THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The DIGITAL DIVIDE

The digital divide: inequality between groups caused by the amount of access, use or knowledge to information and communication technologies (Wikipedia, 2012). Within a country the digital divide can refer to the inequalities that result “between individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic and other demographic levels” (Wikipedia, 2012). Another form of a digital divide is between developing and developed countries. This is called the Global digital divide in which countries are the “units of analysis” (Wikipedia, 2012). Flew (2008) stresses the importance of distinguishing the difference between the ‘global divide’ and the social divide’. The ‘global divide’ refers to the “access between nations based on access to networked ICT infrastructures, computers etc” and the ‘social divide” being the gaps within nations” (Flew, 2008).

Wikipedia (2012) explains the three factors that affect the access of use of information communication technologies (ICTs) and the Internet are race, gender and geographic location. Flew (2008) cites Murdock and Golding (2004) as highlighting the unequal distribution of opportunities to learn new computing and software skills as the reason why the digital environment will continue to “reflect other sources of social inequality, such as those arising from income, occupation, or geographic location.”

The below video uploaded on YouTube (2008) refers to the digital divide as being the gap between those who benefit from technology and those who do not. The video highlights the way access and ability lead to empowerment (Scottnordq, 2008).

Dr David Brake (2012) urges journalists to take time to think about the digital divide. Brake (2012) unveilekd findings of journalists conducting research using “social medis as a source of news and opinion by journalists covering both UK and foreign news.” He continues to argue that people who use eosicla media (in the developing world) and people contribute to the materual that news organizations then source are generally more “high status, highly educated and more wealthy.” As the previously mentioned factors affecting access and creating the digital divide are “income, occupation or geographic location” (Flew, 2008), Brakes claims add up. By using digital sources and concentrating on “the interests and priorities of those people (who are, after all, easy to monitor) may lead journalists to unconsciously skew their coverage and miss the overall picture” (Brake, 2012). 

Quick (2011) believes the digital divide in journalism is not between those who have access to print or digital but those who are divided up between the ‘Big “J” Journalists’ and the ‘”We the People” Journalists’. Big J Journalists care about writing and publishing, seeing themselves “as though leaders in the community who always know more than their audience” (Quick, 2011) and are unaffected if no one form the digital community reads or interacts with their content. The opposing group, We the People Journalists, care most about “publishing content that impacts people’s lives (people read, talk about and act on the content)” (Quick, 2011) and ultimately prefer digital journalism to print. This divide in journalists may be linked to the divide in generations.

NYU Journalism student, Abby Stokes, presents a theory of the immense digital divide between “those borin in today’s technology generation and those who did not grow up using a computer” (Stokes, 2011). A hype cycle shows how and when technologies move beyond the hype and offer practical benefits to then become widely accepted (Wikipedia, 2012). Stokes (2011) believes that anyone can learn to use a computer and refers to those over the “age of 40 as a digital immigrant and anyone under 40 as a digital native”. 

If a source of inequality can arise form occupation (Flew, 2008), those with the occupation of a journalist must endeavour to shrink the divide by incorporating both digital and print into the journalism field across all ages, races and geographic locations. 

References:

Brake, D. (2012). Journalism and the Digital Divide. University of Bedfordshire. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/jc/news/2012/journalism-and-the-digital-divide

Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. http://terryflew.com/ 

Quick, S. (2011). The non-digital divide in journalism: audience. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://mojosunite.com/the-non-digital-divide-in-journalism-audience

Scottnordq. (2008). The Digital Divide. Youtube. Retrieved November 27, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz7dw3pLr-U

Stokes, A. (2011). NYU Journalism Student writes about me and the digital divide. Abby & Me. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://abbyandme.com/posts/nyu-journalism-student-writes-about-me-and-the-digital-divide

Wikipedia. (2012). Digital divide. Wikipedia: the free encyclopadia. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide

Wikipedia. (2012). Hype cycle. Wikipedia: the free encyclopadia. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle