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DIGITAL DIVIDE AND EQUITY

       If we  don't take care of the disparities they could grow into bigger gaps as the reliance on technology will continue to grow, and without dealing with this disparities or coming up with other solutions it could leave those with lower SES in the dust. An article on the pros and cons of the divide by Steel, C, mentioned that “the digital divide widens the separation between people.. Poor and with extended further” (Steele, 2018). I completely agree with Steel. For example, take something as simple as the news, while it starts changing over to live feeds on websites and onto communicative technologies, how will the people who can't afford all the access know or be informed on what's going on in the world? The rich will continue to grow in education and knowledge that will be essential to live, while those who can’t afford access to the internet may keep getting further and further behind. It is the way people communicate. I hear people mention memes and refer to them and I’ve seen it bring groups of people together when they all understand what the person is mentioning, and the people who do not understand are not involved That is just a small scale example but I think could be used for bigger scales such as the economy.

      Digital divide is explained by Danica Radovanovic as a new divide in “opportunities in experience of education, social, economic, and political life,” and it being due to such things as lower SES communities and not having high speed internet. She mentions that connectivity and access are necessary to keep up with as it is a constantly growing community with a new messaging app arising every month (Radovanovic, 2011). I would agree with Danica Radovanovic, the digital divide is a difference in how people can access, connect, and understand technology. Without constant access to informational and social technology in a world that is starting to revolve around it more and more, the divide between those who gain knowledge about society's growing economy, politics and general communication as simple as memes and those who are completely out of it. College classes are necessary to have a stable connectivity as that is where grades and assignments are due, even outside of the classroom, and those who can’t afford it can suffer with grades if they can’t access the resources they need.

       Digital equity defined by NDIA was explained as, “ a condition in which all individuals and communities have the technical capacity for full participation in our society democracy, politics , and economy. It is necessary for civic/cultural participation, employment, and lifelong learning” (NDIA, 2019). I would agree with the way that the world is going, with our President Tweeting, having instant access to an article 10 minutes after an event and live streaming from multiple sources, instead of waiting for the television news to catch on and waiting until their air time comes on to get knowledge of ongoing events. It is necessary if one wants to keep up with the world and the direction it is going technologically. However, when INDIA said “our society and democracy,” I would argue that it might be important for all societies to an extent to have access and connectivity, but that it isn’t essential if they choose not to. There are older adults that live comfortably on a lake and have their small communities that live off their own livestock and gardens that don’t use much technology other than their ways of transportation and a phone to communicate with family. If that is what someone is comfortable with and it isn’t interfering with society I don’t think it would be necessary to push technology into their life. If a community's preferred lifestyle is to be disconnected and they have the resources they need to live, I do not think it is necessary for complete equity. However for the younger generations especially starting with millennials, times are changing, and for future life long learning and access to services and to participate in a vast majority of cultures and places it will be necessary. Life will heavily or completely rely on communication and information technology and will be crucial to have full technical capacity for all.

       The term digital divide and equity are related to one another because they both view importance on how much is done online, every aspect of life can be enhanced by having unlimited knowledge from the internet and being able to communicate through it. Both are trying to close the gap of divide and create equal access. Stable access to information and communication technology could help create equity and close the divide. Gonzales, Calarco & Lynch explained that both could be possible by “achieving access, sustaining access, and coping with disconnection”(Gonzales, Calarco, & Lynch, 2018)  Once access is stable making sure not to much of an intake where it becomes a distraction to daily life as well is also important. However, colleges could work on providing coping with disconnection. Gonzales, Calarco, and Lynch also mentioned the issue of maintenance of keeping up with technology breaking or data being an issue, especially those of a lower socioeconomic status. If colleges provided all access maintenance, wifi libraries, and easy transportation to these services. This could lead to creating a closer to equal technological society. 

