Digital Divide

As our world continues to advance our technologies, many are left behind without the ability to access these technologies. Ahmed Sagarwala said something very interesting in class this week. He raised to our attention the fact that an inmate who has served 20 years of his time in prison will come out unable to catch up to the current technology. Sagarwala used a great example to explain this. If the inmate goes to the bathroom, he stands still at the sink because he does not know how to operate the machinery or the technology behind a sensor triggering the sink to function. I felt that this was very true even for people who are not exposed to the sorts of technology we take for granted. As a result, there is a definitely a digital divide between the exposure of these technologies and technologies that we use on a daily basis.

There are many individuals who are missing from the web. This is due to many factors. Many are restricted geographically as the physical Internet line has not reached some areas of the landscape. This may be why there may be Wi-Fi connectivity everywhere in South Korea because of how close they may be to the Internet “pipeline”. Coming from personal experiences while travelling to South Korea, I was able to connect to the Wi-Fi and initiate a quick Skype call in the middle of the street. I was completely blown away on the network coverage. Moreover, when I came back to Toronto, I felt restricted once again due to the lack of Wi-Fi networks. The amount of “free” Wi-Fi networks was significantly reduced and forced me to find the closest McDonalds or shopping mall just to connect to the Internet and send a text message via WhatsApp. I use the term “free” as a way to explain how there usually is a time duration (30 minutes or 1 hour) on how long you are granted access to the Wi-Fi networks. At the end of the day, the technologies in Canada are sufficient for the daily Canadian, but once that Canadian leaves to another country, they may suffer from the lack of knowledge on more advanced technologies.

Looking at the examples shown in class, the Wi-Fi balloon idea makes it so it becomes easier to spread coverage around a certain geographical area. However, the balloons may only be a temporary solution to this issue. Another issue also becomes prevalent if this idea were to be executed. The connection speed. How fast/slow will this balloon Internet be able to provide? Slow Internet is worse than having no Internet. The idea may be completely useless to those who require the Internet. Sagarwala mentioned that during his time in Dubai, he could not even work due to the slow Internet and had to leave the country in search for faster Internet. The balloon idea is definitely a great start to bridging the gap between those who are connected and those who are not. People who are able to use this service probably would not mind the speed of the Internet as it is probably very new to them. These people would also not have the knowledge or experience to a fast Internet speed. Additionally, it would be similar to when computers were the size of a living room and many individuals were able to cope with the technologies at hand. As many of us wrestle with Internet speeds with our service providers, we must understand that we are fortunate to even have a decent Internet connection.