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The increasing use of digital technology in various spheres of life has led to the emergence of two key concepts: digital divide and digital equity. These concepts are essential in understanding the impact of digital technology on society and its implications for individuals' ability to participate actively in society. This paper aims to define and frame the concepts of digital divide and digital equity, explain their relationship, and discuss their importance in the world today.

The digital divide refers to the gap between individuals and communities who have access to digital technology and those who do not (Pazurek, 2020). The term "digital divide" emerged in the 1990s when there was a noticeable gap between those who had access to computers and the internet and those who did not. This gap has widened with the increasing use of digital technology, and it now encompasses issues of access, knowledge, and skills. Digital equity, on the other hand, refers to fairness and justice in ensuring that everyone has access to digital technology and the skills to use it effectively (Gonzales, 2018). It seeks to eliminate the gap created by the digital divide by providing equal opportunities for all individuals to access and use digital technology(Brownlee, 2022).

Digital divide and digital equity are two sides of the same coin. Digital equity seeks to address the digital divide by ensuring that everyone has access to digital technology and the skills to use it. However, achieving digital equity requires addressing the root causes of the digital divide, such as socio-economic disparities, geographic location, and lack of digital literacy (Gonzales, 2018). By bridging the digital divide, digital equity ensures that all individuals can participate actively in society and access opportunities that digital technology offers.

Limited access to digital technology, knowledge, or skills places individuals at a significant disadvantage in today's digital world(Rinehart, 2021). For example, in education, students who lack access to digital technology and skills may struggle to keep up with their peers, leading to achievement gaps (Gonzales, 2018). In the job market, individuals who lack digital skills may be unable to compete for jobs that require digital literacy, leading to unemployment and reduced earning potential. The impact of the digital divide also extends to healthcare, as individuals without access to digital technology may miss out on telehealth services and other digital health initiatives.

Digital divide and digital equity are critical issues in today's digital world. Bridging the digital divide and promoting digital equity are crucial to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities to access and use digital technology. This requires addressing the root causes of the digital divide and providing equal access to digital technology, knowledge, and skills. Failure to address the digital divide and promote digital equity will result in a widening gap between those who can participate actively in society and those who cannot.

References:

Gonzales, P. (2018). Technology Problems and Student Achievement Gaps: A Validation and Extension of the Technology Maintenance Construct. American Educational Research Journal, 55(1), 91–121. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217743837

Pazurek, A. (2015). Digital Divide. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (4th ed., pp. 659–670). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-3479-3.ch057

Rinehart, W. (2021, June 3). The Digital Divide, Digital Equity, and the Nature of the Problem. The Center for the Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. https://www.thecgo.org/benchmark/the-digital-divide-digital-equity-and-the-nature-of-the-problem/

Brownlee, M. i. (2022, November 10). The Digital Divide 2.0: Navigating Digital Equity and Health Equity in Education. EdSurge. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-11-10-the-digital-divide-2-0-navigating-digital-equity-and-health-equity-in-education

The Digital Divide is a concept that gets thrown around a lot, especially within tech circles, regarding ways to improve education. Bridging the digital divide by increasing tech in schools is a common solution to a variety of issues with education, some of which would actually benefit from increased access to technology, and some of which probably would not. To understand more about why that is we first need a common understanding of what the digital divide is. Simply put, the Digital Divide is the split between having internet access and not. In a paper from 2018, Gonzalez et al. break the divide down into 3 aspects: achieving access, maintaining access, and coping with disconnection. These subcategories can help a lot with understanding the various issues that can fall under the umbrella of the digital divide. The idea of getting a computer or a tablet for every student generally falls under the category of achieving access, however it doesn’t address issue of maintaining access when the student isn’t at school. Additionally, grants from big tech companies like apple and google frequently don’t address what happens when those machines break down, at which point they are dealing with the coping with disconnection aspect of the digital divide.

