Group items tagged

Follow along with five videos about life without the internet in rural North Carolina towns.  in 2007, about 30% of rural NC was without internet. Unfortunately, there hasn't been an update, but it's still a powerful case study

"In a society where knowledge-intensive activities are an increasingly important component of the economy, the distribution of knowledge across the population is increasingly linked to stratification. Much attention among both academic researchers and in policy circles has been paid to what segments of the population have access to the Internet or are Internet users. Although the medium has seen high rates of diffusion, its spread has been unequal both within and across nations. In this chapter, I look at (a) individual-level inequality in Internet access and use in the United States, (b) cross-national variation in connectedness, and (c) inequality from the side of content producers in gaining audiences for their material online."

This article discusses the "broadband divide" in Washington D.C., which relates to the idea that high-speed internet access should be how we measure the digital divide, since anything less seriously impedes an individual's ability to engage with the Internet on the level that those with high-speed access are able to

This article describes an FCC report about Americans' connection to broadband net, which many still don't have. Hard for many of us, in our privileged positions, to believe. Dial-up seems like a long time ago.

A two part (second part here: http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/06/what-exactly-can-you-learn-on-a-mobile-phone-part-ii/) interview with Mimi Ito, an anthropologist focused on children and new media, about whether or not mobile internet is a valid tool in bridging the digital divide when it comes to learning/school. 

One aspect of the digital divide includes urban-rural connectivity disparity. Jessamyn West is a rural librarian and advocate of bridging the urban-rural digital divide. The above link is to the audio recording of Jessamyn's facilitation of the "Offline America" session at last year's SXSW (South by Southwest) conference. You can get the lecture notes, slides and more here: http://librarian.net/talks/sxsw2011/.

Looks like she just published a book, too! http://www.amazon.com/Without-Net-Librarians-Bridging-Digital/dp/1598844539?tag=hotthour-20