Research Journal 4: The Digital Divide

Learning to be a part of the knowledge economy: digital divides and media literacy"
Lyndsay Grant

In the above article, Lyndsay Grant explores the digital divide and how the concept is an oversimplification of reality. Grant rightly points out that the "divide" is in fact a spectrum of ICT accessibility and use. For example, a person with computer access in their workplace may have access for only work-related purposes; similarly, a family with three or four laptops in the one household may only use their ICT for entertainment purposes, not for intellectual or educational support.

Grant also explores what is meant by the "knowledge economy". According to Grant, the importance of bridging the digital divide is to allow the disadvantaged 'disconnected' people on the wrong side of the divide to take part in the "knowledge economy". Grant quotes British ex-PM Tony Blair who argued that “Universal internet access is vital if we are not only to avoid social divisions over the new economy but to create a knowledge economy of the future which is for everyone” (p. 4)

What is a knowledge economy? Grant defines it as a facet of "informational capitalism", which is an economic system in which value is ascribed to producing knowledge and processing information rather than producing goods. (p. 5)

I would contend that the "knowledge economy", which people are excluded from if they are on the wrong side of the "digital divide", is not a true representation of the real world, which I would argue is still very much a world of consumer capitalism rather than informational capitalism. I think there is a danger for intellectuals and academics to assume that everyone wants to take part in the same ceaseless exchange of information and "knowledge" as they do. Many individuals, on both sides of the "digital divide", are uninterested in taking part in an "informational capitalist" world. Many individuals who do access to ICTs, will nonetheless not take part in the "knowledge economy".

I think the salient point in Grant's article is that the term "digital divide" is an oversimplification of an issue that should perhaps more accurately termed a "digital spectrum".