Traditionally talk of the digital divide has veered more in the direction of discussions of access. This has broken down into access to hardware, and then access to the internet. these are both important aspects of the divide, but the conversation often stops there, without considering the realities of utilizing tech in the modern age. Hardware breaks down, and can be difficult to fix or replace, and internet access is a subscription service that must be paid monthly or it will be lost. At least in the US, getting internet access to every home has been a priority since the passage of the Digital Equity Act in 2021. It was only more recently however that the subject of reducing costs came up, since its all well and good to provide a wire, but if people can’t afford to pay the Internet Service Provider for access, it doesn’t do them much good. This is why having a model that recognizes the various obstacles to access is so important to discussing the issue.

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, or Good Evening!!! Depending on the time of day that you are reading this, wherever, with whosoever. WELCOME…

To begin this blog, we will start by defining or framing the concepts of the digital divide, digital equity, and then Digital Inclusion. What is the digital divide in digital and how does it affect us daily? What is digital equity and how can we strive for an equitable amount of opportunities for each individual? Lastly, what is Digital Inclusion and how can we get every community and individual included in the digital realm?

What is Digital Divide? Digital Divide essentially within the world, so do you go when it comes to the Internet and technology if the structures that there is a virus amongst people of different Intersectionality or labels or status, such as class, race, sex, etc.

For Digital Divide, it is truly defined in examples by The “Scientific American” Blog. “connectivity inequalities - high-speed wireless for those who can afford it and second-class wireless for poor and rural Americans have been recently mentioned as a “new digital divide" (Radovanovic, 2011). The digital divide socially impacts every one of us on a daily basis because, with the divide, you won’t truly be given the skills and the tools to interact with every at the highest level. The Digital Divide hinders oppressed communities. The reason why I say that is because the majority of the time oppressed communities are the ones that are suffering, the most. With the lack of resources often results in a lack of opportunities.

Digital equity, on the other hand, is ensuring that pretty much all the individuals within each of the communities of the world can’t retain the information in the technology to the greatest extent, as well as being able to examine fool effort within every aspect of the world. The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society defines digital equity within this article. It says digital equity “Digital Equity ensures all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy. Digital Equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services.” (The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, 2016).

Digital Inclusion as the Benton Institue for Broadband & Society Defines it is “the activities necessary to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, have access to, and use of, information and communication technologies (ICTs).” (The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, 2016). Then they continue with 5 elements of how its shown in society. overall inclusion digitally is being able to include every community in the individual within the digital room so that they don’t feel left out. A great example is including disabled body citizens in things that able-bodied citizens, roles that they typically won’t receive. Being able to do something as simple as that will give the disabled-bodied community, the feeling of being included in society.

Lastly, How are all of these terms related to one another? Digital divide, digital equity, and digital inclusion are all related because they all have to deal with technology. Being related to technology allows you to be a part of the technological process that it takes for one to have all the resources necessary in order to succeed at what you’re trying to accomplish. And once the dress you must find ways to fix the issue. So in order to fix the issue, we must give everyone an equitable opportunity and equitable resources. The last part of the process is being able to high the resources in opportunities into inclusion. Making sure that everyone is included in the digital process.

References

Huffman, A., & Jauregui, V. C. (2022, August 29). Definitions. National Digital Inclusion Alliance. Retrieved April 24, 2023, from https://www.digitalinclusion.org/definitions/ 

Murray, S. P., Portman, S. R., King, S. A., & Siefer, A. (n.d.). Digital Equity Act. Retrieved April 24, 2023, from https://www.digitalequityact.org/ 

Radovanovic, D. (2011, December 14). Digital Divide and social media: Connectivity doesn't end the digital divide, Skills Do. Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved April 24, 2023, from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/digital-divide-and-social-media-connectivity-doesnt-end-the-digital-divide-skills-do/ 

In my terms, digital citizenship is essentially being a person that uses technology for whatever reason they choose. Karen Mossberger, one of the authors of Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation, says digital citizens are "those who use the internet regularly and effectively." Sourced by (wiki, 2020). Digital citizenship is the ability to navigate our digital environments in a way that's safe and responsible and to actively and respectfully engage in these spaces. I would probably say that this version of digital citizenship is the positive side.

