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Wednesday, December 28, 2005
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A Eurostat study says Europe has
digital divide... and these are interesting but not all that
surprising:"A gap remains between users and nonusers or between 'haves'
and 'have-nots'," according to Eurostat, the European Uniion's
statistics agency. The survey found that 85 percent of school or
university students aged 16 to 24 used the Internet, while only 13
percent of people aged between 55 and 74 went online during the survey.
The poll was conducted across the 25-nation EU between April and June
2004, questioning 204,029 people. No margin of error was given. Only 25
percent of those who had not completed high school used the Internet,
with the figure rising to 52 percent for those who attained a secondary
school diploma and to 77 percent for college or university graduates.
Only 40 percent of unemployed people used the Internet, compared to 60
percent of those with a job, the survey said. In total, average
Internet use across the EU stood at 47 percent. A similar U.S. survey
found Internet use in the United States in 2003 stood at 55 percent.
Eurostat said the low Internet use had several causes, including
"missing infrastructure or access; missing incentives to use
information and communications technologies; lack of the computer
literacy or skills necessary to take part in the information society."
The survey found that computer use and use of the Internet was highest
in the Nordic countries of Denmark (76 percent), Finland (70 percent),
and Sweden (82 percent), while the lowest rates were found in Greece
(20 percent).The statistics on Greece were a surprise. Maybe the Greeks
still talk to one another rather than going online...I'm thinking
positive cultural influences a la My Big Fat Greek Wedding....
"Only 40 percent of unemployed people used the Internet,
compared to 60 percent of those with a job, the survey said."
"The survey found that 85 percent of school or university students aged
16 to 24 used the Internet,
while only 13 percent of people aged
between 55 and 74 went online during the survey."
1:34:25 PM 
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Allen Shore writing for happynews.com
shares some less than happy news in his article, "Love'em and
squeeze'em: Charitable thoughts from the helping sector". The
technology gap also shows through in the Stanford review. Some 76
percent of nonprofits from the Bay Area have Web sites, compared to
fewer than 27 percent nationally. A recent commentary by another
nonprofit resource group, Npower, adds to this picture as well. It
asserted that while conventional businesses have a technical support
staff to operational staff ratio of 1:100 (down from 1:50 just a few
years ago), nonprofit organizations have a ratio of about 1:30 -
another squeeze on their resources, and an issue of concern as
technology becomes increasingly important. If ever there was a place
where students (and career changing professionals) interested in web
design and maintenance could plug-in and make a difference, the
non-profit sector is it. Sure, they can be demanding and difficult to
work with... but so too wil be some future paying client, so get over
it! Jump in there and help someone, you'd be amazed at how gratifying
the experience can be. (IMHO)...
If the citizen doesn't have the resources to find appropriate digital
services
and the local social service support providers don't have resources
either....
1:28:31 PM
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but the "customer" does not...
in this case, the customer suffers.
Self-imposed
digital divide
"After lagging the broader US
population in online usage, African Americans are starting to catch up.
A new report from eMarketer explains why. African-American Internet
users make up 10.5% of the total online population, according to
eMarketer. "But amid the good news, there is still frustration," says
Ms. Debra Aho Williamson, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of the
African Americans Online report. "Just 50% to 60% of African American
households have computers, versus 70% of white households. Though
African Americans are increasingly using the Internet at work, home
access is a strong driver of frequency of use." A greater concern,
however, is that the remaining lag in usage may also be self-imposed.
"The most worrying factor," says Ms. Williamson, "is that a large
percentage of African Americans don't appear to be interested in going
online, even if they have the money and education to do it." "Some of
the digital divide is self-imposed," Bruce Gordon, head of the NAACP,
told Businessweek in October 2005. "A computer and a DSL line don't
cost that much anymore. We need to convince more households to buy
computers and go online." It still bothers me that so much digital
divide publicity points to differences between blacks and whites.
Asians and Hispanics, just to name a few, are generally included in
national research but rarely included in publicised reports... I'm just
sayin'...
[ Generational
Gaps in Technology & the Digital Divide]
I left the blogger's editorialising in - that does not mean I agree.
The key value of this entry is the description of a particular group.
I suspect various groups are all over the place on this.
