Lyndsay Grant, Futurelab
The full version of this paper is available to download in pdf format - see box below.
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Introduction
The ‘digital divide’ refers to the difference between those with access to new technologies and those without. The digital divide concerns a fear that, along with new opportunities, digital technology brings with it new forms of social exclusion. As is all too predictable, digital exclusion correlates with other forms of social exclusion. However, as well as potentially ushering in new forms of social exclusion, there is the hope that digital technologies may also act as a bridge, extending information and communications to people who traditionally find them difficult to access. In this way, digital technologies are seen as creating a ‘gap’ while at the same time holding the potential to bridge that gap; a warning as well as a promise.
The ‘digital divide’ may be a useful term for mobilising political resources, attention and funding, but simplifies reality, suggesting superficial solutions to complex social problems. Instead, we need a more sophisticated framework for understanding what such a divide entails, what factors mediate which side of the divide someone falls on, the consequences of being on one side or the other of such a divide, and the opportunities for education to include rather than exclude people in a digital society.
If using information and communications technologies (ICTs) is important for full participation in society, then we need to develop approaches to education that will enable people to benefit from using ICTs. Going further, it may be that ICTs can extend educational opportunities to those for whom formal schooling has not been effective, if they are able to bridge the digital divide in the first place.
