Grown up Digital summary

Grown Up Digital is Don Tapscott’s follow up to his 1997 book Growing Up Digital. The book is directed toward older generations like the Baby Boomers and Generation X, and aims to help them understand and accept what Tapscott calls the Net Generation (Net Gen). Anyone born between 1977 and 1997 is a member of the Net Gen, or someone who has grown up in a digital world.

Tapscott believes that older generations have a negative view of the Net Gen and that it stems from a digital and generational gap. He argues that growing up digital and using technologies like the internet, cell phones, and Web 2.0 makes the Net Gen fundamental different from previous generations. If given the chance, Tapscott predicts the Net Generation will make unprecedented and largely positive changes to society using digital tools.

The book is separated into three sections. The first section introduces the Net Generation and highlights how they are different from previous generations using eight characteristics or norms. Some examples of these norms are; the desire of freedom in choice and expression, wanting to customize and personalize, demanding of integrity and openness, and the desire to collaborate. Tapscott uses these eight norms to show the motivations behind the changes that the Net Geners are bringing to education and the workforce.

The second section of the book details some of these changes, along with changes to family values and consumerism. One of the changes to education Tapscott advocates is the move from teacher orientated (lecture) teaching toward a more student orientated one, a style focusing on student input and collaboration. Some workplace changes by the Net Gen include having fun, a desire for speed, and a work anywhere attitude. Tapscott argues that institutions like education and business will need to change and adapt to these new styles of work and learning or they will fall behind and cause further harm to society.

The final section explains how the Net Gen will transform society by changing the way governments operate and taking social causes to a global scale. Tapscott uses examples like Obama’s presidential campaign, Facebook, and TakingItGlobal as proof that the Net Generation has changed politics and citizen engagement. Tapscott believes the Net Generation can use Web 2.0 tools and networks to bring about positive changes quicker and globally.

The tone of the book is overwhelmingly positive, and in favor of all the changes the author feels the Net Gen is bringing to society. Tapscott debunks the majority of the criticisms against Net Geners using his own research and examples. Most of his examples are specific Net Generation success stories.

Korean Blogger Acquitted

Beyond the types of divides we have generally encountered in this class, a given nation's or political state's policy environment governing use of the Internet can also constitute an additional locus of digital divides. In South Korea, the government recently levied a case against a 31-year old unemployed self-taught financial blogger, whom they accused of spreading malicious rumors about the impending global economic collapse. In this hyper-capitalist society in which credentials and education are often considered prerequisites to being taken seriously, the anonymous blogger caused a major stir and created a large following by questioning the state's economic policies and moves to protect the state currency. For these activities, Park Dae-sung was arrested - and from the looks of it, the arrest had much more to do with his criticisms of the government than it did with illegal activity. Read a summary of the case and Park's acquittal at the Washington Post.

Digital Disability summary

Digital Disability: The Social Construction of Disability in New Media, by Gerard Goggin and Christopher Newell, dances around the terminology of the "digital divide." They offer a nuanced, interdisciplinary introduction to the processes by which new media technology produce inequalities on the basis of disability. Yet, the digital divide, understood as social, cultural and economic gaps between technology users and non-users, obviously applies to the situation encountered by people with disabilities.

The authors invoke disability studies theory, relying primarily on the social model of disability, which asserts that while individuals may have impairments, those bodily differences only become disabilities in the context of a society unprepared for their needs.

Chapter three goes into the history of disability in relation to telecommunications, the authors' usual area of expertise. They first provide histories of telephony in the UK, US and Australia. As telecommunications became privatized and deregulated, and as cell phones rose in popularity, concerns of accessibility were brought by disability organizations. Still, no matter how often accommodations for disability had to be made after the fact, disability remained an afterthought. Similar exclusion, explored in chapter four, has characterized the development of "internet superhighways" and standards of network development. This leads Goggin and Newell to warn that disability could become a worldwide site of exclusion as the world's cultures and economies grow even more connected (68).

In chapters four and five, Goggin and Newell explore the 2000 Olympics and Paralympics to describe the cultural representations and construction of disability in visual digital media, such as television and the web. They conclude that the poverty of representations of people with disabilities enables the ongoing ignorance of the needs, experiences and contributions of people with disabilities in society.

