Another Harvard weblog — the Center’s Weblog. 

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is a research program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development.

I like this introductory description of “The Digital Divide”,  an issue detined to become a key issue as Churches and Theological Communication agencies increasingly adopt Web-based technologies,  and experience the relational benefits of it;  the ones who would fail to reap those benefits are often the ones most likely to need those benefits in order to “make a go” and level the playing field just a bit. 

Conceptualizing the “Digital Divide” |from BOLD series intro page at Harvard

Knowledge and Information are key drivers of human freedom, growth, well-being and progress. The Internet and other networked information technologies are capable of delivering this potential widely and effectively. They can help people listen, but can also help them speak and be heard.

Regardless of how “neutral” we may consider information technology networks to be, their ability to deliver the benefits of knowledge and information are cabined by the social, political and economic milieu they operate within. The benefits will likely be shared unequally – some countries will gain more than others; some individuals and groups within countries will gain more than others. Technology-haves gain rapidly while technology have-nots will be left behind. This reinforces, if not increases, the divides. This is the problem of the “digital divide”.

The digital divide operates unchecked in a world without intervention. Fortunately, our world is not one such. National governments, development agencies, inter- and non-governmental organisations, citizens groups and even individuals can take, and have taken, steps to positively influence the technology infrastructure and information environment.

Contemporary efforts aim to:
· make access easier and wider,
· make content more useful and relevant,
· promote entrepreneurial efforts, and
· change laws and policies so as to foster information creation and knowledge sharing

Such efforts improve the readiness of a political economy to gain from the benefits that information, and information and communication technologies have to offer and to share the benefits more widely and equitably.

What are the contours of the efforts we have mentioned above? What is their interplay? How do we choose, if we need to, between the appropriateness of various initiatives? What are the various hurdles that people seeking to change the status quo are faced with in the field and in officialdom? How do we design a plan of action sensitive to the needs and circumstances of a particular region or group? How do we determine what problems are worth dealing with using technology, and in what priority? These are some of the difficult questions that we will ask. We hope you will participate by sharing your experiences, opinions and thoughts.

I’m really glad to see all of this being discussed at Harvard.  I want to go back and review some of the resources from the PBS series on The Digital Divide.  There was a book by that name thatI have looked at during a few of my Borders/BarnesAndNoble coffee stops.