Rural Libraries

I read an article today that was based on a study of libraries in rural areas as well as poor areas. The article stated that less and less of the riches of the Internet will be available to these libraries unless they are able to invest in broadband. For students who live in these areas their only access to the Internet is via the library. This was very interesting to me. Since, before reading this article, the digital divide for me was always due to an economic condition. However, reading this article has taught me that some are left behind simply by virtue of where they live.

Digital Divide Defined

When I think of the term Digital Divide, I think of an economic disparity. I have often heard the term used to describe a condition whereby lower economic rungs of society do not have the means to be able to take advantage of technology and/or the Internet in their lives. So, usually when I hear digital divide I think the solution is an economic solution. However, as I dig more deeply into this term and recognize that the Internet and even computers for that matter have become relatively inexpensive items. One can use the Internet now in almost any public library for free. One can purchase a notebook computer for less than $500.00. While that still may be a substantial sum to many, it is huge reduction in price from merely a few years ago. The term digital divide now is defined more in terms of skills and literacy, training people in computer skills, which often entails teaching them to read and write first. Cooper suggests that the way software and technology is designed plays a huge role in said literacy. It has even got me to thinking about how cultural differences may even play a role in how naturally one finds using computers. Can technology and computers have a bias in their design in the same fashion as standardized tests such as the SAT?

Stay Tuned,
Kai Dupé

Kai Dupe 

Topic Chosen

"The obnoxious behavior and obscure interaction that software based products exhibit is institutionalizing what I call "Software Apartheid": otherwise normal people are forbidden from entering the job market and participating in society because they cannot use computers effectively."

Alan Cooper,
Inmates Are Running the Asylum,
p. 11