The Digital Divide By: Maureen Griswold, Alex Deronde, Franklin Gaw, Sarah Ceurvorst, and Junho Lee

What is the Digital Divide? The digital divide is the gap between those who have access to technology, such as the internet, and those who have no access or limited access. It is also about how the different levels of society have access to different aspects of technology. This creates distance between the classes, gender, age, geography and race.

Gender

Geography

Age

Class

Race

Ways to Help! There are projects such as One Laptop per Child and 50x15 that were created to help solve the digital divide. With these projects, OLPC XO-1s are distributed to kids in developing countries. OLPC XO-1 is an inexpensive laptop that is meant to spread knowledge to those who would otherwise have difficulty receiving access to technology. The CrunchPad is a low cost tablet PC that people are able to perform simple tasks with. Groups concerned with the digital divide: World summit on the Information Society, Geekcorps, EduVision, Inveneo. These groups try to distribute low budget laptops, such as OLPC XO-1, handhelds, WiFi, and other aspects of technology to various parts of the world who need it most.

Ways to Help continued… Raise awareness in your own community. Let people know that there is “a need for a re- examination of questions based on traditional ways of looking at people, their social dynamics, and their interactions with technology”. Research other ways to help!