Module 8 Diversity, cultural understanding, and global awareness

The New Literacy: Scenes from the Digital Divide 2.0:A Short History of the Digital Divide

In 1991, the "High Performance Computing Act" funded a project that would utilize high speed fiber optics, becoming known as the "Internet".  Without the connectivity to the Internet, home computers would have been glorified typewriters.  From 1991 to 1996 personal computers being used at home rose from 300,000 to over ten million. With the rapid amount of households using the Internet, jobs too began to be affected.  According to Rappaport, "60 percent of all new jobs were going to require fluency, not just on computers, but on the Internet as well."  During the Clinton Administration, the term "digital divide" was coined to express the divide between people who have access to the Internet and people who do not.  A story was published that told of the divide between two schools in California.  Students at a low impoverished school had to work with six year old computers at school, while students at an affluent school were able to go home and work on their Apple Macintosh.  Other reports came out saying that only 9% of school classrooms had Internet access. As the early 2000's came around, the digital divide was becoming less of an issue in society.

A Tech Prophet Predicts

"Smart Mobs" are "future generations with the tools of digital literacy and social networking increasingly wired into the brain."  These groups are able to form and adapt with ease to new ideas in society.  Examples of problems in society could deal with political, social, and economic. Howard Rheingold thinks that teaching social media will revolutionize education.  Students will learning how to get the facts and not memorize the facts that will be available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. 

Who Will Organize All of This Data?

Mike Wesch created a YouTube sensation called “Web 2.0". Wesch has won numerous awards, such as Case Western Reserve University's U.S. Professor of the Year award, and has been called "the explainer."  His video explains the importance of Google, Flickr, and XML, and lets the viewer know that we are responsible for organizing all of the knowledge that is available to us.

The Ultimate School Reform

There is a large shift in education from instruction improvement to the world of digital learning.  According to Rappaport, "A recent MacArthur Foundation study shows that each day, 80 percent of American teenagers use a computer. Half of them are creating digital-media content, and a third of them are sharing that content on the Internet. The research found that rather than replacing television or books, digital media will increasingly be the cross-platform driver."  It continues to say the classroom is the digital divide, because students regularly visit Myspace or YouTube.   If we ignore the shift in educational focus, another divide will arise, and that is the one between the students and teachers.

The New Literacy: Scenes from the Digital Divide 2.0

"The term ‘digital divide’ was coined in the mid-90s to label a growing gap between those with access to computers and those without."  This gap was narrowed with cell phones and digital platforms.  72.5% of US citizens, which is nearly 220,141,000 people, use the internet.  "Students and teachers who are facile with Web 2.0 tools, including wikis, blogs, micro-blogs, Twitter, linking, tagging, podcasting, forums, video sharing, vlogs, Drupal-based group blogs, social bookmarking, and virtual worlds.” If teachers are not using these tools, a divide will come up again. 

The Participation Divide: Content Creation and Sharing in the Digital Age

Developments on the web have eased the way people are able to share their views and ideas.  It does not cost much, and it gives the creator a high chance of being noticed by millions on the web.  The paper is written to decide if women or men contribute more content to the Internet.  A person’s socioeconomic status plays a large role in if they are likely or not likely to create content on the Internet.  A large factor that comes into play as to whether or not items are posted online is the writer’s "user skill", and you are not able to tell from the writing if it is from a male or female. 

Finding a Place in Cyberspace: Black Women, Technology and Identity

Three different venues are being talking about in this paper.  "The current discourse on race and technology (the digital divide), the experiences of black women who work in technology, and the figuration of race and gender on the Web"(Wright, 2).  What links all three of these together is whether or not black women can find their own place in cyberspace.  Latinos are the number one users on the Internet, followed by African Americans.  African Americans make up 13% of the population, but only 9% make up Internet users.  Whites use the Internet to keep up with family and friends, while African Americans use it to find houses, for religious reasons, finding a job or for hobbies.  In recent years African Americans’ use of the Internet has risen because of the price drop of hardware devices.  Websites such as "javanoir.net, Afamnet.com, verythingblack.com, sistahspace.com, new.blackvoices.com, bdpa.org, and africast.com" have been created to help the ever changing World Wide Web.  The number of black women attending college has risen over 400% and colleges such as UCLA, Notre Dame, and Yale have seen a rise of African American females.  Of the black websites, black men are dominate on the webpages.  They are historical figures or literary creations.

