Different Online Worlds

Jeff Toorongian, EDTECH501, Fall 2009 September is here again and schools are back in session. I live in a small university town, so when classes resume the size of our city's population almost doubles. As the new and returning students move into their dorm rooms, apartments, and houses, almost all of them will be unpacking some sort of computer. Whether its a laptop, desktop, or netbook, one primary use for these computers is accessing the Internet. A few clicks, and perhaps the installation of a wireless router for cable-free convenience, and they're online. The Internet is essential for much of what students use their machines for, including email, web browsing, online gaming and chatting, web-based software applications, social networking and streaming audio and video. Without the Internet, both productivity improvements, and immediate accessibility to online communities and content is not possible. What about the cost for Internet service? For on-campus students the fee is buried in their housing bill. Ultimately, the cost for Internet service for a university student probably doesn't register when compared with the costs for tuition, housing, meals, and books. If faced with a budget crisis, many students would elect to eat less expensively (mac and cheese and Ramen noodles) or turn down (or off) their heat before they would give up their Internet. It's just that important. Although the cost of getting online for today's university students may not be a primary concern, for others in this same community it can be. For these people, the costs involved in purchasing a computer and getting online make this technology unattainable. The term "digital divide" (DiMaggio & Hargittai 2001) has been used to describe these two groups of people. Fortunately, statistics from a 2006 U.S. Department of Education report (Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003) reveal that nearly all public schools are now wired for the Internet (to some degree), so even those school-aged kids without access at home can go online while in school. Doesn't this imply that the digital divide is nearly gone, or at least not significant anymore? Not Really. Kids may have opportunities to use Internetconnected computers in school, but what about at home? What about preschool kids? What about adults? Some may be able to access the Internet through public facilities like libraries. Certainly not all families at that end of the digital divide have this option however. And what about the quality of the online experience offered at a public location compared to the experience provided in a private home? It seems pretty reasonable to assume that limitations of time, and the number and hardware capabilities of public computers, amongst other variables, can all negatively affect the quality of their Internet experience. More detailed consideration of these and other factors that make up the the digital divide have led some researchers and scholars to argue that what is actually occurring is "digital inequality" (DiMaggio & Hargittai 2001). In order to better understand the trends, those who research these groups, especially in academia and government, have conducted surveys and polls, and also gleaned responses from United States Census data. Typically this information has detailed the percentages of people with online access, distributed across various statistical categories. These categories often include age, sex, marital status, income level, ethnicity, education level, job classification, and geographic location. This data (Hargittai 2003) lends credibility to the inequality argument. It indicates that Internet use is highest amongst white and asian americans and those with higher incomes and more education. Some argue that a deeper analysis of Internet access reveals more support for the idea of a digital

inequality. The quality of the computer hardware, the location where access is obtained (school or library versus home), the social support available from a users family members, and their amount of online experience all contribute to the concept of a digital inequality. These are big issues to consider. They're much more complex than simply measuring the number of people who have online access. It seems the more important question to consider is not how many people have access to the Internet, but what type of experience they are having, and how the quality of the experience is affected by the user's background. That's a difficult problem to qualify and quantify. Regardless of the specific numbers, however, is the larger issue of how to improve the situation. How can we increase online access and improve experience levels of all users? I expect it will require much more than a government-centered effort to provide universal online access. Will the government also begin providing baseline computer technology to citizens? Who will define the baseline? How often will the equipment be upgraded? Will there be a training and support component available for users? Americans across the nation are currently debating how to improve our health care system, and what role, if any, the government should play in that solution. Perhaps we need to have a national discussion and debate regarding the digital inequality issues. Unfortunately, a combination of a bad national economy, high unemployment, and a general sense of concern for our future will make it difficult to solve this problem soon. A more hopeful and realistic approach might be to encourage a partnership between citizens, private business entities, and government agencies, with each playing to its strengths. It will require an improved infrastructure, access to necessary hardware, and most importantly (in my view), a system developed to train and support people as they learn the skills necessary to access the online world successfully. No easy task. No easy solution. When do we get started?

References
DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai, E. (2001). From the 'digital divide' to 'digital inequality': Studying Internet use as penetration increases. Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Working Paper Series number, 15. Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~artspol/workpap/WP15%20-%20DiMaggio+Hargittai.pdf. Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003. (2006, September 5). Retrieved September 21, 2008, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006065. Hargittai, E. (2003). The digital divide and what to do about it. New Economy Handbook, 821-839. Retrieved from http://www.eszter.com/research/pubs/hargittai-digitaldivide.pdf.