The Digital Divide: Where We Are
A status report on the digital divide from 2002.
Credit: George Abe
Editor's Note: While much of the information in this article is no longer current, it remains an interesting snapshot of our ideas about the digital divide in 2002. For more current information, visit our Digital Divide Resource Roundup.
The digital divide is most commonly defined as the gap between those individuals and communities that have, and do not have, access to the information technologies that are transforming our lives. In February 2002, the U.S. Department of Commerce released "A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet," the latest study on computer and Internet use in America. Formerly a national benchmark for measuring disparities in access, the implied message of this latest release is that the digital divide is no longer a major concern. Many organizations feel differently, and as the debate intensifies, we are asking after ten years of national leadership to address the issue, "Where are we?"
"A Nation Online" pointed to U.S. Census data showing that 143 million Americans, or about 54 percent of the population, are using the Internet. It also reported that the rate of growth of Internet use in the United States is currently 2 million new Internet users per month, with Internet use continuing to increase across income, education, age, race, ethnicity, and gender lines.
This is all good news, and a testament, in part, to the effectiveness of several federally funded programs such as the E-Rate, or telecommunications discounts to schools and libraries, the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Community Technology Centers Program (CTC). The CTC program provides matching grants that leverage state, local, and other resources to create and improve technology access and training facilities. The TOP program provides matching grants for projects that use technology in innovative ways to solve social problems and improve community access to modern telecommunications.
The Debate
Progress has been made, but a deeper look at the numbers in "A Nation Online" reveals that considerable work remains to bridge the digital divide. With 54 percent of Americans online, the current Administration sees "A Nation Online" as proof that a targeted national commitment to bridging the divide is no longer necessary. Along with a 17 percent decrease in educational technology funding from FY 2001, the TOP and CTC programs have been slated for termination in 2003. The rationale is that Americans are gaining access to computers at an acceptable pace and as a result the role of government can be curtailed.
Sonia Arrison, director of the Center for Technology Studies at the Pacific-Research Institute, is one of several conservative commentators who has argued recently that "the digital divide is not a crisis that places citizens in urgent need of more government help." Echoing past comments of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell that what we have is a "Mercedes divide," Arrison also argues "many of the Internet's so called 'have-nots' are really 'want-nots.'"
On the opposite end of the debate, numerous organizations have rallied in support of continued federal funding for the CTC and TOP programs by launching the Digital Empowerment advocacy campaign. They note that almost half of Americans do not have Internet access at home and only 25 percent of America's poorest households are online compared with approximately 80 percent of homes earning over $75,000. Only around 30 percent of youth in the lowest household income category use computers at home compared to over 90 percent of youth in the highest income category.
Even more striking is the fact that this gap has expanded in recent years. Similar disparities can be found among populations with limited formal education. Hispanics (31.8 percent) and African Americans (39.8 percent) lag behind whites (59.9 percent) in Internet access at home, suggesting serious ethnic and racial divides.
The Civil Rights Forum, Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America released a report in May 2002 called "Does the Digital Divide Still Exist? Bush Administration Shrugs, But Evidence Says 'Yes.'" (PDF) The report concludes that the true measure of the digital divide is in assessing home Internet access. It also states that an inability to access the enhanced content available via broadband is creating a second-generation divide.
In response to arguments that the Internet is unnecessary or something of a luxury, Mark Lloyd, Executive Director of the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy, said, "Being disconnected in the Information Age is not like being deprived of a Mercedes or some other luxury. Being disconnected means being disconnected from the economy and democratic debate."
Reaping the Rewards of National Investment
A new policy brief from the Benton Foundation, publisher of the Digital Divide Network, explores the likely impact of the federal budget cuts and how ending targeted efforts to bring technology to underserved communities could dampen economic and community development.
The brief focuses on how national programs such as the CTC and TOP have helped to wire schools and libraries and bring technology training into underserved communities. Objective research on the CTC program from SRI International, one of the nation's premier education technology research groups, shows technology being used in disadvantaged communities is improving pre-school, after-school, and adult learning. A recent report on telecommunications access in rural America shows that TOP has been instrumental in enabling rural communities to enhance local economies, better manage natural resources, and improve access to education and health services. Like the CTC program, its funding peaked in 2001 and elimination is in the works for 2003.
Continuing to Overcome the Digital Divide
Nobody believes that technology will be a quick-fix solution to poverty, but ensuring that underserved individuals and communities can access education and tools to improve the quality of their lives certainly appears to be a critical piece of the answer. The appropriations process will go on until September, when the 2003 budget will be finalized. Until that time, the debate will continue with one side saying "the invisible hand" of the free market is taking care of the problem and another pressing to save federal investments they feel are critical to connecting all Americans.
Comments (28)
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Do you think accessing the
Do you think accessing the internet over the mobile phone text message can help bring the internet to more Americans?
I hear about that in developing countries more than in the US.
The following video demonstrates a technology that enables a low income family (no computers) to read news over the phone by text messages (much cheaper):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmWcpOW4VlA&feature=related
The same can be done to retrieve wikipedia information.
Would this help low income students?
Community Technology Centers and the TOP federal program?
Does anyone know what happened to the Technology Opportunities program (TOP) that established the Community Technology Centers?
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/top/research/index.html?
Thanks,
Angela
Not JUST Baltimore!
I note many comments are by members of the Baltimore City school system. Well, I for one live in the NYC suburbs.
I'm close to middle age, yet suffering from the Digital Divide due to Cable costing 6 times as much as my SLOW dialup connection. Why does it cost so much more? Is it like the energy-cartel?
Dialup used to be quick, but lately, due to over-density of local population, it's become so slow that I've developed fluresent-EMF sensitivity & perpetual bodywide excruciating pain, due to overexposure to computer fluresence. The overexposure is because 1/2 of the computer time is spent waiting for sites to load, rather than actually accomplishing anything.
