Development &Resource in Educational

Technology

Digital Divide
Anju Alphonsa Paul
Physical Science
Batch 2016-2018
Mount Carmel College of Teachers Education for Women

Introduction

Adigital divideis aneconomicandsocial inequality with regard to access

to,useof,orimpactofinformationandcommunicationtechnologies(ICT).

may refer to inequalities between individuals, households, businesses, or

geographic areas, usually at differentsocioeconomiclevels or other
demographiccategories.

Thedividebetweendifferingcountriesorregionsoftheworldisreferredto
astheglobaldigitaldivide.

The termdigital dividedescribes a gap in terms of access to and usage

ofinformationandcommunicationtechnology.

TheDigitalDivide,ICT,
andBroadbandInternet
DimensionsoftheDivide

Broadly speaking, the difference is not necessarily determined by the

access to the Internet, but by access to ICT(Information and
CommunicationsTechnologies)andtoMediathatthedifferentsegmentsof
societycanuse.

Thedigitaldivideisnotindeedaclearsinglegapwhichdividesasociety
intotwogroups.

Themajorargumentsarethefollowing:
1. Economic equality:
SomethinkthattheaccesstotheInternetisabasiccomponentofcivil
life that some developed countries aim to guarantee for their citizens.
2. Social mobility :
Some believe that computer and computer networks play an
increasingly

important

role

in

their

learning

and

career.

3. Democracy:
Some think that the use of the Internet would lead to a healthier
democracyinonewayoranother
4. Economic growth :
Some think that the development of information infrastructure and
activeuseofitwouldbeshortcuttoeconomicgrowthforlessdeveloped
nations.

FactorsAttributingtotheDigitalDivide

Education
Households with higher levels of education are increasingly more
likelytousecomputersandtheInternet.

Income
Directcorrelationtoeducation

Race
The digital divide continues to widen along very specific racial
lines.

PercentofU.S.HouseholdsUsingtheInternetbyRace/Origin

DigitalImmigrants

Prensky clearly distinguishes his digital native generation from its

predecessorsbyreferringtothelatterasdigitalimmigrants.

To read manuals, print out e-mails and documents ready-for-edit,

physicallyshowalink,andevenspeakinanoutdatedlanguage.

Digital immigrants prefer:

Controlledreleaseofinfofromlimitedsource.

Singleorfocusedtasks

Oftenprefertogetinformationfromtext

Greaterneedforprivateandpersonalspaceforintrospection.

Likeinfopresentedlinearly,logicallyandsequentially.

DigitalNatives

Digital native,thetermchosenforthisreport,isperhapsthemostwidely
usedphraseincirculation.

Marc Prensky coined digital native in 2001, and later elaborated on the
conceptin2009andelsewhere.

Thegenerationofyoungpeoplewhoareallnativespeakersofthedigital
languageofcomputers,videogamesandtheinternet.

Theterm"digitalnative"issynonymouswiththeterm"digitalinclusion".
Beingdigitallyincludedmeansthatyouareinnatelyableinusingasmart
phone or computer tablets: modern technology has enabled the nonspeakingtospeak,thenon-hearingtohearandthenon-seeingtosee.

Theformulationofdigitalnativeisalsochallengedbyresearcherslooking
atemergingtechnologylandscapes.

Digital natives prefer:

Receivinginfoquicklyfrommultiplesources.

Multitaskingandparallelprocessing.

Pictures,soundsandvideobeforetext.

Hyperlinkedsources.

Interactinginrealtime.

Usergeneratedcontent.

Learningthatisinstant,relevantandfun.

Conclusion

Digitaldivideisthebranchofmanyproblems.Itistheproblemswillhave
alesschanceofbeingsolved:

Economy

Employment

Poverty

Education

InternationalLabor

Healthcare

Terrorism

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide
http://www.internetworldstats.com/links10.htm

http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/digital-

divide/start.html

http://www.be-digital.fr/digital-natives-digital-immigrants.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_native

http://www.slideshare.net

Thank you