My larger concern is the general lag of senior citizens
and the impact on their ability to get appropriate services and
assistance.
1:20:51 PM
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Ok, I misremembered
I am ready for real 'news' about the
Digital Divide...the same studies from the Pew Internet and American
Life Project keep popping up in newspapers (as filler, I suppose). One
of the more recent comes from IndyStar.com: "Many hurt by digital
divide want to be there, study says".
If we depend solely upon the Pew statistics, "32% of american adults
remain unconnected from the Internet (narrowly defining what digital
divide means)." Let's expand that 32% of americans to see who is
missing out:
1. 15% of non-internet users live in a household with an internet
connection
2. 78% of people 70 years old and older are not using the internet
3. Blacks and those without high school education seem to lag behind
4. There is a group that is simply not interested (too busy)
5. Approximately 30% of the non-connected simply do not have access
available to them....
(above was reformatted for clarity)
1:07:39 PM
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the number of non-Internet surfers in the USofA is 22%
As a card carrying AARP member, it
still feels strange to hear that "Seniors struggle to cross the digital
divide". Oh, I understand the image. Blue hair-ed, bi-focal-ed,
bald-ed, and wrinkl-ed people simply do not fit the image of today's...
nearly all of that 22% are over 60.
12:51:46 PM
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Many in the "digital divide" biz are either focused on descrepancies
caused by geography or economic standing.
But as described here, there are other, more subtle divides - educating
the educator is one, educating the various professionals assisting the
educator.
Or assisting the healthcare provider, or... well anyone in a position
to bridge the divide.
There are all kinds of divides in this
country. When we talk about a digital divide there are many other
factors that create the problems we have.
Academic Gulf
...There is no substitute for going to
a good school. I hang out on the lists of some of the great schools. It
keeps me humble....
Learning Divide
Do we want kids to really love learning?
There is the divide between book
learning, and learning for the 21st century. We have to be idiots to
think that we can lock up kids in a school and make them learn without
the media. These children grew up in the media. We are the ones who
have to make adjustments. I will admit that I was one of those smarties
who read the book the first day. The reader. Remember those boring
texts, and who also finished the science book early. If we had one. I
think my imagination went a little wild with all the time I had....
A nine year old kid with an understanding of the use of a computer can
access more than the knowledge that is presented to teachers in some
schools of education. There is the problem of rich content and
meaningful content. Think Astronomy, Earth Science, Geography, Physics.
I really don't think people want the kids to learn these subjects.
Reading won't get it. We did not get to Mars reading a book.
But the Hubble is having its eyes put out and will not be financed.
Too bad.
Technologists vs Teachers
Teacher are responsible for content, technologists only need to know
that the machine works.
Technologist and teachers are still at different ends of the spectrum.
Some people give us really good tools. But there are barriers. There is
the fact that we are told how to teach and then measured for that.
There is the barrier of the interruptions in the classroom for any and
everything. Sometimes teachers feel like traffic cops, but maybe not,
since they have no authority. There is the barrier of permission. The
person in the school office, that administrator is the key to what you
can do. Ask me about it, I learned to move when I found myself in
danger. But there is nothing like being given tools that you don't have
enough information to use well or programs that help create a learning
environment in your paticular classroom. The expertise for content does
not always reside in a technologists. They don't have to teach....
I belong to the Digital Divide Network.
I am what some would call a seasoned teacher, and I love the classroom
action. I was surprised to see a recent college graduate create a space
devoted to digital divide for the classrooms. I joined....
The digital divide, the mental divide, racism, and the omission of
minority groups from technology, science, math and engineering is
something I have been working with for many years, in person, from
need, out of frustration and out of an attempt to explain to what I
call the "suits" that the digital divide still exists in America. In
many cases they send kids to the special classes during math and
science. The integrity of the classroom and the use of time deserves
its own special space.
The divide is not just colored by race. There are distant and rural
components. The state has some input, and even the E-rate use is
dependent on some skills of use, that is, to be able to apply there has
to be some resident knowledge. I had a friend who was very ill, who was
in charge of e-rate submission, who was insistent on dictating his
work from a hospital bed, though he was deathly ill. It was because it
can all be so complicated. The funding is also so needed that it has
become a priority for the continuation of the use of technology in poor
areas.Many poor schools had no knowledge of how to get funded for
e-rate . It is more than a tad complicated.
