Somehow or other I can’t seem to connect my blog to others! Is this an example of the digital divide or an example of the time it takes to develop fluency? Either way these are the kinds of digital experiences we tend to forget-we set up blogs, gmail accounts, online banking etc. and rush ourselves past the necessary set up mode in order to get to the desired functions.
Anyway, I finished the Wilhelm Digital Nation readings and it feels surprisingly current although published nearly four years ago. The book had a lot of resonance for me in how little we actually think about connecting to the internet, purchasing computers, and relying on the transfer of information without considering the infrastructure and the various deals being brokered both on the part of social conscience and business. Even with multiple examples of improvements that have filled in the digital divide or at least improved the quality of lives, the most compelling issue to me is that we (nationally) have not been able to achieve a viable model. Again, this is an easy issue to divorce yourself from as too politically or technically complex-far simpler to concentrate on personal use and needs until aspects of the digital divide close in. Privacy issues related to the surveillance of information we produce and transfer are much more likely to give rise to cooperative action from the public. Likewise, other incentives produced by governments will need to be tied to individual gain even if ultimate achievement will evolve from networks of communities.
Wilhelm illustrates both the positive and negative progression and uses education to demonstrate both. These are some of the points that made an impression on me:
Digital Nation by Anthony Wilhelm
- Citizens need to know that they need information and need to have the ability to locate it. p.20
- Other countries have identified human development, literacy, and education as critical to providing citizens who are informed and flexible. p.23
- Gates Foundation suggests that basic health and literacy must come before improved quality of life including technology. p. 28
- Access to the internet has become a U.N. human rights issue. p. 30
- Specific example of learning which appears to involve both the training of teachers and students involved in the UK program Not-School.net. p.33
- The diffusion of technology will take time, it took 83 years for telephone connections to most US households. p.35
- We are not savvy to the environmental concerns digital production poses which can be as harmful as some of the environmental savings brought by e-business. p. 39
- Memory gives life meaning, while technology and progress changes our lives, a digital nation must be prepared to know how to interpret new information and preserve the old. p.40.
- Great synopsis of Tip O’Neill’s genius in realizing that it is more effective to make economic arguments rather than moral ones. p. 41
- Social Justice does not necessarily conflict with efficiency-the difference principle allows for humans sharing each others fates. p.43
- Human-capital approach p.45
- Mill and Marx ideals of delivering humans from the drudgery of labor through the use of technology will allow them to have more free and fulfilling lives. But have we created more work, pressure,etc? p. 57
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights for a digital nation. p.61
- Texas schools and the telecommunications infrastructure regulation. p. 63
- Voter registration in Arizona-example of pro digital concept that was at first applied incorrectly. p. 69
- Internet divide provides unequal opportunity. p.70
- “..the issues of technology inequality and digital literacy became relevant only as legislators realized that if they wanted to change the relationship between government and citizens, then citizens had to be prepared to engage with their government on electronic terms.” p. 72
- Under the Bush administration funding for e-schools diminished and the federal government allowed states to reallocate funding for such schools to instead fund other educational needs. p. 81
- US government failure to deal with broadband. p. 83
- Charitable giving, by its nature, cannot be relied upon to build and sustain a digital nation. p. 85
- Economic divide may cause some to choose mobile phone service rather than traditional means which may lead to missing the chance for connection to an internet service provider. p.86
- The top down nature of investments is at odds with the bottom up community driven approaches p. 87
- Policies have addressed infrastructures, but not training (particularly teachers). p.89
- Wilhelm draws a good comparison between Andrew Carnegie’s investment in public libraries which were then taken up by the public, with the current challenge in implementing a digital nation. p.92-93
