While we went to hear about Dr. Gates' ideas concerning the digital divide we didn't hear much on the subject. We did hear that while Dr. Gates was working to sell his idea of the Encyclopedia Africana, as envisioned by DuBois in the early 1900's, that Microsoft wanted to do a feasibility study concerning how many African-American households had computers, since the Encyclopedia was going to be produced on CD-rom. We never did find out any real numbers but when Microsoft came back and said that they would produce the work, the assumption was that it was a number that was at least one that met their minimum standard. I would like to know what that number is. I would like to have known more about how the digital divide is getting larger, or smaller in the estimation of Dr. Gates. Well, while I heard a lot about history that I already knew and I got to revisit some topics of interest to me being one who has read DuBois', Carter G. Woodson's, and Booker T. Washington's (required reading at Tuskegee University) as well as many other's works on subjects concerning the American Negro (like there is a negro somewhere else in the world), I was very disappointed.
Therefore here I will take a brief look at the digital divide and its affects on students and communities that are being left behind due to their position in the divide. This is not a new idea and has been of growing concern for years now. Recently, Anita Brown died on Sept 8th and she was one of the countries leaders in the area of bridging the gap. In her obituary it was written about her that:
"Early on, she pushed to connect African Americans in Washington and elsewhere to the Internet through workshops and seminars. One of her first efforts in 1997, "Taking IT to the Streets," attracted more than 200 people and featured a live feed to chat rooms on the Internet."
I know you have heard of AOL, illustrating that you are not on the side of the digital divide that so many others are, well, Mrs. Brown "designed and managed the help desk for NetNoir on AOL." For more on her and her achievements in trying to bridge the gap click on the link above.
We know that the problem exists, what we as educators have to be even more senisitive to is that our students may have limited or little access to the resources of a pc in the home as well as access and knowledge of the uses of the internet. We have to be ready for this. We also have to be cautious in our assumptions that "they know how to do this stuff," speaking of our students, since they may not know. Personal computers will take a back seat to the other things that a family needs to sustain itself. Also, we must realize that the feelings toward technology and the invasion of "all that information" into our homes does scare some people and the reports on the news about sexual predators and pornography will scare some people into not seeing the need for such an appliance in their homes.
In "Factors of the Divide" by Karin M. Wiburg hits on some of the points that I have already touched on above. The idea that digital equity is something that is the same for everyone is a false one. We must attack the idea of bridging the digital divide by looking not only at the home life of our students and their access to technology but also to our schools systems taking a look at the areas that surround the topic. We must focus on Econimic factors, Language factors, Special Education, Native Communities, our Borders, and Pedagogy. The solution is to take all of the factors and find out from the groups affected by these factors what they need to meet their needs from a technology perspective.
We must understand that the Digital Divide is not only about the "hardware." It is also about access. I may have a pc and may know how to use it for word processing or doing spreadsheets or even how to create a playlist for my iPod. But if I don't have an "internet connection" then I am not privy to the plethora of information contained within the web. Harouna Ba has an interesting article from 2001 that defines what is meant by the term Digital Divide:
To date, the digital divide debate has turned on the concept of access, that is, providing access to those who have no computer or telephone and, thus, cannot enter the Internet realm at school or home. Lack of access to networked technology will result in a substantial segment of society having neither the skills nor the means to participate in the progressively more "knowledge-based" U.S. economy. The concept of "access" encompasses the acquisition of hardware and software as well as complex uses of software for design and production. Between these two extremes, which represent both physical and expressive access, lie other dimensions of access: quality and affordable hardware and software, tools with rich educational content and/or fun activities, and technical and educational support. According to Bruce and Hogan (1998), new tools afford new literacy skills, and various challenges. They also argue that computer technologies are "actors in social systems" that function in a larger social context.
This is what I wanted to hear about from Dr. Gates. I know that Vicodin can be a powerful "non-motivator," but touching on this subject would have taken his history lesson to the next level. In looking at teaching Minorities in America which "white folks" will be one very soon, we must be ever mindful of what our students know and also have access to in order to serve them in the most effective fashion possible. We must be sensitive to their access to books, magazines, newspapers, pc's, and the internet. We must make sure that we as educators provide all of these things to our students. We also, as parents and taxpayers must make this a priority in our city, and state government's agendas. We cannot let our students continue to be denied the digital equity they deserve because of where their house sits.
"I'm not mad. Dogs get mad. I'm angry." (Claire Huxtable - The Cosby Show)
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