Reed Chapter 9

Reed's chapter 9 addresses the topic of the digital gap. What it generally entails is the fact that the world is not entirely connected to the internet, which creates a gap that separates cultures from the modern era of technology. Reed makes some case points: the lack of representation and diversity on the web is jarring and discouraging, given that the population of China is much greater than the United States, yet English is the most predominant language on the web. Reed also refers to the fact that there are less Japanese speakers out there but they are over-represented. The term "have-nots" is something that refers to people who do not have access to the internet.

I'm not sure how much I felt about Reed's chapter, but since we are on the topic of the digital divide, I'd like to also discuss what I learned from a book I read last semester: "Crossing the Digital Divide: Race, Writing, and Technology in the Classroom" by Barbara Monroe. She made sure to make it clear that there is a difference between the "have-nots" and "want-nots". Just because there are people out there that do not have access to the internet or technology does not mean they are unintelligent or poor. There are people out there that feel they do not need these things, instead they feel a need to have necessities, such as food, water, and shelter, rather than technology.

Monroe created many different case studies to show the many cases of the digital divide, and race does play a major part in it. She had a case study that had college students become tutors to inner-city young African-American students. They had a large discrepancy between styles and use with technology. The African-American students were inadvertently being put down as the white college students did not realize their privilege over the African-American students. Thus it was found the African-American students avoided using AAVE and sometimes fabricated stories of wealth to appear similar to their tutors.

The digital divide is long from being bridged, but one has to remember that it's not tragic that people do not have access to these technologies or the internet. Having the lack of access does not imply anything of the individual themselves, but more of the government they are under.

Sometimes the lack of technology and internet can be seen as an economic issue, that poor people just can't afford it. And this is true, however the individual cannot be seen as unintelligent (like they can't figure out how to use a computer) or lazy (why they can't just get a better job or go back to college). This is because poverty is systemic problem.