Chapter six addresses internet theory and cultural studies, interrogating ideas of the "cyborg" and prosthetic connections between human and machine. While these metaphors abound, the reality of life with a disability is elided (112). Goggin and Newell call for disability to be explored and integrated as a form of analysis similar to race or gender in cultural studies work, allowing for more nuanced critiques of new media and access. This nuance is brought to bear in chapter seven, which addresses the forms of cultural production that people with disabilities have gained access to through digital media. The ability to connect with others, form communities, and create their own self-representations may challenge the dominant representations and attitudes toward disability (135).

In concluding, Goggin and Newell suggest that the full inclusion of the perspectives of people with disabilities in governments, industry, and civil society is necessary to moving away from the predictable disabling effects of new media.

The most underdeveloped element of this book was the economics of accessible technology. An entire industry of adaptive technologies for people with disabilities has developed, and corporations regularly invoke expense as a reason not to develop accessible technology. Further exploration of these industrial factors would have been interesting, and connected Goggin and Newell to the problems of poverty and lack of educational opportunity among people with disabilities.

Virtual Inequality summary

Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide by Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Mary Stansbury redefines the digital divide as being a multi-layered and complex problem: "We propose a broader definition of the problem as consisting of multiple divides: an access divide, a skills divide, an economic opportunity divide, and a democratic divide" (2). The authors acknowledge that there are persistent gaps of access based on race, ethnicity, education, and income: "The data reveal that a 'digital divide' in terms of information technology access is an undeniable reality. Even as more Americans purchase computers and flock online, most of the disparities that emerged during the latter half of the 1990s remain" (35).

When analyzing the skills divide, the authors focus upon two distinct concepts: technological competencies (e.g. using a mouse, typing, and giving instructions to the computer to sort records) and information literacy, which is "the ability to recognize when information can solve a problem or fill a need and to effectively employ information resources" (38). Lurking behind both of these concepts is basic literacy, which the authors also address.

The analysis of the economic opportunity divide is broken into two parts: first, the authors trace the evolution of the economy over the past two decades; second, they discuss their respondents' attitudes and experiences related to the economic opportunity divide. The authors also highlight the interconnectedness of each divide: "The beliefs expressed by survey respondents demonstrate that the problem lies not with limited awareness of technology's benefits, but with issues of access and skill" (61).

The chapter on the democratic divide contains the least developed analysis, because not many studies have been done about it. Nevertheless, the authors pose interesting questions about issues (e.g. online voting) that could develop into potentially large problems in the near future. If government activities and information are moving increasingly online, then the ability to access, use, and debate that information becomes a greater necessity for the existence of a healthy democracy.

The authors synthesize their data and their thoughts into three final recommendations: pay greater attention to skills development in public access sites, experiment with an educational technology subsidy (i.e. a voucher), and increase public investment in lifelong learning.

Broadband as a Digital Divide Solution

Since I won't be able to be in class this week to present these materials, I'll do it electronically! I've put together some recent news on the possibilities of broadband as a solution to online inequalities.

I find the contrast between the US plan to put $7.2 billion of stimulus money towards this project, and the Korean experience of focusing on the social elements of the digital divide most interesting. Which comes first, the infrastructure, or the education? Also, it raises questions about whether the goal is really access for all, or improved access for some, or merely job creation.

But, the Australian example is probably more directly comparable, as the government is proposing a detailed plan by which it will create the high-speed infrastructure and turn it over to private interests within 15 years.

Finally, if anyone has strong feelings about the US broadband plan, you have just under 60 days to file a public comment with the FCC!

page turning machine!

my original reaction to this was that it was pretty weird and ultimately a redundant little japanese technological oddity in these increasingly digital times, but as joel johnson over at boing boing points out, it raises a few issues that the kindle is direly lacking with regards to catering to people with physical disabilities.

Warschauer and Microsoft Bob (Arf Arf)

While reading the "Conclusion: The social embeddedness of technology" article this morning, I found myself disagreeing with one of the arguments that Warschauer makes about personal computing and biases. He states:

"Another bias of personal computing is the desktop interface, which is based on an office metaphor (e.g. files and folders) rather than on other possible metaphors (a kitchen, a tool shed, a farm), thus being more accessible to people with certain kinds of prior experiences..." (203)

One software flop from over 15 years ago seems to prove this argument wrong: Microsoft Bob. In 1995, Microsoft decided to take a different approach to the interface of desktop computers and create an interface that resembled what seems to be a house (upper-middle class from the screenshots). BOB is much more graphical than the Windows or OS X. Instead of files and folders, your information is sorted into different "rooms" which you, as the user, give different attributes. To select a program, you pull it off of a shelf in order to invoke its usage. Also, BOB includes its own word processing, spreadsheet (limited in features), and email applications. All of BOBs native applications are essentially dumbed down for users who do not have the ample skills to use standardized software such as Word, Excel, or Outlook. The issue, however, is that the applications were too simple in their functionality. The word processing software, known as "Letter Writer", allows users to change fonts, alignment, and copy/paste. However, it seems as if the application doesn't have any other "simple" features, such as bullets or numbering.

