WS798: What is the digital divide?

The digital divide is a relatively new concept, emerging with the invention and widely growing use of the internet. The internet has grown by millions of users in just the past few years and it seems that everyone we know has an account on facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube, flickr, skype, or aol instant messanger. We use the internet for school (research, communication with professors or classmates, submitting assignments, registering for classes, etc), work (background checks, communication with our boss or co-workers, research, marketing tips, world, national, and local news, etc), and personal tasks (communication with friends and family, informal advice, how-to guides, quick recipes, online journals, entertainment, etc). If so many people have access to the internet and it is required for so many personal, educational and professional tasks in life, then what exactly is the digital divide, and who is affected? Put simply, the digital divide separates those people who have access to use the internet and those who do not, and people who have the knowledge required to use the internet from those who do not. Being a part of Western civilization, we assume that everyone has the luxury of using the internet because that is all we know. In fact, there are certain communities, and even whole countries, whose governments ban certain websites--like YouTube--or don't allow people access to the education required to use computers.

What can be done about the digital divide? To address the digital divide, it would take a lot of time and money that probably isn't available. It would be nice if computers could be made available to all children at a young age and incorporated into elementary education to provide knowledge of the technology. I also think all public libraries should provide their communities with access to computers and have staff on hand for troubleshooting. It would be ideal to somehow provide educators and technology to anyone who doesn't currently have access to them. For a lot of people, even if there aren't government restrictions, they have financial restrictions that prevent them from keeping up with the technological hype of our era. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to go to school, and not everyone can afford to buy a computer. Any solutions that I can think of are strictly ideal and would need a lot of unavailable resources to implement.

I do believe the digital divide to be a civil rights issue to an extent. I would say that civil rights are rights that are guaranteed to us. I suppose it can be argued that access to technology is a right that is guaranteed as long as we have the financial means, but it can also be argued that access to food and shelter is a right that is guaranteed as well, and not all people have that luxury either. Technology has become essential to our survival in our modern world and those of us who aren't afforded the luxury of its use get left behind. This is a huge issue because it prevents people from being able to attain certain jobs, communicate with certain people, complete certain tasks, etc. My aunt, who is currently in her sixties, has recently joined facebook, and has been sending me messages asking how to do what I think are simple tasks on her computer. If we grow up with the internet and are up to date on each new piece of technology, we assume that everyone else has that same knowledge until we are told otherwise. I really had to think twice when my aunt was asking how to upload a picture on facebook, how to use online banking, and whether or not searching on google costs money. These things are like common sense to me, but are completely foreign to someone who is new to the internet. My aunt only recently was afforded the luxury of having a computer in her home, but has not been educated on how to use it. I know how well off she is and seeing her so behind in this new age of technology makes me wonder where the rest of the world really is.

WS798: Revised Research Proposal

Revised Proposal:
After doing a little research and looking through articles, my revised proposal is pretty similar to my original one. In my paper I will define all terms I intend on using including the following list:
vlogging - video blogging, usually personal home videos posted on the internet for others to view on a regular posting schedule.
YouTube - the most popular video sharing website and home to many personal vlog channels and social communities.
symbolic interactionism - the theory that people will perform certain behaviors according to the perceived meanings of those behaviors, and the meanings are formed from social interaction and can be changed through interpretation.
looking-glass self - a tool for self reflection; people see themselves how they perceive others to see them.

I am still writing my paper with the assumption that, although vlogging may have begun as a private way to keep a video diary or track progress on a task, etc, it has evolved into a medium of communication and is currently the means by which many users interact on a daily basis and form personal relationships. Communities develop when a group of people create and view vlogs of interest and engage in discussions based on the vlogging topic. I think it is important to extract and observe the relationship between the vlogger and the viewer.

I also think it is important to survey the outcomes of vlogging--whether it weakens our already existing community (face-to-face interactions), enhances community (by creating space for online interactions and communities), or transforms the nature of community (a new definition incorporating online interaction with face-to-face interaction). I personally hypothesize that our world is always evolving and we must learn to adapt to new social situations; as technology becomes an integral part of social relationships, human social interactions and social communities will evolve to incorporate technology.

I realize that this topic may still be a bit broad and I am looking into making it more specific to one community, but this is just a general overview of what the specific topic will cover.


Annotated Bibliography:
Bell, Vaughan. "Online Information, Extreme Communities and Internet Therapy: Is the Internet Good for Our Mental Health?" Journal of Mental Health 16.4 (2007): 445-57. Print.

Bell's article is mostly focused on how the internet affects our mental health in general, but does go into specifics in certain sections. The section regarding internet therapy especially relates to my paper. Bell questions whether the internet can be used as a form of therapy for some users, especially those who may be dealing with extenuating circumstances. Bell introduces "extreme communities", which are used as support networks for people with a multitude of disorders. Extreme communities mentioned by Bell include pro-anorexia, pro-suicide, pro-amputation and likely-psychotic groups. Bell concludes that these communities are effective in helping some people and it may even be beneficial for mental health professionals to actually create online groups as a form of treatment and to provide additional resources to their patients.

