Looking at the Digital Divide
Jessamyn Westlibrarian.net/talks/cla11
"The 'digital divide' refers to the fact that certain parts of the population have substantially better opportunities to benefit from the new economy than other parts of the population." - Jakob Nielsen
Notes and Resources
- Slides & notes - PDF , Keynote format, PowerPoint format
- Without a Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide book companion website
- Two related talks I've given at SXSW: 2010, 2011
Further Reading
Where we are
- Rural Electrification program history
- National Broadband Map
- Broadband availability in VT (pdf)
- Broadband availability in CT & broadband stimulus project (pdf)
- CT Broadband maps
- Broadband Adoption and Use in America & NY Times summary [pdf]
- Pew Research Center's reports on Internet & Technology
- Competing media messages image
Why Libraries?
- ALA: State of America's Libraries 2010
- NYC Broadband landscape report
- FEMA adds libraries to "essential services" in Section 403 of Stafford Act (Cedar Rapids story)
Common misconceptions
- Flowtown Teens & Cell Phones infographic (related Pew report Teens and Mobile phones)
- Pew Internet & American Life Project August 2010 report about adoption slowdown
- Arbitron smartphone slide
- Non users would need help getting online graphic from Pew Home Broadband report
- William James and the Will to Believe
Working Examples
- Treasures of CT Libraries program announcement and website
- Other funding: Smart Investing, NLM
- READ Posters from Central CT, Pets of Rowayton project (more)
- County of Brant Library: Home page, digital collections, Our Brant Wiki, Cemetery category & page
- Green Mountain Library Consortium & Vermont Library Association
- Many more real-world digitzation stories
- Jakob Nielsen's Three Stages of the Digital Divide