I also was in a school in rural Kentucky where "Baby Turn me Over "was
the technology application that the community had invested in.
The rate of pregnancies make this technology application very
desirable as a predictor for young mothers and fathers.
There are schools who have grant writers, and school systems who have
these people who create grant funding opportunities. This is not the
case for a lot of schools. Teachers, administrators, and community
workers have a lot to do, and time to teach, and time to be more
involved with technology is not a given. In fact, a teacher I know said
to me, " It is four o'clock, and I am going home, I don't get paid for
overtime, and I will get the same salary as you!" The point here is
that there are some schools where if you want the grant you write it.
If you get the permission.
In the beginning, technology is a time sink....
Beyond The Web Page
There was a time when we talked about knowing technology , if you could
create a web page. So there were lots of classes that were given on
creating web pages. That is a time sink, but ptobably a necessary
understanding. So all the kids can make a web page.. then wha? I think
you start with content.
Content
Content is , to me, the king. There is a lot of cost involved in being
a
person helping students to construct knowledge. Because of budgetary
constraints, many books are bought on a ten year cycle.
If we thought the book was the basis of knowledge.. and many people do,
even over that time, the book should not stand alone as the basis of
knowledge.
Getting Help
I happen to be of color, and have been burned in the crucible. I have
been told no so often, for various and sundry reasons, that I could be
portrayed as a yo-yo in animation. I am sure that to many people I am a
nuisance. What I learned to do, was to change schools, or create a
space for myself with national training, or to spend every summer, in
some kind of a training.
Then were the Eisenhower Grants, and so there were also the
courses that allowed me to learn.
At first, the training was for science and math. In the schools that I
went to , we had these subjects for teachers and they were not robust.
Even the pure sciences were amended and changed to be for teachers.
That means, Physics for Teachers.. not physics. Those of us that did
not go to "quality' schools have to run to catch up in many cases to
just be on the academic levels of the schools of choice.
I worked in a very comfortable suburban community where we seemingly
had most of everything. But I knew that it depended on the community
and the local principal, as well as the school board permission. What
often helped was to be able to demonstrate what it was that you were
doing in ways that made it difficult to say no to a teacher embracing
technology.
I say that because there were always the people who were in charge of
us as teachers and who made choices in the way of tools, technology and
curriculum. There was also a subgroup of "teachers" the favorites, who
were on these little committees that make the choices sometimes of
textbooks, and tools. How to get to be one of those teachers , if you
wanted that was a matter of the leadership in the school, how old the
current 'expert" in the school was, and
if you could wedge in something on your own. I chose grants as
permission to do something different.
I liked looking at Emily's exercise in a class where they looked at
software. I liked thinking that she had permission to think about
software without the kiss of the local administration. Can you tell
that
I don't think that the committees work?
So I am encouraged by the start of this community. Of course, there are
only a few of us. I hope that we will have more community in this
project. I intend to link it to the SITE conference in Phoenix as a
different example of learning community.
In medieval times, the scripters, the
careful monks who painstakingly copied books, held most of written
knowledge in their hands. In those Dark Ages, very few were privileged
to be a part of the sharing of knowledge. Even after the invention of
the printing press, the movement of ideas was based on a person's
ability to read and to have access to books. During the time it took
for literacy to increase and books to become affordable, the town crier
played a key role in disseminating information.
Many teachers without technology are not far removed from those
primitive ways of communicating. Many of us are still using books for
our basic teaching and our voices for delivering the instructional
program. Moving from chalk, talk, and book to technology requires a
transformation of our teaching. That will require ongoing support --
financial, technical, and human.
The results with our students more than justify these investments. No
teacher involved in the exploration, evaluation, excitement, and
individualization of technology as a tool in learning can fail to see
the effects on students.
What
skill sets will be most important to the next generation of journalists?