Microsoft BOB sold poorly in the market and eventually was discontinued before Windows 98. Today, the program tops numerous "Worst Products" lists, including CNET's "Worst Products in a decade" and PC World's "Top 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time".

Do you think this is evidence that Warschauer was wrong in this portion of his argument? Or was this just a simple error on Microsoft's part?

Example of our societal dependence on online access?

Interesting article out of the West Coast today about some fiber-optic vandalism with crippling effects:

Police are hunting for vandals who chopped fiber-optic cables and killed landlines, cell phones and Internet service for tens of thousands of people in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties on Thursday.

The sabotage essentially froze operations in parts of the three counties at hospitals, stores, banks and police and fire departments that rely on 911 calls, computerized medical records, ATMs and credit and debit cards.

The full extent of the havoc might not be known for days, emergency officials said as they finished repairing the damage late Thursday.

Find the full story from the San Francisco Chronicle. Reactions?

Growing Up Online

PBS/Frontline recently aired an hour-long documentary on the digital generation, highlighting the "greatest generational gap since the advent of rock and roll"....

You can watch it (in segments or in its entirety) and view more resources here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Open Camp: Madison

there's a cool event coming up in a week and some change that potentially dovetails nicely into the class. it's all day long in grainger hall, and totally free. having helped organize the event, i know that there are a lot of issues that are going to be tackled here, and having the library/digital divide voice there would be a really great contribution to the day.

if anyone is super interested, lemme know and i'm sure we can find a way for you to help out. more info can be found over at the open everything madison wiki.

open camp: an open everything event

"Open Everything is a global conversation about the art, science and spirit of 'open'. It gathers people using openness to create and improve software, education, media, philanthropy, architecture, neighbourhoods, workplaces and the society we live in: everything. It's about thinking, doing and being open.

OpenCamp combines 'Open Everything' with the unconference style of BarCamp. OpenCamp will be the first event of it's kind in the world and will be part of a growing global movement with NYC holding their event the same day. Madison is still the only place in the US to have had an Open Everything event and we are excited to have NYC join us in the Red, White and Blue.

In December 2008, Madison joined with Hong Kong and Berlin to celebrate and discuss openness in the world. With OpenCamp, we will be doing things differently. We'll be opening the doors to more people and participating in an unconference style event.

If you aren't familiar with unconferences, imagine Wikipedia in physical space. There will be four presentations going on at once and if the one you are at no longer interests you, use the 'two feet' rule to go to another presentation. Also, don't feel the need to always be at a 'presentation'. Some times water cooler/coffee discussions are more worthwhile than a formal presentation. We encourage you to make the event yours and learn and participate in ways in which you see fit. There is one rule though.

You must participate, there are no audience members at OpenCamp, only participants."

What *do* we think of the Internet?

The discussion in the Selwyn article of the developed-world assumption that "the Internet is always good" reminded me of a phenomenon that indicates that this is not always the case -- for instance, the Internet Addiction Recovery Center, founded in 1995. (And oh, the fad's not over yet.)

Thing is, Internet addiction is just bad science. There is an actual medical definition of addiction, but that definition excludes the possibility of it being applied to the Internet (or video games. Or TV.)

But obviously there's a social undercurrent here that's running against the "Internet yay" meme that Selwyn identifies (and that is, indeed, the primary narrative running through developed countries' attitudes toward technology). I don't think it's just a technophobic minority, either; there's a range of negative stereotypes associated with "computer nerds" and people who dedicate a large portion of their social interaction energy to online activities. The online acronym is IRL, "in real life," implying that the Internet isn't really "real" (despite the fact that it's made up of information and conversations being exchanged by real people). While it's true that digital divide policy is based on the idea that the Internet is a universal good, that's not really all that's going on in a wider context.

