[governance] ACCESS TO ICT/ INTERNET

[Taran Rampersad]

I believe all of this, and I have been called a 'digital divide
activist' on occasions - but the issue is really about connecting
people. I've found that when writing about the many things that are
wrapped in the flag of 'Digital Divide', it is better to speak to the
particulars instead of addressing all the meanings.

Internet access, or lack thereof, is still internet access. Access to
broadband is also an issue, and so forth.

Digital Solidarity is like Digital Empowerment or Digital Democracy
or... whatever. Digital is overused, the small 'e' in front of commerce
and government does nothing, etc. Dressing up the meat of the issue is
good, but when you drown the meat in condiments do not be surprised if
the palate only tastes the condiments. :-)

Norbert Bollow wrote:
> What I like about the term "digital divide" is precisely that it
> expresses this discontent with a situation in which those who are
> already disadvantaged unfairly become even more disadvantaged,
> _without_ implying a particular model for describing and trying to
> address the specifics of the problem.
>   
> I think that it's important to separate this emotional side of the
> issue from the needed scientifically fact-oriented processes for
> addressing it.
>
> I often put "digital divide" in quotation marks (as e.g. in the
> posting that you replied to, see below) in order to emphasize that I
> consider it an emotional term rather than a precisely-defined one.
>
> By contrast, "digital solidarity" is a term which totally fails to
> make this separation and which is therefore IMO totally unsuitable
> as a basis for any kind of fact-oriented discussion of the issues.
> Nevertheless "Digital Solidarity" would be a great name e.g. for an
> NGO aiming at promoting a particular set of solution strategies for
> "digital divide" problems.


-- 
Taran Rampersad

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

'Making Your Mark in Second Life: Business, Land, and Money'
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514174/

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla

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