Digital citizens navigating the "Divide"

the new digital world

“In the information and network society, relative differences in getting information and lines of communication become decisive for one’s position in society, more than in every society in history before.” (Dijk, 2003)   To be truly involved with the new age of ICT, every citizen will have to acquire some skills of digital and media literacy.  These citizens are part of an internet world, not any geographic country, and the skill sets needed include hardware and software components.   The hardware basics needed do not necessarily mean all the wires and connectivity issues, but the ability to use different devices to access the internet.  The software component includes the ability to use applications in not only consuming information but also generating information. The new trends in exchange of information will change every aspect of our lives, from the way we manage our finances, how we find jobs, to policy making in government. We have to teach our children to live and navigate in this new world.  They will need to learn these new communication skills.  Every subject in school should incorporate some technology usage, whether it is learning to create games in math, analyzing the authenticityof information in an article or blog posted on the internet, or communicating their own thoughts and ideas to share with anyone who is logged on.

This week we did a class collaborative project on our understanding of the digital divide using the voice-thread tool. I think this tool could be a lot of fun to use in class to create a variety of presentation.  Students of all ages could really enjoy this.  I also think it would be a wonderful  tool for someone who has difficulty writing.  Whether they are disabled in some way or someone who does not know how to type. They would just have to load some pictures, record their thought, and present!

<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMjc3NjA4NTc5MjEmcHQ9MTMyNzc2MDg4NTA2MiZwPTIwNjQyMSZkPWIyNjY1NjM4Jmc9MiZvPWNiNjM4YjQ1OTNh/NzQzYTBhODI3OWRkNjIwNTQyZTQ2Jm9mPTA=.gif" /><object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="https://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2665638"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="https://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2665638" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="480" height="360"></embed></object>

References

Dijk, J. v. (2003). The Digital Divide as a Complex and Dynamic Phenomenon. The Information Society, 19, 315-326.