Other Useful Articles on information on why we need the digial equity act could be found here,

https://medium.com/@PattyMurray/why-we-need-the-digital-equity-act-bce13eed8345

As well as information on the quarter of the nation without broadband, which is a digital divide

https://time.com/4718032/the-digital-divide/

 References:

 Gonzales, A. L., Calarco, J. M., & Lynch, T. (2018). Technology Problems and Student Achievement Gaps: A Validation and Extension of the Technology Maintenance Construct. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218796366

 NDIA, Definitions. (2019, April 16). Retrieved July 22, 2019, from 

https://www.digitalinclusion.org/definitions/

 Radovanovic, D. (2011, December 14). Digital Divide and Social Media: Connectivity Doesn't End the Digital Divide, Skills Do. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://blogs.scientifi

camerican.com/guest-blog/digital-divide-and-social-media-connectivity-doesnt-end-the-d

digital-divide-skills-do/

 Steele, C. (2018, December 17). The Pros and Cons of Digital Divide (Advantages & Disadvantages). Retrieved July 22, 2019, from http://www.digitaldividecouncil

.com/digital-divide-the-pros-and-cons/

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DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND DIGITAL LITERACY. WHAT ARE THEY? AND HOW TO IMPLEMENT BOTH.

       Digital Literacy is about knowing how to navigate social media and understanding others and how it is used to utilize it. Digital citizenship is how oneself uses social media and the decisions that impact one's well being. Such as understanding what is being consumed online whether it is trustworthy or whether it makes people feel good. Digital citizenship is also understanding how to create content that is worthwhile and trustworthy as well. Digital literacy is understanding media and the diversity of others that are on it and how to communicate and collaboration with others, while digital citizenship is about having the content be in a positive manner for the common good and beneficial consequences. Literacy helps us understand how to use citizenship for the good.

        According to Barbra Bray and Kathleen McClaskey, digital literacy is not just about reading text  it also involves content which includes writing in digital format (Bray & McClaskey). This goes with what I mentioned before how to navigate through social media and understand but also being able to communicate and write. Whether it is in tweet form, blog, or instant messaging. Bray and Mcklaskey then describe digital citizenship as the norms of using technology as well as what is appropriate and responsible behavior (Bray & McClaskey). The key is to citizenship is appropriate and responsible while online. Respecting others but they didn’t seem to mention how to make it a positive impact which I believe is a very important part. Digital literacy is what one understands of what is appropriate or not; digital citizenship is to use the knowledge of what is appropriate to post content that hopefully has a positive impact on others online in the community.

        Nate Green in his article about teaching #DigCit and #DigLit says,

“The key to helping students make good decisions online is to mentor them in their spaces and allow them to pursue their interests” (Green).

Which I believe is a great way to incorporate learning. For adults and kids, going to a workshop per se and learning about how to use online while not being online, or even learning about sites that they may not even use would not be helpful The best way to go about it is teaching where they already are in the online world. Even in job fore, having specific guidance of digital literacy and citizenship among what media bases are used within the job. Green suggests identifying interests, modeling how to set it up, encourage creating and sharing, and practicing what you preach (Green). This shows how to encourage and support both digital citizenship and literacy. To model how to set up a social media account, how it is used, and the quirks to it which he mentioned all contains digital literacy of understanding. To encourage creating and sharing and practicing what you preach in a respectable way is digital citizenship. This could work with all ages, whether it is an account for a company or kids in school starting social media. 

Other Useful Articles/Videos:

Developing digital literacy skills 

      - https://www.webwise.ie/teachers/digital_literacy/

Common Sense Digital Citizenship Video

      - https://www.commonsense.org/education/video/digital-citizenship

Turning digital natives into digital citizens

      - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6cS9uR1NRA

Articles mentioned:

Green, N. (2019, March 12). Teaching #MediaLit and           

        #DigCit? Start with social media: ISTE International Society for Technology 

        in Education. Retrieved July 12, 2019, from           

        https://www.iste.org/explore/digital-and-media-literacy/Teaching-#MediaLit-

        and-#DigCit?-Start-with-social-media

Bray, Barbara & Kathleen McClaskey (2017, February 13). Digital Literacy and 

            Digital Citizenship. Retrieved July 12, 2019, from

            http://www.personalizelearning.com/2017/02/digital-literacy-and-digital-

             citizenship.html

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Social Media & Participatory Culture

Participatory Culture in social media creates culture and collaboration. Social media allows for people to have a common space with many people with similar or different interests and lives outside of it. Therefore access to an array of people and opportunities are at the click of a finger. Participatory culture comes in when people do take that opportunity and collaborate with others in similar interests or even different. Communicating, creating for a cause such as ‘Black Lives Matter’, keeping each other updated and one may do art for an online magazine while another writes articles and the next takes photos. That’s just a couple of examples that participatory culture can look like.