When you look at the content that was given to us this past week, you see how people like Dr. Josie Ahlquist and Ribble, Bailey, and Ross truly intended to impact citizens. Dr. Josie Ahlquist talks about how K through 12 has become a well-known field for digital citizenship, but on the other hand, higher education needs to catch up with them. Ribble, Bailey, and Ross talk about the nine elements which are “Digital etiquette, Digital communication, Digital Access, Digital literacy, Digital commerce, Digital law, Digital rights and responsibilities, Digital health and wellness, and lastly Digital security”. These nine are very important for the foundation of Digital Citizenship.

How when talking about digital citizenship versus digital literacy, there are differences, but there are also a lot of similarities. Digital citizenship is essentially the core meaning of technology and how you use it digital literacy is how you use that technology. The main similarity that they both have is that they both use technology in their definition, not only that they both use people in their definitions. The only difference is digital literacy is talking about how an individual uses their ability to find, take action, and or communicate information via technology.

Believe that digital citizenship can be fostered and talked to adult learners in various ways. The first way is simply by negative or known social media when giving people the opportunity to educate one another or make it a trend to where people see this as very popular, because who doesn’t want to be hip to the trends? Another way that I feel this could be taught to adult learners is that educators can be implemented this on the mainstream level of education so that they can understand the definition and how I identify it.

References:

https://tpt.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/digital-citizenship-video/things-explained/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_citizen 

https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/what-digital-citizenship 

According to EdWeb Digital citizenship refers to the knowledge and understanding of not only how to navigate the online world but also how to practice safety while doing so. Often when we consider how to be safe online, the first thought that comes to mind is to educate ourselves on how to interact with certain apps and websites as although they share similar features they each have key features that act as different online cues. This is often when the discussion of digital literacy comes into play. As more now than ever people are aware that they should be tuned in to what they are posting. Most kids are naturally digitally literate as these are tools that they grew up using to communicate. But being digitally literate is defined by whether or not an individual has the skill to navigate the online sphere. And does not emphasize safety as an aspect of online activities. This is how digital citizenship differs, because there is a strong push for staying safe online in all its elements. Which is important because “...it is essential for students of all ages to be able to make smart choices online and in life.” (EdWeb) As digital citizenship.net notes that there are various aspects of the internet we engage with without thinking twice. And for the safety of everybody it is important to be knowledgeable and take responsibility when using the internet. For example digital commerce or buying things online can lead to information leaks. Additionally there are concerns with cyberbullying, sexting, fake news, and digital well-being overall.

So, how can it be supported or fostered for adult learners? And what role do educators play? First and foremost I think the first step is to make others aware that there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes of online use than just entertainment and virtually shopping. The truth is, no matter how digitally literate you are you could always be more safe online. I think that educators have a huge role to play in this because we see online tools and learning methods being used more fluently in the classroom due to COVID-19. They have an opportunity to introduce fundamental safety guidelines while also allowing them to increase their skills. To assist educators in this, websites  Common Sense provide a curriculum to help with this! For all different grade levels.

Social media has fundamentally changed the way people engage with culture, providing an unprecedented opportunity for individuals to interact with each other and form communities around shared interests, identities, and experiences. At the heart of this shift is the concept of participatory culture, which refers to the ways in which individuals play an active role in shaping their own culture through creative production and consumption practices. This theory has important implications for our understanding of how social media alters the nature of cultural production and consumption.

Hinton and Hjorth's (2013) article "Participation and user-generated content" highlights that social media platforms enable individuals to assume new roles as content producers, distributors, and curators. This shift not only democratized cultural production, but created new opportunities for individuals to express themselves, form communities, and engage in civic discourse. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have facilitated the rise of user-generated content, which has upended traditional media production and consumption models. Through these platforms, users can create and share their own content, organize other people's content, and engage in discussions with other users.

However, the participatory culture facilitated by social media also presents challenges as it is an emerging culture. But Jenkins (2009) argues that these challenges can be addressed through media education, which can help individuals develop the necessary skills and critical perspectives to deal with the complex social and cultural dynamics of participatory cultures. By equipping individuals with the knowledge and skills to use social media ethically and responsibly, media education can help promote a more democratic, inclusive and socially just participatory culture.

