Access to Technology

1. Access to Technology September 19, 2013

2. Major Issues • Convergence • Framed in: Scope, Reach, Speed and Size. • Digital Divide • Information, Knowledge and Judgment • Computers and Community • Accomplishments of Technology • http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20014676-265.html (Google Phone within Gmail)

3. Digital Divide • Digital Divide = • a situation where some people have access to modern information technology while others do not. • Assumptions = • people with access to telephone, computers, and the Internet have opportunities denied to people without access to these devices.

4. Digital Divide • Origins = • DD was popularized in the 1990s when WWW was become ubiquitous. • ICT was discovered not to be a panacea to all problems. • (Pippa Norris) Two fundamental dimensions = • Global Divide and Social Divide

5. Global Divide • Global Divide (affected by): • Less wealth • Inadequate telecommunications infrastructure • Primary language is not English • Literacy is low and education is inadequate • Culture may not prioritize participating in the Information Age

6. Social Divide • Social Divide (affected by Social Economic Status): • Age • Wealth/Income • Education • Gender • Ethnicity • Occupation • Geographic location

7. Social Divide • SES and demographic factors for Internet Adoption (Pew Survey): • 88% of 18-29 year olds. • 32% of 65 and over. • 91% of adults with annual incomes of at least $75,000. • 30% of adults with annual incomes of at least $30,000. • 91% of college graduates. • 40% of those who dropped out of high school. • (www.pewinternet.org by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project)

8. Examples • Google Fiber Optic project in Kansas City, Mo. • First week of registration: http://tinyurl.com/9rsvtjm • Second week of registration: http://tinyurl.com/c7a4pal • Connected States sorted by income: • http://bber.unm.edu/econ/us-pci.htm (per capita income of US states by Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER))

9. Critique of DD • Mark Warschauer = Three reasons why DD is not helpful: • DD = Promotes the idea that difference between “haves” and “have-nots” is simply a question of access. • DD = Assumes that everyone is on one side or another of a huge canyon. • DD = Implies that a lack of access will lead to a less advantaged position in society (there is no simple causality).

10. Data/Information Overload • NYT

11. Digital Divide: Controversies • Access to information does not guarantee use. • Access to information may lead to different results among different people. • Passive vs. Active mode of information access. • The general information environment may show bias toward particular groups. • Information withdrawal, depression, helplessness, etc. in the face of an excessive amount of information.

12. Information Divide: Underlying Factors • Formal access: availability of ICTs (both technologies and content) at home, work and other settings. • Effectiveness: perceived accessibility and actual use of ICTs. • Engagement: meaningfulness, relevance and usefulness. • Outcome/consequence: short-term & long-term effects as a result of use.

13. Information Divide: Key Issues to Examine • Access: • whether information is available or not to certain social groups. • Content: • the type of content accessible to different social groups. • Process: • the process through which people learn to avail themselves of digital information.

14. Information Divide: Key Issues to Examine • Design: • how particular designs facilitate information processing for some groups but not others. • E.g. http://pawpawmail.com/ and http://bigscreenlive.com/ for seniors. • Learning (knowledge): • different levels of learning curves for different individuals to access certain types of information. • Perceived need: • how different individuals display different levels of perceived needs for digital information in their lives.

15. Technology Diffusion • New technologies are expensive, hence better-off people adopt first. • When critical mass is reached, prices fall, enabling more people to acquire it. • For example when VCR debuted in 1977, they retailed for $1,000 (which is $3,255 in 2008 dollars). Now VCRs (if you need one) costs, easily $50. • Two models for diffusion: • Normalization model (Science and Technology Studies) • Stratification model (Sociology Theory)

16. The Knowledge Gap Hypothesis • "...segments of the population with higher socioeconomic status tend to acquire information at a faster rate than the lower status segments so that the gap in knowledge between these segments tends to increase rather than decrease.” • SES and education are the most important factors contributing to the knowledge gap. • This is true with the introduction of any new media format (e.g., newspaper, television, the Internet). • This gap in knowledge would be in effect not only at a certain point in time, but it will increase over time.

17. Knowledge Society? • Knowledge has been widely recognized as the most important factor of production in the new economy. • Yet easy availability of information may not necessarily lead to more knowledge in society. • Therefore, • Information Society ≠ Knowledge Society • Why?

18. The Knowledge Network • Companies that own or control data are at the leaders in new economic paradigm (e.g. Google, FaceBook). • Data: bits of information such as lists (e.g. phone list) or records in a database or spreadsheet • Information: organized data that can be communicated • Knowledge: information (i.e. organized data) that can be used to achieve some or other result • Wisdom: selection of appropriate knowledge for a specific task

19. The Knowledge Network Hierarchy

20. Mitigating Activities/Local • Universal Access vs. Universal Service • Communications Act of 1934, • Established the FCC to regulate wire telegraph, telephones and broadcasting. • Also, negotiated with AT&T to provide Universal Service. • TCOM Act of 1996, explicitly mandated Telephone companies to provide Universal Service, paid for by consumers. • Now the discussion is about Broadband access.

21. Internet at 44! • Internet Domain Names • Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) http://icann.com/ • Since November 2009 a number of nations and territories are able to apply for Internet extensions reflecting their names in their own script. • More than 20 non-Latin languages including Japanese, Indian languages and Arabic are valid for domain names.

22. Internet at 43! • Major internet browsers, like Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Google's Chrome and Firefox have cleared all technical obstacles for the inclusion of the full Chinese addresses. • Leading search engines including Google and Yahoo have already started to index information about Websites likely to use Chinese addresses.