The Next Digital Divides
Howard Besser

(I jumped on here thinking I would respond to some other posts and I found that no one had written anything about Besser which is too bad. Therefore, since I missed my posting for tuesday, I thought I would respond to Besser's piece, The Next Digital Divides, I found it to be very interesting.)

Besser discusses a notion of "digital democracy," a term that is also used on Wikipedia's description of the digital divide as Sean discussed. But unlike Sean, I think the idea of digital democracy is a legitimate concern, what I think Besser is getting at and to a degree Wikipedia as well is not the idea that of force or imposition, but of opportunity. Simply providing the ability for all who may want to utilize the internet the opportunity to do so. The United States is full of people who choose not to participate, but those who do appreciate their freedoms would be hardpressed without them.

Besser goes on to discuss his ideas about digital democracy as beyond the digital divide. For digital democracy to work everyone must be able to participate, Besser discusses the digital divide as digital divides which prevent this. At this juncture Besser confronts a number of different aspects. These issues confront the problems that act as barriers.

Essentially these barriers simply come down to education and learning how to become an effective user of the internet, a "creator." Besser discusses three main barriers of the divide, but I am supposing there is another. Beyond access to content, appropriateness of content, and information literacy, I believe that there is also a cultural divide to this.

Wikipedia, Sean, Walton, and even Besser allude to this cultural divide, but none explicity assert the idea as causal. I believe that the cultural practices of a group stongly influences a person's existence. I doubt many will disagree with this position. For any group whether divided by race, nationality, income, or location, it is the culture one is within that determines the individual's existence. So by Besser's estimation there would have to be societal change along with digital change. This becomes a gory snow-ball effect, one that Sean alludes to. Giving people in a democracy a voice on the internet goes beyond educating, but it also requires social change (I realize this can be the same).