The Digital Divide

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The Digital Divide

• Dissenting Arguments
• By
• Ife Afolayan, Jackie Eisner, Farayi Mafoti, Youyi
  Hwang

2
Position

• The public should not subsidize computer and/or
  Internet access for underserved areas and
  communities.

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Response to Affirmatives

• Poverty Argument
• Their Argument Subsidizing digital technology
  for under severed areas will reduce poverty.
• Our Argument
• - Providing digital technology/internet access to
  under served communities does not address the
  root cause of poverty and inequality. Money
  should be spent addressing the more immediate
  concerns of education, access to public
  healthcare, proper nutrition, housing, and
  unemployment.

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Response to Affirmatives

• Economic Argument
• Their Argument The digital divide prohibits
  already poverty stricken countries from competing
  in the increasingly digital national and global
  economy.
• Our Argument
• Capitalism We live in a capitalistic society and
  therefore it would be impossible for us to
  operate under a completely equal and socialist
  global market. The global market system would
  completely collapse if some inequality did not
  exist.
• Not all world economies necessarily need to be
  connected to the larger global (digital) economy
  in order to function or sustain themselves.

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Response To Affirmatives

• Terrorism Argument
• Their Argument There is a correlation between
  communities left in the Internet-Technology boom
  and terrorism
• Our Argument
• Allowing so many new users on the internet with
  access to new technologies may increase hacking
  and or/ identity theft.
• We are not contending that people in poorer
  communities are likely to commit identity theft.
  However there is evidence of this occurring.
• Case in Tula, Russia A group of poor students
  became notorious computer hackers. Russian
  economist William Knowles in a statement
  concerning the Russian economic crisis and how it
  leads people to hacking and piracy stated think
  of poor people in (the central city of) Tula,
  students who have no prospects, then you can
  understand why (they turn to hacking and software
  piracy).

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Response to Affirmatives

• Terrorism Argument Continued
• With their limited knowledge of internet
  security, individuals from underserved/poorer
  communities might become easy targets for
  parasites.
• Unfortunately ,privacy and anonymity also can be
  exploited to facilitate unwanted and undesirable
  computer-aided activities in cyberspace, such as
  money laundering, drug trading, terrorism, or
  preying upon the vulnerable (Marx, Gary T.(2001)
  "Identity and Anonymity Some Conceptual
  Distinctions and Issues for Research"). 
• So, in a sense, terrorist acts might be
  PERPETUATED by subsidizing internet access.
• Can the other side present an argument that
  proves that there is cost effective, expedient
  way to inculcate underserved people around
  theglobe with knowledge about keeping their
  technologies safe and secure?

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Response to Affirmatives

• Inequality Argument
• Their Argument Lack of computer/internet
  technology foments socioeconomic inequalities
• Our Argument
• The increasing prevalence and usage of
  computers/computer technology in our society is
  in and of itself a growing cause of inequality.
• Low skilled workers are losing their jobs to
  computers/being given lower wages while computer
  technicians/specialists/developers and others in
  lucrative computer professions are experiencing
  increases in their wages as the demand for
  digital technology and computer skill increases.
• Katz, Lawrence. Technological Change,
  Computerization, and Wage Structure. Harvard
  University The National Buruea of Economic
  Research. 1999.

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Dissenting Arguments
9
The Implementation of Programs to Provide Digital
Services is Not Feasible

• What does lessening the divide mean? Giving
  households their own computer and dedicated
  broadband access 24 hours a day?
• How are we defining underserved areas and
  communities?
• In other words, how can we impartially establish
  a basis to provide for people who are in need of
  internet access and computational services in
  general?
• Superficially "undeserved" can mean the poorer
  neighborhoods in cites, but how about villages in
  the middle of Africa or China? Farmers/herders
  in many rural areas may not have not much use
  for the Internet and computers. Apart from
  entertainment, they are less likely to make use
  of these technologies to the fullest potential.

Pendent\ Asking the supporters to claify their
argument first. What does lessening the divide
mean? Giving households their own computer and
dedicated broadband access 24 hours a day? What
does gt underserved areas and communities mean?
In other words, how can we impartially establish
a basis to provide for people who are in need of
internet access and computational services in
general? Superficially "undeserved" can mean the
poorer neighborhoods in cites, but how about
villages in the middle of Africa or China?
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The Implementation of Programs to Provide Digital
Services is Not Feasible

• There is no cost effective way to provide
  services to all under served areas.
• Infrastructure has to be set up, computers will
  have to be built/maintained, people will have to
  be trained to become computer literate.
• The costs of man hours, infrastructure and
  technology would be huge and is unlikely to be
  feasible.
• Given the limited bandwidth now, it is
  questionable if the Internet would be able to
  support the increased traffic.
• In other words, our opponents are arguing the
  benefits of an egalitarian global market without
  giving suggestions as to how it will be made
  possible.

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Technological Determinism is Faulty Logic

• "Technological Determinism"- a concept often
  endorsed by proponents of the digital divide is
  based on the idea that "the mere presence of
  technology leads to familiar and standard
  applications of that technology which in turn
  bring about social change".
  ?
• Warschauer, Mark. "Demystifying the Digital
  Divide." Scientific America Aug    2003, Vol.
  289 Issue 2, p42, 6p, 2c.

