The Digital Divide and the Transformation of Work Crystal Soo

What is the Digital Divide?  Economic and social inequality between groups of persons  Information and communication technology gap  More than access issue Information utilization and information receptiveness  An economic and civil rights issue  Overcoming the divide: Infrastructure Social media

Cybertech & Disabled Persons  36% of Britain’s disabled can access internet  Bulk of disabled in public service ie: IT systems, websites  Unite technological capacity growth and disabled Build accessibility in early stages  Disability Discrimination Act Beginning to raise issues in public sector regarding accessibility

Cybertech & Racism  Overt racism seems marginal in physical society  Racism exists in institutions, laws, and cultural assumptions  On the internet: a)Group polarization Racist opinions become more hardcore b)Getting noticed Loud and inflammatory opinions  Anonymity

Cybertech & Gender Issues  Cybertechnology  educate, inform, empower  Gender gap  disempowerment  Low and middle-income countries Women 21% less likely than men to own cellphone Women 37% less likely than men to own cellphone in South Asia  UN findings: Vote on priorities via paper, online, mobile Paper: split Online: split Mobile: split

Cybertech & Work  Nature of work  Communication Conference calls and chains  Challenging to get to know partners  Collaboration technology New way to work dynamic and global  Quality of work life  Evolve technology to make new way of working more human  Mobile work-from-home  Closer collaboration

Surveillance & Social and Ethical Issues  Privacy advocates worried over fine-grained, digital monitoring Lee Tien, senior staff lawyer: Companies have few legal obligations aside from informing Questions effectiveness of such monitoring  Ben Waber, Sociometric Solutions Privacy policy should deal with consumer issues AND workplace Workers can opt in to have aggregate statistics collected  Skeptics fear return of scientific management  Surveillance can motivate sales

References widens-the-gender-gap/ changed-workplace-communication/ sees-good-and-bad.html?_r=0