The Advantages and Disadvantages of Improving the Digital Divide - Coursework Example

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE EXPLAINED; THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF IMPROVING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Introduction According to Mossberger, Tolbert and Stansbury, today Information Technology is a vital component in the daily lives of a majority of Americans (2003). Statistics show that the fraction of the population that has internet access stands at more than half, while those that own computers stands at two thirds (Mossberger, Tolbert and Stansbury, 2003). The computers are used both within households and at places of work. As a result, computers greatly influence their jobs, their leisure time activities, communication patterns and their access and distribution of information. The growth and diffusion of Information Technology use across the globe has resulted in it becoming a key element in governance, financial activities and social aspects of people’s lives. It is extensively used by individuals, firms and governments for virtually all kind of transactions. This is mostly the case in the developed world. Computers and mobile phones have become imperative to nearly all aspects of life, including daily activities such as working, forming relationships, communicating and spending leisure time (Creeber and Royston, 2009). The development of Information Technology and its spread across the globe has however not happened in uniformity. As a result, some sections of the global population remain lagging behind others, in terms of the use and access to Information Technology. The difference between the two sections can be loosely referred to as the digital divide (Mossberger, Tolbert and Stansbury, 2003). The Digital Divide Explained Mossberger, Tolbert and Stansbury define the digital divide as “the patterns of unequal access to Information Technology based on income, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and geography that surfaced during the mid-1990s” (2003). Charleson describes the digital divide as “the perceived gap between those who have access to information technologies and those who do not” (2012, p.8). In their article “Understanding the Digital Divide,” the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development term the digital divide as; The gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels, with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs), and to their use of the internet for a wide variety of activities. The digital divide reflects various differences within countries (2001, p.5). In an article ran in the Sydney Morning Herald, O’Leary intimates that a study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that at least 21 per cent of Australians did not have access to the internet within their homes (2012). Additionally, some groups within the society had less access to the internet compared to others. This included the people living with disabilities whose access rate stood at only 62 per cent, for the indigenous Australians, they were reported to be only 24 per cent more likely the internet as the non-indigenous Australians to have easy access to the internet (O’Leary, 2012). This reveals a huge gap in the access levels that traverses beyond just geographical location. Further, the Organization for Economic Co-operation provides the results of a study that seeks to identify any such disparities in access to Information Technology within the American society. The result is a glaring confirmation that indeed some sections of the society are less likely to have access to Information Technology either by their race (see Appendix 1), or geographical location (see appendix 2) among other factors. Advantages of Bridging the Digital Divide American poet Robin Morgan deems that “information is power”. This underscores the significance of access to information in the contemporary world. Improving the digital divide ensures that more people have access to information, and have the necessary abilities to put the information to good use, their sex, age, race, levels of income, physical location and tribe notwithstanding (One Laptop per Family, 2012). Developed in 1989, (Norris, 2001) the worldwide web which is one of the most fundamental elements of Information Technology provides people with a massive amount of information. A basic search on the internet reveals information about literally everything under the sun. The internet bears information on; world politics, world economics and financial developments, world cultures and the goings- on in the world of entertainment. It provides information on health and nutrition, shopping, love and relationships, fashion and trends. There is boundless access to information on all countries in the world and their demographics, products and services offered by organizations with an online presence, and the latest happenings and news from almost any part of the globe. Bridging the information gap ensures that people can access this information and use it to make decisions that improve the quality of their lives and those of their communities. For individuals, the bridging of the digital divide would result in the improvement of likelihood to secure formal employment, due to the enhancement of proficiencies (One Laptop per Family, 2012). In the contemporary society, almost all elements of life revolve around the use of Information Technology, key among them being the work environment. A computer is a basic requirement in practically every office, due to the need for better information access and management. Computers and mobile phones also enhance communication and therefore provide a boundless platform for business networking. Computer literacy is therefore a bare minimum requirement to secure a decent job in today’s world and as such, the access to Information Technology provides skills which an individual requires. Such skills include problem solving abilities from manipulating computer systems to work effectively for a business; information management abilities from working with a sea of information available via technology and innovation skills form constantly developing systems that best suit a work environment. These among other valuable skills make a technology-savvy employee become an indispensable asset to any organisation. The access to and use of Information Technology also provides great opportunities for entrepreneurial ventures. This development of individual Information Technology handling skills has a ripple effect on the economy of a country. Bridging