And, as an interesting thing Jenkins (2010) mentioned in a Ted Talk, a member from Chile, he thinks that the game Warcraft can help Latin America integrate into the world. This sounds unbelievable, and it makes people wonder whether the congressman is doing his job well. But in fact, there is a truth hidden behind this. As Jenkins said, this actually represents a new type of way for people to communicate with each other. This is a way of change.

If you haven’t done it yet, you probably will soon.  If someone younger than you hasn’t done it yet it’s almost a certainty that they will very soon.  I am referring to the Participatory Culture of modern social media.  Participatory culture is the act of posting, sharing, or creating content online.  Inevitably, along the way those who participate form connections with others online.  These connections can take the form of mentee’s, mentorships or just friends sharing similar interests.  One of the most important aspects of participatory culture is that everyone believes that their contributions and opinions matter to the culture.

There’s this thing about participating - without participation modern social media just becomes a one-way street and we end up being consumers of content.  By bridging the gap between consuming and creating content we become active members who shape and guide the online communities in which we partake.  Much of the social media engine is now driven by denizens who actively share and engage in these communities (Hinton & Hjorth, 2013).  It’s possible for nearly anyone to find a place they belong - we’re brought together through nearly any shared affiliation from work to all types of play.  It’s relatively easy to become involved in these participatory social media sites.  Sharing and contributing is highly encouraged and sites make it easy to do so (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2009) . 

I have been a contributor to Stack Overflow and Github for a number of years - Essentially, since I began learning software development in earnest.  Both of these sites are used by developers.  Some of the users have just started down the path of learning while others have been software developers longer than the sites have been in existence.  Initially, when I was learning I leaned heavily on both of these communities to learn my craft.  The scenario was familiar, I would post a question and be overwhelmed by an active community.  Often, someone was or had encountered the same issue or question and was able to respond in depth.  I was often inspired by their patience and understanding.  Everyone’s generosity begged my own. Eventually, I started searching for questions that I could answer because I wanted to contribute back to such helpful communities.  Now I still frequent both of these sites, but now I am able to provide answers to the community as well as ask questions.  Either way these sites were instrumental in helping me get started as a software developer and now I am able to give back.

Throughout this paper, I’m going to talk about social media and how it is correlated with participatory culture. Before we even start, what is participatory culture? Participatory culture is defined by new learning online as “a culture where there are low barriers to artistic expression and civic occasions.”. Not only that Henry Jenkins defines participatory culture as a culture where we make media as well as consume it”. He continues to explain participatory culture as a strong support for sharing contact with others, informal, mentorship, members, believing their contributions matter, and care about others, opinions of self, and work.”. What does this mean? This means that participatory culture is a culture that allows people via social media to be them, true selves and create artistic expression through the form of whatever social media platform you choose to use. For example, say you’re on Instagram. Participatory culture would look like people that are participating in contributing value, diverse opinions, and comments on each other's posts, while embracing everyone’s perspective in everyone's fashion. The reason why I say this is an example is because being able to embrace everyone’s perspective and ways of contribution allows us to continue to grow as human beings and the ways of participatory culture.

Let’s talk about how Content is being made by people throughout the world, and why it’s important to create content that is not only artistic and passionate, and that expresses yourself as a person. “Creating content not only involves creativity, but also time, motion, and various forms of capital (social, cultural, and sometimes economic)” (Hinton & Hjorth, 2013). The reason for why I’m bringing this part of the text up is so that we can continue to understand that not everything in social media is a simple, personal blog or a selfie. A lot of things and the majority of the things in social media are planned out, strategized, researched, artistically expressed. Many of the things that we see in social media are things that are either educators or things that are therefore in entertainment mainly.

We are going to talk about different ways on how to practice participatory culture within your life. One way to practice it between cultures in your life is by building a community telling stories and producing media. And being able to do this, will allow you to be distinctive and create something that is very valuable in your life. Another way that you can practice participatory culture is by being informed. What being informed in the participatory culture looks like it is by spreading the word, and then learning about the issues that are taking place. You could also practice participatory culture by connecting with others, and branching out beyond your group by networking yourself. This is very important because being able to network yourself throughout your life, and throughout social media will allow you to explore and be more innovative than what you initially thought. Overall, practicing participatory culture will allow you to become more of the experts in the world and you to become truly adaptive and innovative to what the world has entailed.