Digital Divide: The Poor get Poorer

Sitting through our class on “The Internet, Adult Education and Community Development” on Jan 14th I left that night with a concept that although only briefly touched upon, remained burning inside my mind. The concept of a “digital divide” was at first benign to me as I considered it to be a matter simply of cohort and computer anxiety. However as I began to consider the transformation of the internet into a training ground of informal learning, a source of business development, and an ever growing pool of information I became aware and nervous of the hierarchy that the digital divide maintains as access to the internet seems to be governed by class.

The past has taught us that maintaining power consists of controlling information, as this has been one of the cornerstones of imperialism’s success (http://www.mailarchive.com/penl@csf.colorado.edu/msg00297.html ). In today’s modern society a block to computer access is not just a barrier to information, it is a barrier to personal development. In first world societies many jobs have a required standard for knowledge of computers and the internet, however it is within these countries that access to technology is abundant. In the “undeveloped world” there is a deficiency of such technology as outlined in the image, and this leads to a global situation whereby very few control so much (http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/). This concept of haves and have-nots is nothing new; however the control of information to maintain such a divide has changed with the evolution of computers and the internet.

Today a wealth of resources is readily available on the internet for those who can access it. However there exists an economic divide, whereby being able to afford and acquire internet access is a challenge for the under-privileged. If internet access is achieved there exists a usability divide whereby the resources cannot be understood or used by that individual. An example of this is the fact that the majority of the internet uses English as its main language, which in turn requires that individuals understand English in order to learn (see right). Further, with the majority of the internet being presented in text, it is implicit that users can read, (not to mention see) this in turn creates huge gaps in understanding among populations of developing nations where literacy and accessibility are already scarce (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html).

Such standards and the internet being used as a resource in its current capacity, has created a divide of intangible resources on a global scale. In this light, the developed nations have already in a sense "laid claim" to the internet and its resources. Although accessability to the internet is possible by anyone with the right equipment, the paradox of the situation is that the accessed information could prove to be useless unless usable by that individual. Given these facts, the digital divide and the internet seems to me only to place the "haves" much further ahead than the "have-nots". This realization in conjunction with the fact the first nations have been hoarding tangible resources for centuries makes me feel that the digital divide is only a part of an ever growing much larger gap between the rich and poor.

-Dan