What motivates to participate online with others is when I have a strong opinion on it, if it seems relevant to me, or simply if it is just interesting. With this course I have engaged with people outside of it discussing psychological concepts. For example, I tweeted back to a psychology account that shared a link about taking information in and not putting it into use and how I thought it was important to use the information you have. Someone responded to the tweet saying that it was not necessary to know in depth or broadly that it was important to know where to turn. This conversation around the psychology culture and discussion started to engage after one tweet. Before this course, I was really interested in people’s photography and I liked the aesthetic of pictures they took. I dm’d a few and they asked if I wanted to be in some of their photoshoots. I started to do photoshoots for fun and collaborate with new ideas to capture and getting involved in the art community even though I never viewed myself as an “artsy” person. I was intrigued by others art and reached out telling my support and love for it, and soon after I became apart of it. Participatory culture can lead to things and growth a person may have never thought they could be involved in.

My experience and definition is supported and in the view of the readings we did. Jenkins definition explained social as potential communal activities. Such as I said access to a common space online to share and engage in participatory culture. Jenkins explain participatory as enhancing human collaboration, which I completely agree on. I was in the participatory culture by engaging in tweets to the psychologist account then responding to people who responded to me and expanding on concepts or thoughts. I did this before without knowing it collaboration with artists who I liked online. I watched youtube videos which helped me gain knowledge on how to model, which reminds me of the reading Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture.

In the section of Enabling Participaction, the authors Jenkins, Purushotma, Clinton, Weigel, and Robison mentioned how it is easier to transition from leadership roles online in sims to doing it in real life rather than transitioning from seeing it on tv and doing it. With tutorials online I was able to practice capturing and my angles that would look good or that were in their style, seeing myself do it first on camera, lead me to e able to do it in person with the artist that I reached out to. This happened when I was exploring how to paint, I watched a Bob Ross Netfli episode and went along and painted something I would have never been able to, of course it wasn’t as good as his, but it was better than I would have ever done without his help. This was also mentioned in the same reading how people in a culture can have different or more little parts involved in it. Such as Bob Ross being the leader and teacher, and me learning from him how to do it even if it's not as well. Learning how to express myself and understand others’ work in a different way.

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Much research about social media and teens has been done by the Common Sense Media as well as studies and surveys with adults have been done through Pew Research Center. What their results revealed about teen’s and adults’ experiences with social media is that the usage of social media is more prevalent in younger ages as well as the effects. The current surveys compared to 2014 showed that teens were less likely favor face to face conversation over texting today when it use to be the other way around. Adults tend to use Facebook more but not to  be as emotionally involved as over half them claimed it would not be hard to delete social medias. However, teens showed both positive and negative effects. Some of the positive effects for teens were that they felt less lonely, less depressed, more confidence in self, and popularity. However, the more usage more effects such as anxiety occurred if more emotional investment was put into their social media. The ones that felt more likely to delete their posts, accounts, and feel bad about themselves if they didn’t get enough likes were associated with low social and emotional well being (SEWB). Overall the effects from self surveys that the teens took were more positive. Social media as Aims Mayrock said, is “social currency,” however their social media they interact with will have a big effect even when in person. For minor example, perhaps a teens parents doesn’t allow them online, and all the kids at school could be talking about a viral meme or video and they would have no idea and feel left out. Even if someone feels alone at school, finding a community via Twitter or Instagram can gain a whole support group and automatically less alone. I found it interesting that teens were finding face to face less desirable, and the idea that maybe it’s to avoid being shy or anxious. I could see down the road the phone being all that people know. Right now, me included, had parents to show us different and who had to communicate face to face growing up. So when this generation grows up having known face to face and social media mixed together will also expose our children to it. But teens who constantly use and find more comfort in virtual world, and have been exposed to social media since they were able to get a hold of the technology may be able to succeed in life without having to have much face to face. Maybe later on if they have kids, that could be all their kids will know and so on and so forth. As well as teens saying it has more positive effects, they feel less lonely, less depressed, and more confident... is face to face even necessary? I personally would like to know face to face would continue on as only online connections don’t feel as “real” but it could become the new normal. If teens feel better with online presence and media and with technology advancing at a fast pace, it makes me wonder if this will be our future or just a phase.

Daniela De Los Rios