Slamming the Closet Door and Taking Control: Analysis of Personal Transformation and Social Change as

LGBT Podcasting Blazes a Trail of Democratization of the Media

This reading starts off mentioning that we are the creators of the Internet.  We are able to express our view points, ideas, and experiences by using YouTube, blogs, or podcasts.  No matter your age, experience or gender, you are able to voice your ideas by creating content on the web.  King "documented the development of the podcasting movement from a participant observer perspective and identify a clear pattern that the two largest segments in this first wave of podcasting is music, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) podcasts."  King used a mixed research method approach which uses "data reduction, data display, data transformation, data consolidation, data comparison and data integration"(King 2). "Podcasting is the distribution of digital recordings via RSS-feed directories. That is, individuals record audio content with computers or digital recorders, post it on the Internet on a publicly available server, and create an XML script RSS-feed to string it together and deliver the episodes." After the podcast is reviewed for appropriateness and accuracy, it is then made searchable and it can be freely viewed.  Besides the podcasts being heard on the computer, they can also be uploaded to MP3 players and listened to based on the individuals’ own agenda.  Podcasting’s strength is that the user does not have to search for new podcasts every time.  Whenever the user wants a new podcast, they simply go to a podcast directory and it will "push" or refresh to the most update-to-date podcast.  The first wave of podcasting was music and the major group was the LGBT community.  With the LGBT population becoming "wanna be" disk jockeys, the positives that came out of this movement "developed empowerment, confidence, voice, and focus. As a group, many LGBT podcasts had matured from hesitant attempts to unbounded confidence, from self-talk to public education, and from self-indulgence to activism."(4)  Podcasts are beneficial in adult education by the means of ESL, French and Spanish pod casts.  Digital Natives had a problem adjusting to podcasts for information because they referred to radio, CD or cassettes for their educational needs. The negatives of podcasts is the amount of time needed to professionally and effectively produce one.  Personal and social change can be created by using podcasts.  They can be used as "design formats of small group dialogue, learner created media, class presentations designed as global resources and instructor created media; genres of: critical reflection, historical narrative, debate, first person narratives, storytelling, performances, and role playing; assignments as: in class, outside of class, individual, optional formats, group projects and continuing/long-term."(5)  The only limitations of this research prove to be the study could have lasted longer and a larger amount of LGBT participants could have been interviewed.

One Laptop Per Child mission

The goal for this organization is to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children.  The laptop referenced is low cost, low power, and rugged.  This lap top is called "XO". 

The 5 core principals are:

1.  Kids keep the laptop

2.  Focus on early education

3.  No one gets left out

4.  Connection to the Internet

5.  Feel free to grow and adapt

Education is the foundation of all the other solutions.  It is low cost so a large amount can be made, low energy so it may be charged with alternate sources.  The screen can be also read in direct sunlight because for many students, their classroom is outdoors. 

Can One Laptop per Child Reduce the Digital Divide and Educational Gap? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment from Migrant Schools in Beijing

40 countries and two million laptops later, there is still little evidence that OLPC is working for the better. Computer skills rose by 0.33% and math scores by 0.17% after a 6 month study.  OLPC helped students’ computer skills and self-esteem rise, and time watching TV was lessened.  Three hundred 3rd grade students in Beijing were studied and before the experiment started, the students were given just one intermediate course.  The end of the study proved that the government should not put forth the financial support quite yet, because time and more study still needs to be put forth.  With the noted improvement, there are still ways for students to better themselves by using OLPC.  These improvements are for the computers to be updated with a "carefully designed package, including software and hardware, that can help them continue to learn (and learn effectively) at home"(Rozelle 26).

Reflection

"June 2008 Library of Congress speech now uploads more content in six months than all three of the major American television networks have presented in the past 60 years."  This stat is unbelievable!  There is a large of amount of television being watched, with Netflix, Redbox, and Hulu at our fingertips.  But the US government puts out more uploads.  Would this be a form of propaganda?  I would think so.    72.5%, which is nearly 220,141,000 US citizens use the internet. What about the other 23 percent?  What is the reason they are not using the internet?  I would venture to say poverty, location, and religion is playing a reason for this.  With people getting addicted to the World Wide Web, I see religious groups viewing this as a sinful act.

    The article "Finding a Place in Cyberspace: Black Women, Technology, and Identity" was interesting in the fact that an increase of over 400% black women are attending top universities.  This is great to see, because it is closing the gap between the poverty in the inner cities. I wonder if a divide is increasing or decreasing between white and black females.  

    I love podcasts; iTunes has a wide variety, and the one thing I enjoy so much about this is that they have "Push Technology".  Every time I connect my phone, the podcasts are immediately updated.  Watching the video on "XO" really motivated me.  I think it is amazing how technology can work for everybody. I loved the five reasons why it was created.  Each reason proved to be exact and efficient in supporting "XO".  If it can work in Beijing, I don’t see why it can’t work for the impoverished areas in Columbus, Ohio, such as my school?