Student ID: 2150586 PM501 SS1 2T Tutor: Kinga Maior
Module Code: PM 501 - 2T(SS1)
Class Group: Group Z
Module Title: Skill for Study 1
Assessment: Final Essay
Assignment Title: To what extent is lack of IT skills the primary cause behind the digital divide in the UK?
Tutor Name: Kinga Maior
Date of Submission: March 27th, 2014
DIGITAL DIVIDE
In the mid-to-late 1990s the concept of 'Digital divide' firstly appeared in the United States at the same time with the internet dot-com booms (Warschauer, 2003:11). At that moment, it was referred to "the unequal access to computer and network resources, including the Internet, opportunities to use information and communication technologies" (Otani, 2003:1). Public debate often addressed the problem as device and equipment issue, some even viewed this as a reflection to the social inequality. Nonetheless, when the internet is well-known among the population and speedily became a popular type of computing, the issue is not only recognized as gaps in access material but also the insufficiency in Information technology skills (IT skills).
Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the contribution of IT skills (internet skills and instrumental skills) to the Digital Divide while analyzing the changes of physical access problem in order to identify the true factor of the issue in the modern word. This essay aim to explore the ideal that while disparity of access material has been shortened, IT skills are becoming a key influential attribute of the Digital Divide.
At the very first research, the main factor for Digital Divide was addressed by inequalities in ownership of technology devices. According to a report named "Falling Through the Net", produced by The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in 1995, the percentage of households with income less than $10,000 have a Computer (4.5%) are outnumbered by people...