Musings On The Digital Divide

by Kevin Bulger

I feel it is important to have a deep, full understanding of a problem before you go about finding solutions to it. Since I will be focusing on issues surrounding the Digital Divide and suggesting solutions for those issues, I need to know precisely what the Digital Divide refers to before I do anything.

What does the Digital Divide mean? Why does it matter? To whom or what does it refer to? How does the divide close? How would you know when it’s closed? What does the solution(s) look like? How can you tell if a solution is appropriate for a specific geographic area? How do you measure the successes or failures of a solution? Does the Digital Divide only apply to people or to organizations as well? What kind of people does the Digital Divide target? What kind of organizations?

I don’t think it does any good trumpeting statistics that demonstrate low levels of computer literacy among the poor and under-privileged. Bottom line: computers are a luxury item. There is no getting around that; and giving out computers willy-nilly to people who don’t know how to use them in the first place just will not work. You just don’t need a computer to be successful, happy, or give back to your community.

The Digital Divide does matter, but I feel there needs to be a consensus as to what exactly the Digital Divide refers to and how to best solve it. As I stand right now, the Digital Divide refers to the difference in communication-technology skill sets that exist between the most adept users and all the rest. The name Digital Divide implies 'haves' and 'have nots', but in reality the Digital Divide is more like a pyramid. There are those at the top who actually engineer and advance communication technology, those in the middle who know how to effectively maneuver the technology, those toward the bottom who have little to no technological ability, and then those at the absolute bottom who are lost to us. To extend the pyramid metaphor, the point is not to bridge the divide but to square it so that everyone is at the same level.

The Digital Divide is a problem, but it is crucial that the problem of unequal communication-technology skill sets be framed appropriately. The term Digital Divide implies a means-to-an-end and not the end itself, because technology is viewed as a way to introduce equality and not as an equality measure itself. This is a wrong approach. Discussions on the Digital Divide need to be focused on issues of social inequality, not technological inequality; access to public resources not access to computers; overall skill sets and abilities not just computer literacy; etc. When framed in this manner the Digital Divide becomes much bigger, much more socially relevant, and valued for its true importance. Computer literacy is a means to an end but it must be sold as an end if Digital Divide solutions are to be successfully initiated.

To solve the Digital Divide (or the Digital Pyramid to rid myself of the misleading alliterative term) means introducing skill sets, giving computers and free internet access to those who would actually benefit from it (preferably after successfully completing a free computer-literacy program), and enhancing non-profit capacity building and effectiveness through communication technology. If I could prioritize these, I would say non-profit capacity building is the most important as these non-profits touch more lives as a whole and conform to the social equality value more directly. Then followed by introducing computer skill sets through after-school programs because they touch fewer lives but still conform to the social equality value. Finally, the giving out computers and free Internet because of the high cost associated with giving out computers to people and the minimal impact of giving just a few people these resources.

Alright, I feel better after that.