Virtual Inequality, Week 5 paper:
Virtual Inequality
The concept of a digital divide is often talked about, especially among the IT crowd. It usually brings to mind rural communities in the world, groups with no electricity, and therefore, no computers. Obviously it would be absurd to assume that every person in the world should have a computer. However, the digital divide seems to be more of a problem among poorer or disadvantaged groups within rather technologically advanced communities. As more aspects of daily life, at leas within American society, become dependent on the internet the problems that arise by limited access to IT resources increases. Are we at the point yet where IT is such a necessary part of everyday life in our society that to hinder a person’s usage of it hinders their personal growth?
FCC chief Michael Powell, dismissive of any claims about a digital divide has been quoted as saying that there is a Mercedes divide in this country as well. This is not only patronizing, but also rather insightful view into how many people, perhaps more those who have no trouble accessing IT, view computers and other information technology; as a luxury. Sure, maybe not everyone has a computer, or the best computer available, but those are things like nice cars, and summer homes, right?
The difference between luxury and necessity is simple, and in my life can be summed up in a short period of time: six years. When my older brother was in high school, he took a rather remedial typing class, and we had a rather remedial Macintosh computer in our house. Six years later when I was enrolled in the same high school, every paper I turned in had to be typed on a computer, I had more than a few computer skills courses, and we had two somewhat top of the line computers in our home, both pc and Mac. There were kids in my classes, who didn’t have home computers, and the teacher would make special arrangements, but often those arrangements meant coming to school early and using a computer in the library, of which there were few. The point is simple, that when you start requiring the use of a certain tool, that tool needs to be available in some for everyone to have access to.
The interesting thing this book seems to make very clear is that the internet has become such an oft used medium for the distribution of information and resources that it is quickly becoming a basic necessity. Government forms, job opportunities, even basic information about health, news, and weather can be found easier, quicker, and sometimes only, online. “Like schools and libraries, the Internet has become a resource for political and civic information – from campaign to government websites (Virtual Inequality, pg 6).”Since so much effort is being put toward getting these resources online, it only seems fair play to allow access to them to be as free as possible; if not free, then at least in some way equally available. Due to discrepancies in income between classes, some programs may need to be put in place in order for the access to these services to be considered equal.