Lange, Patricia G. Fostering Friendship Through Video Production: How Youth Use YouTube to Enrich Local Interaction. Proc. of International Communication Association Conference, San Francisco, California. 2007. Print.

Lange discusses the current debate of whether avid internet use weakens community, enhances community, or changes the nature of community. She states that while social networking sites, such as YouTube, connect people on a global level, they are also used to foster local relationships between users. Lange also argues that this form of media can be used to facilitate new social ties or enhance existing ties between people of one local area. Other scholars have argued that relationships that are created over the internet lack emotional cues and, therefore, create an inappropriate atmosphere for emotional exchanges. Vlogging, however, consists of personal videos created by vloggers, which allow for certain visual emotional cues to be disseminated. Lange also states that it is important not to ignore key social particulars that are crucial to understanding how interaction functions in specific contexts.

Lange, Patricia G. "Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13.1 (2008): 361-80. Print.

Lange pays particular attention to how YouTube users form social networks by creating and allowing access to their personal videos. Lange also studies the social relationships that are created among youth by sharing their videos online. As the title of the article suggests, public versus private content is brought into question. Lange describes "publicly private" behavior as "video makers' identities were revealed, but content was relatively private because it was not widely accessed" (Lange, 361), and describes "privately public" behavior as "sharing widely accessible content with many viewers, while limiting access to detailed information about video producers' identities" (Lange, 361). Lange suggests that membership in different social networks is determined by what content is made publicly private, or privately public.

Nardi, Bonnie A., Diane J. Schiano, and Michelle Gumbrecht. "Blogging as Social Activity, Or, Would You Let 900 Million People Read Your Diary?" (2004). Print.

The Nardi, Schiano, and Gumbrecht article reports the results of their study focusing on individual or small group-run blogs with limited audiences. They discuss different motivations for blogging, including in response to requests from their friends, as well as the relationship between the blogger and their audience. Some people leave comments on their friends' blogs and others post their response as a new entry in their own blog. This article is interesting in that the blogger-audience relationship is recognized and analyzed thoroughly. Nardi et al look at whether bloggers reply to comments, how long conversations can go on in the comments, whether the commenting on blogs is reciprocated, as well as who is "following" anothers blog. Nardi et al don't directly address vlogging (which is the focus of my paper), but they speak particularly on blogging. I am using information from this article to provide evidence of the benefits of online communities and relationships that can develop from posting a "diary" online--whether it is in video or text form.

Wesch, Michael. YouTube and You: Experiences of Self-Awareness in the Context Collapse of the Recording Webcam. Hampton Press, Inc., 2009. 19-34. Print.

Wesch's article most directly related to the original idea that I had for my paper. He explores how people use YouTube to experience both self-awareness and self-reflection. Wesch's article directly mentions vlogs (accounts of user's personal lives, short for video logs) and different outcomes or goals when users create, view, and respond to them. Wesch proposes that this process uses a symbolic interactionist framework, as it is globally connected and allows people to share their moments of self-reflection with others, creating community. The premise of the theory is that people will perform certain behaviors depending on the perceived meanings of those behaviors, and the meanings are formed from social interaction and can be changed through interpretation.

WS798: Alexis Pauline Gumbs: "We Are Not Machines!"

After leaving the event with Alexis, I found myself repeating her words, "We are not machines." The event really made me think about how sometimes (perhaps subconsciously) people think of themselves as a machine in terms of doing our day-to-day jobs, or as one part of a machine in terms of our purpose in the greater society. People get so wrapped up in power and capitalism that we begin to only see ourselves as having a purpose in completing an overall task. For example, the women in my sorority can be seen as each holding specific chair positions that are essential to the overall success of the sorority and if one woman is not doing her job, the rest of the sorority will suffer. This trivializes the raw beauty and natural essence that each woman possesses individually. People no longer see themselves as a strong body, energized and ready to play. We think of ourselves and one another as part of a mechanical whole, with only one task to complete.

Another concept that Alexis pushed was "information overload." From what I understand (and this might be a bit off), information overload refers to people being bombarded with information that may be conflicting or repetitive, but received from all around nonetheless. By receiving too much information it is difficult for people to make sense of it and understand it, and therefore not being able to provide an adequate response or make decisions. Making use of the internet, it is very easy to experience information overload, and that is exactly what new users are experiencing, whether it be youth or middle-aged folk who are being introduced to the internet for the first time.

I found it extremely refreshing to hear Alexis' point of view on this topic. She wasn't necessarily a guest speaker for our class, but I somehow felt she was speaking directly to our class because of the content in her presentation, and I felt it to be overwhelmingly related to the subject matter that we've been discussing throughout the semester.

WS798: Blog Holiday!

This week I'll be taking my blog holiday! :)