Addressing the Digital Divide

It is difficult to speculate what I would do as a leader in educational technology to "make emerging technologies valuable to others while maintaining gender, cultural, and socioeconomic sensitivity." William Gibson's quote, "The future has arrived; it just wasn't equally distributed," brings to mind the fact that there are those in the world for whom technology is probably still a mystery while others complain about how overwhelming it could be in their daily lives.

With so much strife, so much turmoil in the world (which has always been the case), technology has placed us instantaneously in the middle of it all, making it seem so much closer, so much more urgent. Soloway says that one out of two people in the world has access to a cell phone, which means that thousands can be rallied, keeping them all informed during a melee, with the touch of a button. They have a little bit of the future at their fingertips, but just not enough to level the playing field of technology.

Perhaps working in my own educational community to provide technology awareness to students would be a start. Most students are unaware that there is something called emerging technology, since they are still grappling with understanding emerged technology that is right in their midst. They have access to laptops and computers in the school but those tools of technology are not used very much because a budgetary squeeze negates hiring instructors. It would probably be beneficial if students could take laptops home to enhance their sills but is is against the city department of education policy. It is extremely frustrating to see that in this country there is an unequal distribution of the "future" within our own communities.


Soloway, E. (n.d.). The digital divide: Leveling the playing field [Podcast]. Laureate Education, Inc., Walden University.

Thornburg, D. (2009). Diversity and globalism. [Vodcast]. Laureate Education, Inc., Walden University.