Understanding Informacy and the Digital Divide in Online Communication
This chapter delves into informacy and the digital divide, exploring their impact on Internet access, racial and income disparities, critiques of the divide, and implications for a networked world.
Understanding Informacy and the Digital Divide in Online Communication
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Presentation Transcript
Online Communication Chapter 8 Accessing the Machine
Online Communication In this chapter you will learn: • A definition of informacy and the digital divide; • How race and income affect Internet access; • Statistics on the increase of Internet use across racial groups; • Critiques offered against the digital divide thesis; and • The implications for an increasingly networked world.
informacy: an extension of literacy; a universal right to information digital divide: a statistical difference in access to computer technology between various demographic groups Online Communication
Online Communication National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) In 2002, the NTIA released A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet. The report showed: • Access to the Internet had grown significantly among all demographic categories • Some disparities still existed among racial and income demographic groups.
Online Communication Internet Use Percentages by Race, 1998-2001 National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (2002). A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet. <http://ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/nationonline_020502.htm>
Online Communication Critiques of the Digital Divide snapshot critique: the statistics used to argue a disparity in Internet access between demographic groups do not reflect historical trends place, not race critique: disparities in geographic access to the Internet are more significant than comparisons among demographic groups
Online Communication Implications of a Networked World • Decentralization versus recentralization • Fragmentation versus integration • Diversity versus homogenization United Nations Development Report. (1999). Human development report. <http://www.undp.org/hdro/99.htm>
Online Communication A Brief Review • What are informacy and the digital divide? • To which groups is the digital divide most prominent? • How have usage levels changed among demographic groups in recent years? • What two arguments counter the digital divide thesis? • What are three implications for a networked world?