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The Digital Divide
How Wide and
How Deep is It?
The
Digital Divide cuts Across all Racial
Cultural and Class Boundaries. By Kamau Austin
When
one thinks of the digital divide usually what comes to mind are Blacks,
Latinos, women, and other minorities who because of lower income than
whites are being left behind on the information super highway. However,
is this an accurate picture? Conversely, one might posit the notion that
since the fastest growing Internet populations are now in the Black and
Latino markets, that the divide is more media hype and stereotype than
truth. To further illustrate this point it is noteworthy to mention
that women now out number men in Internet usage. Furthermore, portals
and communities of Blacks, Latinos and women now rival major white media
properties in traffic.
Ivillage.com, Women.com,
Migente, BlackPlanet.com,
and Black voices, receive as
much traffic as mass media main stays like the Wall Street Journal and
New York Times online properties. Over half of ...
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the US has Internet access with a myriad of ethnic communities
represented. Therefore could it be that our notions of the digital divide
are myths, misnomers, and rather simplistic notions. Do we need a more
complex view of the digital divide to eclipse or close it? More Profoundly,
if there is a divide just how wide and deep is it?
Would senior citizens of all ethnic and racial backgrounds
be considered a part of the digital divide? Seniors many times find themselves
hard pressed to keep up with new social trends. Usage of the Internet
has been the fastest growing social trend probably in the history of the
world. Therefore, it might seem logical to think that perhaps seniors
should also be lumped into the digital divide. However, contrary to this
notion is the irony that some of the strongest purchasers on the Internet
are seniors and a more mature demographic over the age of 50.
This smashes a simplistic look at the digital divide on
the basis of age.
Faster more nimble companies like Amazon.com and Ebay
were quicker to embrace the Internet for e-commerce. Were the major corporations
that lagged in their initial usage of the net techno-challenged? Furthermore,
should they have been stigmatized as part of the digital divide, at least
initially? What about old-line professions like Attorneys and Physicians?
Many have been slower to use the Internet or any other media. Are these
traditional professions more "techno-challenged" than in contrast inner-city
youth who are using sophisticated peer-to-peer technology like Napster,
gnutella, and Hotline or Instant messaging to chat and exchange music
and video files? As you can see just who comprises the digital divide
is a complex issue.
In our next few issues of Einfonews, we will examine the
width (ethnic, age, and gender demographics) and depth(class demographics)
of the digital divide. We will
examine this issue with view to addressing remedies to
the situation. We do believe that there is a digital divide which is more
clearly defined as lack of access to cutting edge technology. Lack of
access to cutting edge technology can be an alienating thing in an information
based economy. The digital divide can define who are the haves and have
nots. Join us as we explore the divide in our upcoming articles.
Kamau Austin, is the Editor-in-Chief of Einfonews, and
is an former Telecommunications consultant and Marketer.
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Explore
issues of the Digital Divide at.
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