by promoting computer
and internet use among the poorer students
It is the issue of have and
have-nots:
The government must institute social and
economic programs that expose those who are of
less-affluent classes to technology, so they can
become accustomed to it.
Especially crucial at the elementary school level.
In this way the future generations will have a
much better chance of succeeding in the United
States, or in most other countries as well
In general those with more money have the
technology, and those with less money do
not, be they individuals, groups, or the
whole lower class of a country.
There is a digital divide based on a larger
scale: the international level
Like the domestic divide, the
international divide exists on the spectrum
of have and have-nots.
In the international arena, it involves entire
countries, in particular, developing nations
that do not possess the resources to keep
pace technologically with the economic
leaders of the world.
Cont…..
These countries are in the mist of developing
economically, as well as socially and politically.
These three elements intertwine.
– Political stability is needed in order for countries to
regulate their economies properly. Without this
stability, countries are most likely not going to be able
to close the gap of the digital divide in reference to
themselves
A stabilized economy as well as a stable government is
necessary to create an efficient infrastructure for new
technologies, but once stable, there are options to take:
Options
• One option: leapfrogging. This involves skipping
certain generations of technology, in order to close
some ground of the digital divide
One example of this is the explosion of
mobile phone technology in certain countries.
Across much of Africa and Asia more people
have access to phones than ever before, thanks
to this technology.
The Digital Divide and Politics
Politics is a crucial and dynamic part of human
society that dictates and influences people’s lives.
The Internet can serve as a forum of democracy
and politics for the real world via the virtual
world.
Political groups or special interests groups such as
the NRA and the NAACP, are examples of groups
that use the Internet as a medium to express and
share political values and interests that either need
to be raised or further examined.
Cont………
Political groups or special interests groups such as
the NRA and the NAACP, are examples of groups
that use the Internet as a medium to express and
share political values and interests that either need
to be raised or further examined
– Minor parties such as the Reform Party, the Libertarian
Party and the Green Party find great success and
support online, although these groups lack support from
traditional forms of the media.
A True Democracy?
Advocates of online democracy firmly believe in
the power and the influence the Internet is capable
of having on US politics and democracy.
The idea is that people share equal access to the
power of sending and receiving a substantial
amount of information, thus making online
politics closer to a true democracy (Harper, 237).
Nevertheless, if a digital divide is present within
US politics and society, than online politics is far
from a true democracy.
Example of the political digital divide:
The Democratic and Republican parties gain more
media attention as well as internet websites
compared to their minor party counterparts.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, the
Democratic and Republican party websites ranked
in the top 100,000 of websites, while the minor
party websites ranked below the top 100,000
except for the Libertarian party, which ranked in
the top 100,000
Cont…
These three parties also have the most
links for their parties available on the web;
Democratic and Republican parties and
candidate websites have from one and a half
to six times as many links than their minor
party competitors.
Internet to solve political problems:
Online Voting
Electronic voting or e-voting, is a hopeful solution
to the low voter turnout problem.
There is much controversy and debate over the
practice of voting online
– The issue of online privacy and security
– Social aspects of the digital divide: Voting online
maybe convenient for those who have access to a
computer or the Internet, but for those who do not have
access to the Internet and are active citizens, e-voting
will be a concern.
– With online voting, a portion of the population will be
unfairly disadvantaged, in particular people with lower
incomes who cannot afford a computer or access to the
Cont….
– With online voting, a portion of the population
will be unfairly disadvantaged, in particular
people with lower incomes who cannot afford a
computer or access to the internet.
The International Digital Divide
For many, especially democratic nations,
the Internet is viewed as a “democratizing”
force to the rest of the world, lead by the
influence of the United States.
This influence is spread throughout the
globe, especially to developing countries
who are trying to gain a more technological
infrastructure
(ICT) has been thought as an
effective way to bridge the digital gap
These developing nations should be aware of what
they are bargaining for.
– ICT has been distributed to less developed nations in
order to “digitalize” these nations public sector into one
of “e-governance” (Wade, 448).
– The state of Andhra Pradesh is the first in India to adopt
the idea of e-governance. It established a statewide
computerization system on all levels of the
administration whose goal was to make access between
government officials and citizens faster, easier and
more equal.
Cont…
Unfortunately, this system was not very
effective because it only aided on a small scale
for the price of the program came at a high
price. Computers were accessible to
government officials, but there were not
utilized to their advantage.
Tanzania is another example of a country in which e-
governance has been step in the reform of the local
government.
As one of the poorest nations in the world,
donors have made computerization a way to
monitor and evaluate local government’s service
delivery as a way to keep costs down for other
things such as paper, pencil, time and storage
(Wade, 447).
Once again, the infrastructure of the
community made it difficult for such a program to
flourish. In some portions of the country,
electricity was not available, while in other parts,
the effectiveness of electricity was unreliable
Conclusion