Let's assume that the war between
journalists and bloggers (citizen/volunteer journalists) will end some
day. Electronic media delivery will evolve into something that we may
not yet understand...but some students in higher education are
preparing themselves for the work force every semester without a clue
as to real world expectations. In terms of technology, what kinds of
skills do you believe will be most important for the next generation of
professional journalists? Should they know, understand, and actively
engage the blogosphere? Will they be expected to capture and deliver
digital images? Do they need experience in audio recording for
podcasting purposes? Will video capture and editing become something
that is needed in a journalist's tool box? Is there a need for
understanding online discussion ( interviewing) whether that be
synchronous or asynchronous? What role will the technologies of social
networking systems play? This is not a quiz. Your answers will not
affect your final grade. Your responses will not be held against you in
journalism court. Relax, tell me what you think, please....
[ Generational
Gaps in Technology & the Digital Divide]
12:24:08 PM
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There are many groups working on "digital divide" issues.
These efforts can cross-pollinate what works.
Some examples:
for those inclined to social action:
Welcome
to the Digital Divide Network!
"The Digital Divide Network is the
Internet's largest community for
educators, activists, policy makers and concerned citizens working to
bridge the digital divide."
Note that these organizations provide guidance in the digital divide
issues that can cross-pollinate to other focal groups.
Technology
.. What we need to know?
"The lack of familiarity with
technology has given rise to a number of
misconceptions. For example, most people think that technology is
little more than the application of science to solve practical
problems. They are not aware that modern technology is the fruit of a
complex interplay between science, engineering, politics, ethics, law,
and other factors. People who operate under this misconception have a
limited ability to think critically about technology[~]to guide the
development and use of a technology to ensure that it provides the
greatest benefit for the greatest number of citizens. Another common
misconception is that technology is either all good or all bad rather
than what people and society make it. They misunderstand that the
purpose for which we use a technology may be good or bad, but not the
technology itself. Realistically, every technology will be more
advantageous for some people, animals, plants, generations, or purposes
than for others"
Because few people today have direct, hands-on experience with
technology, technological literacy depends largely on what people learn
in the classroom, particularly in elementary and secondary school.
This information comes from a document from the National Academy of
Sciences that few people probably have ever seen.
The whole book is on line for your perusal and learning.
http://www.nap.edu/execsumm/0309082625.html
Bonnie Bracey [ Chalk
and Technology Talk..Creating Learning Landscapes]
CivicSpace
My DDN blog has been pulling feeds from
my site, so some of you may have noticed that I've been writing a lot
about content management systems recently, particularly CivicSpace and
Drupal.
I thought I'd post here to provide a general introduction to the idea
of a CMS, and to outline some of the reasons I think every nonprofit
should be considering a move to Drupal for a website management system.
To begin with, CMS = "Content Management System". For more information
on what a CMS is, visit my page on Nonprofit CMS.
A CMS like Drupal, or its big brother CivicSpace, is designed to do one
thing (and to do it well)...seperate content from technology. This
means that the content provider for a nonprofit no longer needs to send
content to a technologist (normally a highly-paid website designer /
developer) who then becomes responsible for that content appearing on
the web...with a CMS, the technologist merely handles the initial
installation, and not much more. The content creator has the ability to
enter new content, edit existing pages, and even design new kinds of
pages...all without requiring an education in website development. The
system handles everything technological in the background....
[ Dave
Chakrabarti's Blog]
The George Lucas Educational
Foundation, has created some professional development modules, that are
designed to help teachers explore teaching ideas.
These free teaching modules were developed by education faculty and
professional developers. They can be used as extension units in
existing courses, or can be used independently in workshops and
meetings.
Each module includes articles, video footage, PowerPoint®
presentations, and class activities. They draw from the wealth of
GLEF's archives of best practices and correlate with ISTE/NCATE NETS
standards.
These are the existing resources:
Innovative Classrooms
- Project-Based Learning
- Assessment
- Technology Integration
- Technology Integration: Language Arts & Social Studies
- Technology Integration: Math & Science
- Exploratory Learning with a Digital Microscope
- Project-Based Learning, An Integral Approach: CSI
- Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Educational Leadership
- View of the Principal and the Job
- Teacher Supervision & Development
http://www.glef.org/foundation/courseware.php
There are many other resources on the site that extend learning.
9:54:45 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Russ Savage.
Last update: 1/15/06; 7:33:27 AM.
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