the digital divide therefore provides the opportunity for countries within the lower access section of the divide to benefit from information communication and technology. This is by creation of a workforce that can effectively use Information Technology to meet the growth needs of a country’s economy. The use of Information Technology can also stimulate the growth of a country’s economy by creating new Information Technology dependent sectors (One Laptop per Family, 2012). Information Technology is especially a significant component of the service industry, where it boosts the efficiency of the service delivery chain. The service industry has great potential to grow the economy of countries, especially within the developing countries where much of the economy is built on agriculture, and grown by the informal sector activities. Information Technology promotes a degree of consistency within the service industry and makes the service delivery process faster. The improvement of the digital divide also boosts the competence with which business is carried out and the resultant throughput, both within organizations and countries as a whole (One Laptop per Family, 2012). Information Technology is the stage on which most business transactions in the contemporary society are carried out. The advent of E-commerce further stamps the importance of Information Technology as more and more businesses move their operations online, and consumers in turn shift their search for products and services to online sources. It is almost mandatory for any business worth its salt to have an online presence in the form of a company website, accounts on social media and advertisements on popular websites and search engines. This enhances their communication with existing customers and improves the outreach to potential customers. Information Technology also improves the supply chain activities of an organization, reducing slack time and as a result, greater customer satisfaction and lower resource wastage. These benefits of Information Technology to businesses underline the benefits of bridging the digital divide to allow businesses in the world over carry out more efficient transactions. At a national level, the incorporation of Information Technology into the public sector provides for better information handling. It enhances the government’s service delivery to the citizens of its nation, which is a basic right. The learning process and education as a whole would also gain considerably from the improvement of the digital divide (One Laptop per Family, 2012). The internet is an excellent resource for research by both instructors and students. As earlier noted in this essay, the wealth of information in the internet is one that has not been achieved via any other system before. Students can access learning materials in just the click of a button. This includes books, journals, newspaper articles, websites and blogs among other sources. These resources provide a comprehensive information database for carrying out educational research. This same sea of information is also beneficial to instructors, as it helps them compile material for teaching. For stakeholders in the education industry, the internet can also be used as a source of information on how to improve curriculum by providing learners with the best, and only the most beneficial information in the course of learning. Currently, the internet is also being used for learning purposes, where institutions are setting up online and distance learning facilities that enable learners to access learning material from anywhere in the globe, without having to be physically present in classrooms as has always been the case. This new technology enables students to access courses that they would have otherwise not been able to access, due to constraints such as time, geographic location and finances. Bridging the digital divide by increasing access to Information Technology would therefore greatly enhance the quality of education offered in many learning institutions, and the level of learning achieved by students in the world over. Bridging the digital divide presents itself as a tool for empowerment and social inclusion of the members of society that are on the lower end on the divide. Lack of access to Information Technology poses a disadvantage to the people on the lower end of the divide, as they suffer from the lack of participation in social democratic processes and decision making (Divided by Technology, n.d.). On the flipside, the availability of this Information Technology and the ability to use it creates a free society, where all members can take part processes that shape society. The emancipation that comes with access to Information Technology can be attributed to the fact that communication on a global platform provides opportunities for the previously underrepresented members of society to be heard. It creates a sense of self-regard from being able to interact with people within and outside of one’s community. It creates new avenues for the development of social capital by encouraging relations across borders that cannot be surpassed by any other means except Information Technology. People from different divides can network successfully for both personal and communal gain. This promotes social wellbeing for all members of society across the globe (Charleson, 2012). According to Compaine, in view of the developments in the contemporary society, the digital divide can be said to be closing down (2001). This can be attributed to the fact that the cost of accessing and using Information Technology is on a steady decline. With the development of technology such as fibre optic cables that greatly increase the speed of information transfer and access, the cost of is declining. Previously, the internet could only be accessed via computers, but today, almost all mobile phones can be used to access the internet. This means greater market share for companies in this industry to compete over. This directly translates to increased competition among firms, as they battle to control portions of the market and it greatly drives down the cost of accessing Information Technology. It can also be attributed to the fact that the use of Information Technology is becoming increasingly easy (Compaine, 2001). IT companies in the present day are in constant competition to make their systems as user friendly as possible, so as to reach out to the lower end of the digital divide. As a result, the rate of diffusion of Information Technology is on a steady upward trend. However, the bridging of the digital divide is not