Coming up with a solution to the problem of the Digital Divide is extremely hard. The great difficulty in coming up with a problem to this divide is that technology is always evolving and changing and is never consistent. Therefore there will always be somewhat of a digital divide all over the world. For some teachers across America they may think that the solution is quite easy. For example if a student in their classroom does not have a computer at home, a teacher might think of three possible solutions. For example, they may say to go to the library, to finish all their work at school or to use a friends computer. Although these are good solutions for some students, one can not just assume that these solutions will work for everyone. For example, maybe a students’ parents work full time and are not able to take them to the library after school. A student may also have lots of other after school activities and may not be able to stay after school to complete their work on the computer. Regarding the “ask a friend” solution, there are many students who live in areas where neither them or the people around them have access to a computer. Yes, a solution might seem easy and possible, however when you take a step back you realize that you can not just assume that the rest of the world lives the same way you do.
Although a complete solution to the Digital Divide may not be possible, it is however possible to come up with such solutions that will help decrease the digital divide. The first thing that would be extremely beneficial is just to educate others on the issue of the Digital Divide. Many people are not aware that integrating technology is a great thing to help students improve their knowledge but that it also creates a Digital Divide. Without knowing that this problem exists how is anything supposed to be done to fix it? Without taking this class, even I would not be aware that not only a Digital Divide exists but that is also creates a huge array of problems for people today. On a website called, “Digital Divide Institute” its sole purpose is the Harness the power of broadband for a more equitable and sustainable global economy. It is websites like these that there need to be more of. This website not only informs the general public of the Digital Divide, but also shows specific things that are being done to eliminate it.
The Digital divide Institute's Web site believes that if they first fix Asia, then they can then fix the World. For example Andrew Harris the Senior Telecoms Analyst for The Economist Intelligence Unit, stated “Meaningful Broadband is Digital Divide Institute’s new model for bridging the digital divide with far-reaching implications throughout Asia and the rest of the developing world”. The big thing that they talked about on their website was a US$9.2 billion plan for Meaningful Broadband deployment that was unveiled April 14 at the Infrastructure Indonesia 2011 summit Jakarta. This is said to be managed by Meaningful broadband Working Group of the top leaders of the government, businesses and academia that will guide a national approach to broadband that closes digital divide. In another article titled, “The Digital Divide: Is There A Solution?”, written by Simon Barrett it talks about the difficulty of finding a solution to this huge problem. Barrett discusses how it is usually the working poor and the homeless who have a huge disadvantage because they are not able to access the internet and the latest technology available, as opposed to those who do have access. The two most significant disadvantages are the lack of access to certain information and being less competitive in the job market. Barrett bring up a good point that this can cause a huge disadvantage in the job market being that most job have an online application process. Along with these many problems this article also offers a temporary solution to the problem. For example, Barrett states, “Projects like CLIC (Computers for Low Income Calgarians) operated by the Calgary Drop-In Centre have helped to bridge the gap by giving people free computers. This was a good start, but there were still some important building blocks missing”. It is extremely hard to come up with a solution to fix this problem however, things are being done to try to fix it so that the playing field is leveled out for all so that all may have an equal opportunity at everything that try to accomplish.
Overview | A Closer Look | Current Practices | Educational Impact | Solutions | Bibliography |
