Bridging The Digital Divide

Bridging the Digital Divide investigates problems of unequal access to information technology. The author redefines this problem, examines its severity, and lays out what the future implications might be if the digital divide continues to exist. Examines unequal access to information technology in the United States. Analyses the success or failure of policies designed to address the digital divide. Draws on extensive fieldwork in several US cities. Makes recommendations for future public policy. Series editor: Manuel Castells.

This book presents analysis of the "learning digital divide" in different countries - developed and developing - and the policies and specific innovations designed to bridge it.

Intelligent Technologies for Bridging the Grey Digital Divide offers high-quality research with both industry- and practice-related articles in the broad area of intelligent technologies for seniors. The main focus of the book is to provide insights into current innovation, issues to be resolved, and approaches for widespread adoption so that seniors, their families, and their caregivers are able to enjoy their promised benefits.

Teaching novice computer users, including seniors and individuals with disabilities such as low vision or motor skills, how to do what they want and need to do online is a formidable challenge for library staff. Part inspirational, part practical Without a/the Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide is a summary of techniques, approaches, and skills that will help librarians meet this challenge.||Jessamyn C. West's experience as a librarian is deeply immersed in technology culture, yet living in rural America makes her uniquely qualified to write this book. Taking a big-picture approach to the subject, she demystifies and simplifies tech training for the busy librarian, providing an easy-to-use handbook full of techniques that can be used with all of a library's many populations. As an added bonus, she also examines the players in the library technology arena to offer firsthand reports on what works, what doesn't, and what's next.

According to many observers, the global digital divide - the extent to which information technology is benefiting developed as opposed to developing countries - has already established itself as the single most pervasive theme of the twenty-first century. The purpose of this book is to explore some of the ways in which this divide can be overcome both within and between nations. Employing a rigorous analytical framework, the author bases his analysis on the concept of international technological dualism. He argues that one possible solution to the problem is the availability of affordable technologies, such as low-cost computers, which are specifically designed for the income levels and socio-economic conditions of developing countries. He also emphasizes that the most important aim of any policy measure should be to provide universal access to information technologies, rather than individual ownership. Depending on whether or not this divide can be bridged will, to a large degree, determine whether developing countries are able to attain higher levels of productivity, prosperity and global integration.

Help the world bridge the digital divide by learning an easy-to-use method that allows everyone to enjoy the benefits of the Internet using just a phone and their voice. Computer and technology expert Emdad Khan pinpoints the factors that affect the use of technology, including the language divide. While the English-speaking world dominates the Internet, its possible for all people to reap its benefits using just their voice in their native language. The Voice Internet ushers in a new era of access to technology. It eliminates the need to learn a new language, is affordable, and overcomes problems associated with many devices, such as needing to use a small keypad and screen. Get ready to learn how Voice Internet technology rides on existing infrastructure; how to take further steps to harness the benefits of the Internet; and how this technology can positively affect economies and cultures. If you are a decision maker, governmental policy maker, teacher, entrepreneur, philanthropist, or someone concerned with helping humanity enjoy access to the Internet, then this guidebook provides you with the knowledge to take action. Bridge the gaps that limit the usage of technology and open up the Internet for Everyone.

Crossing the Bridge of the Digital Divide: A Walk with Global Leaders explores the combined effect of the rapid growth of information as an increasingly fragmented information base, a large component of which is available only to people with money and/or acceptable institutional affiliations. In the recent past, the outcome of these challenges has been characterized as the "digital divide" between the information “haves” and “have nots” along racial and socio economic lines that seem to widen as time passes. To address the issues of digital equity and digital inequality in an effort to bridge the digital divide, educational scholars, researchers and practitioners are in positions to ensure equitable opportunities are made available for people of all ages, races, ability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity in support of social justice for bridging the digital divide. The digital divide addresses issues concerning equal opportunity, equity and access that have an effect on the development of marginalized and otherwise disenfranchised populations within and across systems nationally and internationally. The contributing authors- representing Unites States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and the UK - posit that education institutions can serve as the bridge to close the digital divide for students who do not have access to information technology in their homes. At a time when more computers are made available in schools than ever before, the digital divide continues to widen and fewer people in the lowest SES groups are given the opportunity to join the world of computer technology and the internet. As a result, the influence of leadership activity on institutional racism, gender discrimination, inequality of opportunity, inequity of educational processes, digital exclusion, and justice have gained currency and attention. The contributing national and international authors examine the digital divide in terms of social justice leadership, equity and access. It is within this context that the authors offer discussions from a lens of their choice, i.e. conceptual, review of literature, epistemological, etc. By adopting an educational approach to bridging the digital divide, researchers and practitioners can connect and extend long established lines of conceptual and empirical inquiry aimed at improving organizational practices and thereby gain insights that might be otherwise overlooked, or assumed. This holds great promise for generating, refining, and testing theories of leadership for equity and access, and helps strengthen already vibrant lines of inquiry on social justice.

The Internet’s importance for freedom of expression and other rights comes in part from the ability it bestows on users to create and share information, rather than just receive it. Within the context of existing freedom of expression guarantees, this book critically evaluates the goal of bridging the 'digital divide' – the gap between those who have access to the Internet and those who do not. Central to this analysis is the examination of two questions: first, is there a right to access the Internet, and if so, what does that right look like and how far does it extend? Second, if there is a right to access the Internet, is there a legal obligation on States to overcome the digital divide? Through examination of this debate’s history, analysis of case law in the European Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and a case study of one digital inclusion programme in Jalisco, Mexico, this book concludes that there is indeed currently a legal right to Internet access, but one that it is very limited in scope. The 2012 Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and the Internet is aspirational in nature, rather than a representative summary of current protections afforded by the international human rights legal framework. This book establishes a critical foundation from which some of these aspirations could be advanced in the future. The digital divide is not just a human rights challenge nor will it be overcome through human rights law alone. Nevertheless, human rights law could and should do more than it has thus far.