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Technological Determinism Continued

• The mere presence of computers will not generate
  learning or development. Without proper
  instruction, their presence can actually be
  counter productive.
• An overemphasis on hardware with scant
  attention paid to the pedagogical and curricular
  frameworks that shape how the computers are used
  is common in educational technology projects
  throughout the world.
• Technology must be considered within a specific
  context that includes hardware, software, support
  resources, infrastructure, as well as people in
  various roles and relationships with one another
  and with other elements of the system. And the
  technology and social system continuously shape
  each other, like a biological community and its
  environment.
• Warschauer, Mark. "Demystifying the Digital
  Divide." Scientific America Aug    2003, Vol.
  289 Issue 2, p42, 6p, 2c.

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Case Study

• IN 1999 THE MUNICIPAL government of New Delhi, in
  collaboration with the Indian National Institute
  of Information Technology, launched an experiment
  to provide computer access to children in one of
  the city's poorest areas. They set up set up an
  outdoor kiosk with several computer stations. The
  computers, with dialup Internet access, were
  inside a locked booth, but the monitors,
  joysticks and buttons stuck out through holes and
  were accessible. In line with a concept known as
  minimally invasive education, the test included
  no teachers or instructors.
• The program did not yield the type of results
  that were expected Internet connection seldom
  functioned. The architecture of the kiosk--based
  on a wall instead of a room--made instruction or
  collaboration difficult. Over the nine-month
  duration of the experiment, the youngsters did
  indeed learn how to manipulate the joystick and
  buttons. But without educational programs and
  with the content primarily in English rather than
  Hindi, they mostly did what you might expect
  played games and used paint programs to draw.
  Neighborhood parents felt ambivalent. Several
  embraced the initiative, but most expressed
  concern about the lack of organized instruction.
  Some even complained that the computer was
  detrimental. "My son used to be doing very well
  in school," one parent said, "but now he spends
  all his free time playing computer games at the
  kiosk, and his schoolwork is suffering." In
  short, the community came to realize that
  minimally invasive education was, in practice,
  minimally effective education.
• Warschauer, Mark. "Demystifying the Digital
  Divide." Scientific America Aug    2003, Vol.
  289 Issue 2, p42, 6p, 2c.

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Education

• The introduction of computers and computer based
  technologies to underserved areas is useless
  without the proper technical training to go with
  it.
• If the government is to subsidize internet
  services to poor communities, it must also
  provide them with the background needed to
  utilize these technologies the process of
  subsidizing becomes more arduous and less cost
  effective when the government not only has to
  provide the services, but also has to make sure
  that people have the competence to use these
  services in order to better themselves and their
  communities.

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Not Everyone Wants, Needs, or Uses Internet and
Computer Technology

• "A little under one-third of U.S. households have
  no Internet access and do not plan to get it,
  with most of the hold-outs seeing little use for
  it in their lives, according to a new survey.
  Park Associates, a Dallas-based technology market
  research firm, said 29 percent of U.S.
  households, or 31 million homes, do not have
  Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to
  an Internet service over the next 12 months"
  (Reuters).
• People use computers for different things and in
  different capacities and many people do not use
  computers at all.
• There are millions in our country alone that are
  unwilling to acquire Internet services. Even if
  these people are somehow persuaded that Internet
  use is to their benefit, do we have the bandwidth
  to support this?
  ?
• Reuters Article CNN.com ? http//www.cnn.com/2007
  /TECH/internet/03/26/internet.holdouts.reut/index.
  html

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Bandwidth

• Europe, a continent comprised of many developed
  nations, is suffering from limited connectivity
  and is having problems ensuring that all of its
  constituent users are getting the Internet access
  that they're paying for. Is it not reasonable to
  assume that a developing nation would suffer more
  from these issues, given its lack of
  infrastructure and technological advancement.
• Can we even establish dependable servers in these
  nations if more developed nations are struggling
  with this issue? Moreover, given the limited
  bandwidth now, it is questionable if the Internet
  would be able to support the increased traffic.
• Eisner, Adam. Placing Blame For Europes Limited
  Bandwidth. Web Host Industry News
  lthttp//www.thewhir.com/features/placingblame.cfmgt
  

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Too Much Government Intervention

• A general problem with government subsidies is
  that people tend to become dependent on them.
  This has often been the case with welfare
  programs, Medicaid (to an extent), and other
  forms of governmental aid. As a developed nation,
  we must be able to provide for people until they
  are able to provide for themselves. How can the
  government provide internet access in a manner
  that encourages these poorer communities to
  continue utilizing it without governmental
  intervention?

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The Digital Divide is Closing

• Sufficient evidence exists that the digital
  divide is decreasing.
• By 2000 public schools in the US had roughly 1
  computer for every 4 students.
• Almost all schools are connected to the internet
  as were about ¾ of classrooms.
• Computers are becoming cheaper which makes them
  accessible to more people.
• As technology becomes more prevalent in society,
  it becomes more accessible in public spaces so
  even though a person may not be able to afford a
  computer in their own home, they can access
  computers in public spaces such as internet
  cafés, schools, and public libraries.
• Warschauer, Mark. "Demystifying the Digital
  Divide." Scientific America Aug. 2003, Vol. 289
  Issue 2, p42, 6p, 2c. http//web.ebscohost.com/eho
  st/ delivery?vid3hkd14sid

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THE END