Module 7 – Digital Divide, Neo-Luddism & Evaluating Information Resources

Vocabulary flashcards that cover core terms and concepts from the lecture on the digital divide, Neo-Luddism, and evaluating information resources.

Digital Divide

The gap between people who have access to technology and digital literacy and those who do not.

Information & Communications Technology (ICT)

A broad set of tools—such as computers, mobile phones, and the internet—used to create, store, share, or exchange information.

Technology Leg of Digital Divide

The availability of adequate devices (e.g., computers, tablets, smartphones) needed to participate online; 5M students did not have access to do schoolwork from home in fall 2020.

Internet Access Leg

Reliable, affordable connectivity that lets users reach online resources; 27% of Americans do not have access.

Digital Literacy Leg

The skills and know-how required to use digital tools effectively and safely.

Homework Gap

The disadvantage schoolchildren face when they receive internet-based assignments but lack home access.

Global Digital Divide

Inequities in technology access between countries or world regions; include geographic, socioeconomic, age, gender, social digital, and language

Geographic Divide

Technology gaps caused by where people live—especially differences between rural and urban areas.

Socioeconomic Divide

Disparity in digital access based on income and economic status.

Age Divide

Differences in technology use and adoption between younger and older generations.

Gender Divide

Lower levels of digital access, skills, or usage experienced by women in some regions.

Social Digital Divide

Online communities that form around shared interests, potentially excluding those without access.

Language Divide

Barriers created when online content is not available in a person’s primary language.

Causes of the Digital Divide

Factors such as geography, income, motivation, education, age, race, culture, and language that limit digital access.

Consequences of the Digital Divide

Restricted information access, educational inequities, limited job prospects, slower economic growth, and social isolation.

Health Care Patients & Digital Divide:

With the rise of Telehealth services as viable options for contacting health care providers, people without access to broadband and computing devices will lack access to these additional tools.

Internet Penetration (ITU 2022)

• 89% in Europe

• Over 80% in the America

• 70% in the Arab States

• 64% in Asia

• 40% in Africa

Internet for All (IFA) Initiative

U.S. federal plan aiming to provide affordable high-speed internet to everyone by 2029.

Neo-Luddism

A philosophy opposing many modern technologies, often advocating simpler living or halting tech development.

New-Luddite Views

Beliefs that computers cause:

• massive unemployment and de-skilling of jobs

• social inequity

• weaken communities and families and lead to isolation of people

• “manufacture needs": we use them because they are there

• separate humans from nature and destroy the environment

• benefit big business and big government

• thwarts development of social skills, human values, and intellectual skills in children

• do little or nothing to solve real problem

CRAAP Test

A five-part checklist—Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose—for evaluating information quality.

Currency (CRAAP)

Assesses how timely and up-to-date the information or its links are.

Relevance (CRAAP)

Evaluates whether the information meets the user’s needs and target audience level.

Authority (CRAAP)

Judges the credibility of the source; author, publisher, or sponsoring organization.

Accuracy (CRAAP)

Determines the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content.

Purpose (CRAAP)

Identifies why the information exists—inform, teach, sell, entertain, or persuade—and checks for bias.

Credible Sources

Materials from government sites, universities, peer-reviewed journals, and reputable news outlets.

Less Credible Sources

Blogs, forums, individual/business sites, sites with potential ulterior motives or unchecked content.

URL Top-Level Domain

The ending of a web address (e.g., .gov, .edu, .org) that hints at a site’s nature and trustworthiness.

Evaluating Information Resources

The process of critically assessing sources for credibility, bias, and reliability using tools like the CRAAP test.

What does URL stand for?

Uniform Resource Locator

.com

commercial; shopping, business, news

.edu

educational; schools, libraries

.gov

government; usually stats, public info, facts, agency databases

.org

organization; non-profits, interest groups

.net

network; internet service provider, sponsor personal sites

T/F: The negatives of technology clearly outweigh the positives.

True

What is the purpose of technology for luddites? Non-luddites?

To Luddites, it is to eliminate jobs to reduce cost of production.

To non-Luddites, it is to reduce effort needed to produce goods and services.

Neo-Luddites

Non-affiliated groups who resist modern technologies and dictate a return of some or all technologies to a more primitive level.

Neo Luddism Characteristics

• passively abandoning the use of technology

• harming those who produce technology harmful to the environment

• advocating simple living

• sabotaging technology

• call for slowing or stopping the development of new technologies

• belief that current technologies are a threat to humanity and to the natural world (future societal collapse is probable).

Digital Divide Solutions

• Increase affordability

• Empower users

• Improve online content relevance

• Develop internet infrastructure

• Address gender gaps (women use less than men)

T/F: Roughly a quarter of adults with annual household incomes below $25,000 don’t own a smartphone.

False: $30,000

T/F: 43% of adults on lower incomes do not have home broadband services.

True

T/F: 21% of adults on lower incomes don't have a desktop or laptop computer.

False: 41%

T/F: Worldwide, 70% of men are using the Internet, compared with 65% of women. This means that globally, there are 244 million more men than women using the Internet in 2023.

True

T/F: 79% of people aged between 15 and 24 use the Internet, 14 percentage points more than among the rest of the population (65%).

True

T/F: In low-income countries, 15- to 24-year-olds are almost twice as unlikely to use the Internet than other people in those countries, in relative terms.

False; Twice as likely

T/F: Worldwide, 81% of urban dwellers use the Internet in 2023, compared with only 40% of the population in rural areas.

False; 50%

T/F: The digital divide creates significant challenges for students. The problems caused by the digital divide in education includes both short-term and long-term challenges.

True

Long-Term Challenges of Digital Divide for Students

Limits career opportunities and creates less financial stability.

Short-Term Challenges of Digital Divide for Students

Lack of broadband access leads to learning challenges and limited access to relevant materials.

T/F: 36% of low-income students couldn’t complete their schoolwork because they didn’t have a computer compared to 14% of middle-income and 4% of upper-income students.

True

Who Is Affected by the Digital Divide?

It affects all generations – both rural and urban communities – as well as a wide variety of industries and sectors.

Groups affected by the digital divide?

School Children, workforce & employers, health care patients, residents.

School Children & Digital Divide:

School-age children are affected by the digital divide through the Homework Gap

Workforce & Employers & Digital Divide:

The rapid pace at which technology and required technology skills are advancing in the workplace is leaving behind workers without digital skills, access to the internet and computing devices. It’s also having an impact on businesses efficiency and competitiveness.

Residents & Digital Divide:

Government are increasingly offering services online, and those without access to broadband and computing devices cannot access those services or participate in community activities that require access.

2 Digital Divide Types:

Global, low-income homes in the US

3 Legs of Digital Divide:

Technology, internet access, digital literacy.

Digital Divide Impact on Education:

Disparities in access limit learning and long-term opportunities.