Privacy commissioner puts spotlight on internet monitoring technology

Well, once again, the US is being shown that it isn't as concerned with basic freedoms and civil rights as with, um, 'the war on terror':

In a stunning defense of President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, President Barack Obama has broadened the government's legal argument for immunizing his Administration and government agencies from lawsuits surrounding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping efforts. ....more

Canadians, on the other hand, are trying to promote an understanding of this landscape, so that an intelligent discourse can be pursued:

Canada's privacy commissioner has opened an online discussion on deep packet inspection, a technology that allows internet service providers and other organizations to intercept and examine packets of information as they are being sent over the internet.

"We realized about a year ago that technologies involving network management were increasingly affecting how personal information of Canadians was being handled," said Colin McKay, director of research, education and outreach for the commissioner's office. ....more

If you aren't familiar with the technology of deep packet inspection, then you should probably be reading these reports, which also include issues of net neutrality and divides:

The real threat of censorship comes not from government guarantees of content neutrality, but from carriers discriminating on the basis of content, source, and destination—probably in favor of the powerful and against the weak. -Harry Abelson

It's not new news, for those of us with our ears to the digital wires, but it reiterates the fact that the internet is not necessarily neutral ground. It's infrastructure is largely privately owned and profit oriented, and because it grew up out of a Department of Defense project, the US has more control over the structure of the internet than any other single nation, via it's control over critical nodes in the infrastructure and via it's involvement in the naming organization that translates URLs into machine addressable locations.

That's all the cold-medicine addled brain has to offer up tonight.

Time Warner Tries Variable Broadband Pricing

Many of you have probably heard about this, but I couldn't stop thinking about it while reading the Compaine and Selwyn articles this week. Prices don't inevitably go down, and questions about access to information are always complicated by issues of the type, size and quantity of information that can be accessed.

Time Warner is unleashing a four-tier pricing plan for broadband internet services, with caps on the amount of material that can be up/downloaded each month. If you go over your capped limit, you're charged $1/G. So far, it's only being announced for New York, North Carolina, and Texas (interestingly, places where there's no competition from Verizon and its unlimited plans).

The backlash has already been huge, from consumers:

• stopthecap.com
• Petition

and from local politicians:

• North Carolina & New York
  
• New York
• Texas
  

The capping strategy is likely to most target people who use a lot of streaming media, making it seem like a potentially "fair" method of charging for use, but there have also been concerns about deaf communities, who are especially heavy users of videoconferencing, being priced out.

Lastly, these changes are an interesting counterpoint to the plans for national broadband that Ashley posted below! Will the FCC's plan include pricing tiers, too?

Democracy Now! Covers the Digital Divide

Bridging the Rural Digital Divide: FCC Starts Work on National Broadband Strategy

The Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC, begins work today on a yearlong national broadband strategy to bring high-speed broadband internet into every American home. Under the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus plan, the FCC is responsible for developing a strategy to improve broadband coverage and present it to Congress in February of 2010. We speak with Wally Bowen, executive director of the Mountain Area Information Network in Asheville.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/8/bridging_the_rural_digital_divide_fcc

MJS: Doyle plan for libraries criticized Primary funding would come from fee collected to improve Internet access

Doyle plan for libraries criticized
Primary funding would come from fee collected to improve Internet access

By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Apr. 7, 2009

A proposal in Gov. Jim Doyle's 2009-'11 budget calling for use of $12.6 million from the Universal Service Fund for the state's primary contribution to public libraries is stirring criticism from some state lawmakers.

Sen. Michael Ellis (R-Neenah) said he objected to using the fund in that way, which he said was never intended. The fund, supported by a fee on land-line telephone bills, was created under a 1993 law that deregulated the telecommunications industry. It was supposed to ensure that Wisconsin residents have equal access to advanced communications such as the Internet.

That's been an issue in the state, especially in rural areas lacking high-speed Internet access.

The fund's use has been expanded to subsidize Internet access in schools, libraries, and organizations such as the YWCA of Greater Milwaukee. Dozens of organizations, including senior citizen centers and literacy councils, have benefited from the Universal Service Fund.

Using funds from the $32 million pot of money for public libraries dilutes its purpose, according to Ellis, who said the provision amounts to a 40% increase in a fee that was originally meant to improve telecom and Internet access.

"This is a hidden tax amounting to $12.6 million," he said. "How does having a telephone equate to supporting public libraries?

Read more (http://www.jsonline.com/business/42642612.html)

Stress

Wired has a good article on how the stress of poverty can affect the brain.

