Policy Brief for Equal Access for School districts

History
The history of what is called the digital divide is brief. It is brief because we have only been in the information age for about 20 years. In general the Digital divide is the term for the discrepancy between computer and technological access for different peoples due to social, educational, economic, age, or regional differences.

How does the Digital Divide Affect Us?
The digital divide does not only pertain to third world and developing countries. The US has a digital divide along racial, age and economic lines. This is diminishing the ability of the US to tap into a wealth of skill and ability.
The one-laptop per child is just one program that has been very successful in other countries and in the US. Many school districts in California spent precious Educational Technology Grant money on providing laptops for each student at a specific level.

What is being done about the Digital Divide?
Nicholas Negroponte reported on his One Laptop per Child project at the TED conference in 2007. The actual cost of the laptop is $180.00 and falling. There are many agencies working on closing this divide including schools. One of the problems is that new hardware is expensive and requires maintenance. This is expensive. Schools should be promoting computer technicians from within, training students to repair and upgrade machines thus providing their population with computers and training students for great jobs in the not so distant future.

What sectors are affected?
If schools and learning agencies do not address the digital divide it will widen and many jobs that could be done in the US will have to be outsourced. We (educators and policy planners), must ensure technical knowledge and ability for students in our schools. Their future employers will demand proficiency in computer use in the business office, hospitality industry, healthcare, automotive industry and agriculture. The future financial health of our community depends on training and facilitating technological proficiency today and in the future. The cost for ignoring this problem is unconscionable.

What can we do at our site?
A committee dedicated to procuring hardware and providing access to training for the upkeep and upgrading of this software for each school district in the area should be created. Each school site will be charged with selecting interested students to be trained and employed by the district to maintain and upgrade systems at the site. Grant money and donations, along with existing Educational Technology Grand moneys will be expended in accordance to our Technology Use Mission Statement.

Quality assurance
One person from each site will be responsible to physically check the progress of the programs 10 times each year, submitting the findings to the committee and the district Technology Director.

Reference
The International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI) http://www.icdri.org/CynthiaW/the_digital_divide.htm

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) Bridging the Digital Divide:Internet Access in Central and Eastern Europe http://www.cdt.org/international/ceeaccess/countrydetail.shtml

Internet Access & the Digital Divide: Information Inequality at Local & Global Levels http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/internet/divide.html

DCCPS: Information & Resources: Digital Divide Resources http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/cancer_resources-digdivide.html

Special Populations Web sites
Web site from Colorado Department of Education Library Services to Diverse and Special Populations
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/diversity/Resources-Programs.htm

Special Populations.... KidSmart Early Learning Program (November, 2005) ... Building a Bridge Across the Digital Divide (November, 2000) ...
http://uwnyc.org/technews/special_populations.html

Policies Web Site
National Distance Education Centre: The Digital Divide in the EU: National Policies and Access to ICTs in the Member States
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/bridging-digital-divide-eu-policies/article-132315

NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION FALLING THROUGH THE NET II: NEW DATA ON THE DIGITAL DIVIDE (1997)
View Report: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/falling.html
View Charts & Graph: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/charts.html

Other PDF’s of Interest
DOES THE DIGITAL DIVIDE STILL EXIST? Bush Administration Shrugs, But Evidence Says "Yes" http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/links/pdf/introduction/0.26a.pdf

Digital divide or digital development? The Internet in Mexico by James Curry and Martin Kenney First Monday, volume 11, number 3 (March 2006), URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_3/curry/index.html