A bridge across the digital divide
Jill Cueni-Cohen reports in the
Pittsburg Post-Gazette.com that a nondenominational Christian mission,
Lighthouse Foundation, continues classes that encourage senior adults, homeless young adults, single parents with young children, and young children in Butler County to get hands on training using computers.
Rev. Jay Geisler, founder of Faith Tech, commented on the digital divide:
"..people in rural areas are not as computer literate as those in urban and suburban areas, which made the Lighthouse facility a perfect candidate."
"Lighthouse courses already have a long waiting list. They have a strong volunteer base, a strong mailing list, and they're doing a lot to let people know that it exists."
Tom Richey, the
Lighthouse Foundation's associate executive director added the following:
"...providing computer classes is just as important as providing food and shelter."
"It would be easy for some to say there are hungry people, why are you messing around with tech classes? I'm a semi-technical dolt myself, but I also believe that this is no longer a frill -- it is increasingly a necessity for quality of life."
"...people who don't use computers often feel inept and left behind. They might have a computer, but they can't even turn it on -- and when their grandchildren try to teach them, they don't have the patience. It really impacts people's self image. "
"But you just have to do it -- usually in the company of someone who knows what to do."
"In our first class, we had a 10-year-old home-schooled boy and an 83-year-old man who wanted to get up to speed...it cuts across socioeconomic boundaries, and is open to everyone."
The article makes an interesting comparison between the acceptance and diffusion of the telephone as a technology (now considered a necessity by most Americans) and the computer.
The Dragon notes that recognition of the gap in this case came from individuals who are not generally associated with academia or those who are looking down from high tech perches. These are people generally associated with lower socio-economic status whose struggles often include the simplest of human needs. With recognition of the technology gap came two sets of outreached hands: one from those in need and another from a socially concious agency reaching across the digital divide to the other.
Significant also to the Dragon were references to fear of computers by senior citizens, particularly "fear of destroying it, deleting something, damaging the computer."
With the sucess of the
Lighthouse Foundation, the Dragon is asking, where is the best place for construction to begin in spanning the digital divide? The Dragon has been at home in academia, business, and govenment for some time... are there real and perceived barriers that would prevent academia (and others) from adding bricks and mortar to the construction project? More importanly, are the doors too threatening or too hard to open to even have access to the construction zone for those who want in?
So, this tale is more sociological (perhaps
sociodigital)...but the Dragon is interested.... and it feels pretty good to have a social agency hanging on to the tip of the tail.