"At the same time, scientists have studied the cognitive abilities of poor children, and the neurobiological effects of stress on laboratory animals. They've found that, on average, socioeconomic status predicts a battery of key mental abilities, with deficits showing up in kindergarten and continuing through middle school. Scientists also found that hormones produced in response to stress literally wear down the brains of animals."

More on Transportation Divides

In a class presentation, I attempted to posit school busing as a technology application attempting to address racial and socioeconomic inequities in schools.

This article discusses another way in which transportation technology becomes a locus of these tensions. An Oakland class action suit to address perceived unfair standards in mass transit fees has been tossed out of court.

Ben Compaine Blogs...

...on an LIS 202 class response posting. Might we lure him over here for next week's reading?

Little Smart

After reading "Wireless Communication and Global Development: New Issues, New Strategies", I decided to see what's going on now with some of the services being implemented earlier this decade.

This is a blog entry on the apparently coming demise of Little Smart:

Shutting Down Little Smart

In her interesting new book, From Iron Fist to Invisible Hand: the Uneven Path of Telecommunications Reform in China, Irene S. Wu describes competition among bureaucracies, consumer demand, and technological innovations as drivers of telecommunications reform in China. An interesting case study is Little Smart, a low-cost, limited-mobility wireless service that rapidly gained popularity, but which will be shut down by 2011 in favor of 3G services.

Little Smart provided a vehicle for China Telecom to offer wireless service. Little Smart was initially approved to extend China Telecom's wireline telephone service to rural areas. However, Little Smart was first offered commercially in December, 1998, in Zhaoqing, a small city in Guangdong Province. In 1999, Little Smart service was extended to two provincial capitals and other small cities. By September, 2001, Little Smart was being offered in 300 cities and had about 5 million subscribers. By early 2003, Little Smart was available in Beijing and other large Chinese cities. The number of Little Smart subscribers reached 91 million in 2006.[1]

Efforts of mobile-service competitors and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) to constrain Little Smart subscriber growth failed. Mobile-service competitors China Mobile and Unicom complained vociferously to state bodies that Little Smart was not authorized to provide the service it was providing. MII repeatedly forbade Little Smart to expand service, but it did anyway. MII subsequently ratified Little Smart expansions. Little Smart succeeded in gaining state approval by first succeeding in gaining a large number of customers.



Click for more.

OLPC

having spent a fair amount of time with the OLPC laptop/netbook (i've started calling him Gnort), i was gonna post up on the blog about this lil' guy and my personal experiences with it, even though we're all gonna get into some of the nitty gritty of all that tomorrow.

figuring out the opening of the actual unit itself might seem a bit difficult to most people, but i was lucky enough to have the SLIS attendant open it up in front of me so as to avoid any embarrassing moments in front of my peers.

i've never been really too sure about the whole "unboxing" thing that is spread all over youtube, but please help yourself to a video of someone going through the (very audible and sniffly) "how do i get it out of here? what does this do? etc."



so, now that we've opened up the box, gotten a tissue or three, and played around with the thing for a while, we can hop, skip, and click our way over to david pogue's fairly comprehensive video review from the ny times:



instead of programs, the XO has activities, and is designed for collaboration. instead of only seeing wireless networks to connect to, you're also able to see the other computers in the area, which are shown as being part of a "mesh network." other XO computers show up as stick figures are can be invited to collaborate in various activities. since SLIS only has one of the XOs, we can't test this aspect of the hardware, but you can see the potential for this to be truly useful in any number of educational settings.

this next video is a pretty thorough overview of an older interface which is not running on the machnie that SLIS circulates:



the future of this is going to be an interesting one. last summer, OLPC ruffled a lot of feathers when it began shipping laptops with windows installed on them as opposed to sugar, the python based OS that we've seen in all the videos so far. the reasons for this are many, and include the fact that some of the countries the laptops are being shipped to aren't so keen on open source software, and legally require something as widely supported and documented as windows.



there's a whole hornets nest of interesting stuff going on in here, and certainly one blog post isn't gonna cut it when we're talking about the digital divide, open source software, geopolitical tech issues, the role that this technology should fulfill, on and on and on...

i'll leave you with what i think is a positive note, though i have no means of actually understanding the dept (or lack of depth) given language barriers. here's what i presume is a Paraguayan family that has been recording themselves with the laptops 30 frames per second camera, and posting the clips to youtube. if anyone out there knows what they're saying, and what they're saying is personal or whatever, lemme know and i'll take down the link, but i'm assuming that given the context, and since it's on youtube, it's fair game for our class to check out.