Not that the privileged powers that be give a damn.
Digital Underground
I am a Baltimore City elementary school teacher, and our school is fortunate to have an adminstration that pushes technology integration. Now that principals have budgetary control again, a progressive administration can further a technological agenda. On the homefront, I am curious as to see any data comparing video game systems to computer use/ownership, as well as cable television subscriptions. Video game systems (plus games) can be more expensive than a basic computer, and virtually every household has at least basic cable. It seems as though many households choose entertainment over information.
Digital Divide in Baltimore City
As a teacher in Baltimore, I am fully aware of the many divides my students and fellow teachers are faced with daily. While the digital divide in terms of computer and internet access at home may be a problem, my primary concern is not for their digital literacy, but their reading and writing skills. My students know their way around technology very well, even if they are lacking in basic typing and word processing skills. What they don't know is how to write or read to learn.
At my school we use old technology
My school in Baltimore City is living in the dark ages with broken promises that every year our school will be next to be wired to the internet. I am happy to see at least one school getting ahead. Education throughout Baltimore City Public Schools is not equal. The gap is not bridging but getting wider for some. Our classrooms are not wired only the Main Office and Support Room for IEP services have computers. We have one computer in our classroom and it is broken. The article states that technology is not at home with the majority of our kids from lower income backgrounds so we teachers should at least be able to provide them with technology learning resources in the classroom. I have been online and found several great learning resources that I would love to share with them. It seems highly improbable that my class will be able to watch the digital streaming movies I would like to show, play a math builder game, or enhance their reading skills online in the main office. Although we are encouraged to use technology, most of what we have is old technology to offer our students. We use an overhead projector, cassette tapes, and an old fashioned listening center with a swipe card. These old types of technology may be helpful but not exactly new age or reinforceable at home. The best thing I can do to make technology integration meaningful to impact student achievement is to see if I can download internet resources and save them to my personal laptop and arrange trips with my class to the neighborhood library to use the resources there. At least the kids will know where to go to use a computer if they don't have one at home and see the kinds of things they can do on them.
I teach at a Title I middle
I teach at a Title I middle school in Baltimore City and I feel that our school and our students have been lucky enough to have a large amount of technology available to them in the school. Due in part to an ambitious and hard working English IST and Technology Coordinator, our school recently recieved a large grant allowing our school to create a technology team in which every room has a SmartBoard, ELMO, laptop and laptop cart. This technology has been greatly respected by the students, and access and exposure to this technology does bridge a gap, I think.
This said, one of the main points in the article is that the technology gap largely manifests itself in the home. This holds true in the community in which I teach: students come in painfully unaware of basic technological skills. They are hugely defficient in typing ability, ability to work with commonly used software, and ability to navigate the internet. The solution to this problem must be multi-faceted, addressing deficits in the home as well as access to instruction. My school is currently trying to make up for this gap by encouraging teachers to infuse technology into instruction and pair technological skills with content area standards. This is an excellent start, but until students have greater opportunity to practice skills to which they are being newly exposed (for example, at home) then the technology gap is sure to remain an issue.
The Internet serves as today's library
I teach at Digital Harbor High School in Baltimore City where students take one of 4 technology "pathways" in addition to high school classes. At the end of high school, these students have access to advanced computer skills such as software programming, computer engineering skills, and multimedia presentations. These are skills that are in high demand, and will continue to be. Students are not only highly interested in these skills, but some of them are quite successful. To me, the internet seems almost like a prerequisite access RIGHT that all students should be granted, before these higher skills can even be taught. In today's world, having access to the internet would be comparable to having access to a library. Would anyone argue that a public library is a "luxury" and not a "right?" Don't they serve the same purpose of providing unlimited information to the masses? By barring information, we not only keep people from being educated, but also limit their ability access to free information. You can guess which is more egregious. The digital divide still exists.
Internet Access at School and Home
Keeping in mind that this article is nearly 7 years old, I wasn't too surprised about the statistics on low-income homes without internet access. As a high school teacher in Baltimore City, I do think many of our students are able to access computers at libraries and youth centers, and may even have their own computers, but I am not sure if as many have the internet at home. Paying monthly fees for the internet may not be feasible for many families, and I think especially now, when economic times are tougher, people may be looking for ways to cut costs.
If we as a city, state, or nation want to give young people from low-income communities access to the internet, maybe we should consider free city-wide wireless internet. That seems like an obvious solution, and maybe even something that is possible in the near future.
However, my colleagues are right when they say that our students need to be educated on the best ways to use the internet for research or study. Simply giving them the tools will not be enough - they need to be taught how to use them effectively. Additionally, the vast majority of our kids need to hone their typing, as well as practice using applications like Word and Excel. This is where the achievement gap is manifesting itself, and where our students will be left behind if we do not take serious action. How can they be competitive in today's society if they are lacking in basic technology skills? Furthermore, how can we, as educators, begin to bridge this gap if we are lacking the resources needed to do so?
At my school, there is one computer lab and one laptop cart that the entire staff of 100+ is able to use for their classes. We do have a handful of computer and technology classes and those students have daily access to computers, but the rest of us need to sign up weeks (if not months) in advance. The lack of computer labs for content areas like English, History, Math, Science, and Foreign Language is appalling.
Digital Divide
As a public school teacher in a low income community, I associate the digital divide with the achievement gap. Students growing up in low income communities have a variety of disadvantages, and one of those disadvantages is unequal access to technology, such as the Internet. When I teach, I work to include technology as often as possible, but with little funding and few resources, this is a struggle. I was struck when I learned that some believe the Internet is a luxury- it is not! It is a necessity for gaining access and information about all sectors of society.