an all positive affair as it comes with a number of disadvantages. Disadvantages of Bridging the Digital Divide The mere belief that there is an iron-curtain kind of divide between two fragments of the society that needs to be bridged is problematic in itself. The gap in social development within the society cannot be solved simply by providing computers to a section of the population. On the other hand, the divide within the society cannot simply be summarized as the gap between those who have access to computers and those who do not. It is more complicated than that because even the levels of access differ. As stated by Snyder and Nieuwenhuysen, there is an inherent difference between a lecturer in the USA who has constant and consistent access to the internet within the comfort of her office, a student in south Africa who occasionally accesses the internet from a cyber café and a teacher in brazil who has no access to a computer, but has access to computer generated and printed material from other sources (2010). The concept of the digital divide places emphasis on availability of computer hardware and software systems, as opposed to a holistic approach that would see changes made to social systems to increase the effectiveness of technology use. This must be against the backdrop of literacy and an educational system that facilitates the use of the technology, a language that the users of the technology can understand, and content that is relevant to their daily life. The improvement of the digital divide raises the question of not only access and usage of Information Technology, but also the type and value of the Information Technology (Snyder and Nieuwenhuysen, 2010). In an experiment carried out in India, famously dubbed the Hole-in-the-Wall project, children from the poorest slums were given access to computers and the internet, both of which they had never used before (Snyder and Nieuwenhuysen, 2010). Within a short period of access, the children could surf the internet with absolutely no help from instructors. However, this was marred by a number of challenges key among them that the children did not use the computers for educational purposes, but rather playing games, surfing the internet for fun and painting using paint programs; it was also a source of distraction from their daily obligations such as homework (Snyder and Nieuwenhuysen, 2010). This represents the effects of the introduction of Information Technology in a setting where it is not controlled and monitored to ensure the desired results are achieved. As a result, the bridging of the digital divide cannot only be approached from the angle of providing access to Information Technology to the lower end of the divide. The use of Information Technology is not only dictated by access, but also other factors, among the cultural reasons which need to be considered before introducing information systems to the lower end of the divide. Bridging the digital divide also presents the issue of the provision of substandard technologies to the lower end of the divide, considered to be better off than to be without these technologies (Snyder and Nieuwenhuysen, 2010). Since most of the people in the lower end of the divide are considered unable to purchase the high-end often expensive technology used in the upper end, the result is a transfer of used and cheaper technology down the ladder. This includes cheaper and second-hand or lower grade computers and mobile phones for use, coupled with less sophisticated software. While this increases the number of people who have access to the technology, it is a counter-productive measure. The people in the lower end of the divide stand to gain less from the use of the Information Technology compared to those in the upper end. As a result, this does not diminish the digital divide, but rather changes the nature of it. The lower end now has access, but to poorer and less helpful Information Technology systems. This creates ethical dilemmas and raises issues of the legality of such practices. Conclusion The bridging of the digital divide provides great opportunities for people on the lower end of the divide to benefit. Information access improves the lives of individuals, organizations and countries as a whole. The digital age may be here to stay and as such, it requires that for any person to be an active participant in social development and learning, they should have access and the ability to use Information Technology. As a result, the bridging of the digital divide has the long term ability to improve the quality of life in the world over. However, the issues central to social inclusion should not be overlooked or summarized as access to a computer or a mobile phone. Rather, this access should be coupled with continuous research into the best possible ways to integrate the use of Information Technology into the society to create equality, in line with the already existing social systems. Bibliography Charleson, D., 2012. Bridging the Digital Divide: Enhancing Empowerment and Social Capital. Journal of Social Inclusion. [e-journal] 3(2). Available at [Accessed 20 September 2013]. Compaine, B. M. ed., 2001. The Digital Divide: Facing a Crisis Or Creating a Myth? Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Creeber, G., and Royston, M. eds., 2009. Digital Culture: Understanding New Media: Understanding New Media. New York: Open University Press. Divided by Technology, n.d. The Digital Divide. [online]. Available at [Accessed 20 September 2013]. Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C. J., and Stansbury, M., 2003. Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Norris, P., 2001. Digital Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. O’Leary, T., 2012. Making Connections to End Digital Divide. The Sunday Morning Herald. [online] 10 October. Available at [Accessed 20 September 2013]. One Laptop per Family, 2012. Benefits of Bridging the Digital Divide and Improving ICT Skills. [online]. Available at [Accessed 20 September 2013]. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2001. Understanding the Digital Divide. Available through: OECD Pulbications. See more at: [Accessed 20 September 2013]. Snyder, I., and Nieuwenhuysen, J., 2010. Beyond the ‘Digital Divide’: Engaging with New Technologies in Marginalised Educational Settings in Australia. Available through: Monash University Publishing. See more at: [Accessed 20 September 2013]. Appendix Appendix 1: PC Penetration by Ethnic group in the United States OECD, 2001 Appendix 2: Internet access among rural and urban households OECD, 2001 Read More