Global and international perspectives of women's work I The Digital Divide

Discuss the ‘Digital Divide’ assignment NTIA report / statistics examples (from the media) that demonstrate the effects of inequity in access) examples of global and international aspects of the digital divide solutions (policy, community)

The Digital Divide Starting from the data provided by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) 1999 report, accomplish the following research: 1. Find statistics that further demonstrates inequities in the access to information technology, two years after the report was issued. You may focus on educational sector, or ownership of computers in homes, telephones.

The Digital Divide 2. Find one or more examples (from the media) that demonstrate the effects of inequity in access along the lines of age, geography, gender, class, or ethnic origin. Discuss these effects and give your own opinion.

The Digital Divide 3. Find an example that demonstrates how digital divide is played out in the global arena. Why is global participation through access to information and information technology important? Does it really matter and to what degree.

The Digital Divide 4. Find an example that shows how disenfranchised populations are successfully managing the lack of technology access and proficiency, through community effort, or governmental policies. Focus on a particular country (other than the United States) in conducting this analysis.

Connectivity

AFYA Connectivity: Cultural Practices of the Powerful or Subversion from the Margins? Hawthorne Home and the World: The Internet as a Personal and Political Tool Pattanaik Women Click: Feminism and the Internet Pollock & Sutton

Connectivity (Hawthorne) Do you have a Power PC? A Power Mac? Are you connected to power? Do you have power? “The first questions are power questions. They assume you are part of a culture, a race for power. They assume that you are connected to power, because even if you have a laptop, it needs recharging, and the batteries never last long enough to write anything of substantial length. If you say no to the first three questions, then chances are you don’t have much power at all.” (Hawthorne 1999, 118)

to be continued...