This post is a result of a collaborative effort. The raw data for the post is available here. Thanks to everyone in class for contributing to the shared notes.

The discussion topic for today’s edition of the class Introduction to Civic Media (CMS 360/860) was the digital divide. The reading list included surveys of trends in American Internet usage, along with texts that explore the factors associated with disparities in access and usage.

Here is a summary of some of the points discussed in class:

Comparison of business ownership by race and ethnicity: According to the data from the 2002 US Economic Census, the “Information” sector (which includes TV, Radio and Newspaper) is not radically different from other businesses when it comes to racial and ethnic diversity of the employees.
Minority employment in daily newspapers: Yearly data from 1978 to 2009 (from the American Society of Newspapers) show that the total number of full-time employees in daily newspapers peaked in 2001, and has slowly declined since then (2009 levels are similar to 1980 level). However, the decline has not been as sharp as some would lead us to believe. An overall positive trend has been the percentage of minorities in the workforce, which has increased consistently throughout, from 3.95% in 1979 to 13.41% in 2009. One of the points raised during the discussion, was however, that women and minority are usually the last to be hired and the first to be fired (the last hired first fired principle).
Media ownership by race and gender: According to FCC data cited in Beresteanu and Ellickson, the involvement by women and minorities in broadcast media is very low. For example, in 2005, minority ownership of TV broadcast was 0.96%. One drawback of the data cited in the text, it was pointed out, is the fact there was no intersectional analysis where race and gender are considered together.
Broadcast News TV/Radio and Public Broadcaster Station (PBS) workforce: Minority employment data from 1995-2008 shows that the situation for private TV and radio is slightly better than newspapers, but data from 2009-2010 may show the last hired first fired phenomena again.
PBS has higher than national averages for minorities and women in broadcast TV and radio, but is still declining since recession 2008.
It seems that there are a number of rich data sets of this sort available for public use, but they are under-publicized. There is also a need for better visualizations of these data sets, especially dynamic, interactive visualizations.
Broadband usage trends in the United States (2007-2009 data): In the United States, ⅔ of homes have broadband access. However, as one dives further into the data, it gets more nuanced. In terms of race, there are large inequalities, but the overall trend over time is positive.
Looking at the data in terms of income levels, in households falling under the minimum wage threshold, less than ⅓ have broadband Internet connection.
Regional case study: Los Angeles: The Modarres and Pitkin study Technology and the Geography of Inequality in Los Angeles (2006) surveys connectivity and access in various Los Angeles neighborhoods. Survey measurements were a combination various connectivity and access factors, such as broadband availability, number of mobile devices, etc. This data was compared with measurements of income and educational levels, and it was observed that there is a high correlation between socioeconomic status (SES) and technology access. Areas with low SES had low technology access.
However, there are factors other than SES which can affect level of access to technology. Citizen status and language are such examples – English not spoken in the household is one the highest predictors for the lack of access to the Internet (independent of SES)
There is a need for more studies like this. A similar study for Boston, for example, might be a good project for anyone interested in this area.
The romanticization of the Internet with respect to diversity: While the Internet is often put forward as a great leveler, data suggest that the employment diversity percentage for online media is worse than their offline counterparts. Ownership percentage scores better, but the scale of ownership of Internet based media sources remained an open question.
Factors affecting Internet use and access to technology: According to Hargittai in The Digital Reproduction of Inequality (2008), demographics (age/gender), the quality of access and relative freedom of access (access from a public resource such as library as opposed to home computers) are some of the more important factors affecting “access to technology” in a larger sense. A point of contention is whether one needs to have an offline social network that is also online to access the Internet meaningfully. If the Internet is seen as a means of empowerment, and if one looks at the historical use of the Internet (“solitary experience of explorations”, as one discussant put it), it is tempting to say that such a social network is not required. However, support from one’s immediate society (even if it is not actively online) is essential. Also, physically knowing someone who is using similar technologies, and being able to share experiences with that person often helps.
The changing value of the network, or the power of simultaneous use: A question that came up was, the value of the network increases exponentially with the number of users, but what happens to those excluded as the proportion of the connected population increases ?
The drawbacks of remaining disconnected increases exponentially as the rest of the world gets connected exponentially. Thus the urgency of exploring and addressing the factors behind digital inequalities becomes even more critical.
From the “digital divide” to the “participation gap”: ICT fits completely within larger social structures. We have seen an online recreation of the same issues that divide us in the offline world — real world structures get projected in our virtual world as well. Indeed, ICT brings us more opportunities and possibilities, but inequalities remain. Deeper issues affecting access and participation include cultural and linguistic relevance (in the application and content layers) and overall significance for the target demographic.

Branching off from the discussion, the class divided into small groups to brainstorm about and explore factors behind digital inequalities. Each group came up with their list/mappings and tweeted their visual representations (1,2,3,4).