web 7

When I first walked into this class I think it was safe to say that I didn’t know much of anything dealing with the digital media and social justice. From this class the most alarming and interesting information to me was on the digital divided. From the material learned in class and the input of my fellow classmates I would love to inform others on where I think the digital divided needs progression. I would also do this by taking what I have noticed before the class, such as family experiences and stories from others on digital issues. I believe it is now or never because the problem will only get worse as new generations keep popping up. This generation is all about technology and keeps pushing innovation further and further. The way I am going to explain my concerns about the digital divide dealing with social justice and digital media is clear. I am going to use digital storytelling to pass the information along so maybe more people will become aware of this growing problem.

            As I was reaching the internet for sources on the digital divide I came across some really interesting opinions and thoughts about the topic. One of the sources that I really enjoyed broke down the digital divide into 3 stages. The first stage was called the economic divide and was stated as the simplest out of the 3. To generalize the passage, it cost a lot of money to connect to the internet. They gave a fact “Dells cheapest computer costs 379 dollars.” The second stage of the digital divide was claimed to be the usability divide. The fact of the matter is that people can be given a free computer and not even know how to turn it on. I am sure we all have that older family member that hasn’t ever touched an electronic device. At the same time I am sure we all know a young child in school that hasn’t yet been taught how to work a computer. So what should we do? I think we should make the software and programs more simplistic for its new users. The third stage is the empowerment divide. This stage just shows that people have computers and only use them for certain reasons. This makes sense because in class we talked about providing and learning when it comes to the internet. Some people don’t know how to work search engines and get to valuable information that they could benefit from.

            For my story line I was going to act as if I were a person of the government trying to propose a plan to close the digital divide. In this story I plan to make valid points from my two articles that I have chosen to use for information purposes. I also will incorporate how we can use Facebook to limit the divide and other social networks.

"The Digital Divide." UC Atlas of Global Inequality. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/communication/digitaldivide.php>.

"Digital Divide: The Three Stages (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)." Useit.com: Jakob Nielsen on Usability and Web Design. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html>.