New (and extended) final paper topic

Essentially what I will do is argue that the digital divide is ever moving and changing in size, but will never close. Part of this is due to current approaches that seem to focus on getting people onto the Internet and into cyberspace with the appropriate tools, but as we more fully migrate into cyberspace issues similar to those that create barriers between people and communities in the real world will continue to divide communities and fragment cyberspace.

(Sorry for the repetition below)

Although society may ensure everyone has access to cyberspace, has the mental tools to assert themselves in cyberspace, and can afford access, new issues have already started to and will continue to perpetuate the digital divide in other ways. The digital divide will become less about the issues noted at the top of this paragraph and more about accessing people and content in cyberspace. The digital divide will never close; current events and those in the recent past demonstrate that this gap will continue to hinder our ability to find equal footing in cyberspace for the foreseeable future.

Resources:
Carvin, Andy. "1's and 0's: Mind the Gap: The Digital Divide as the Civil Rights Issue of the
    New Millennium." Information Today. MultiMedia Schools, January 2000. Web.

- Explanation of digital divide and solutions
Carvin points to several factors that contribute to or make up the digital divide. I will use these to outline a common conception of what the digital divide currently is. One of the major issues Carvin notes is community; this will also be my major point. Overally, I will use article this as a starting point to illustrate how "solving" these issues and getting more people into cyberspace will also migrate these divisions into cyberspace communities and ultimately create new barriers.

Cotten, Sheila, William Anderson, and Zeynep Tufekci. "Old Wine in a New Technology, Or a Different
     Type of Digital Divide?". New Media Society 11.7  (2009): 1163-1186.


- Technology/Tools perpetuate the digital divide
This article explores the differences in how tools (mobile phones) are used by male and female users and how these different experiences in cyberspace, which are created through inexpensive, increasingly common, and non-uniform devices, are creating new barriers, not to entry, but between people and resources in cyberspace. I will use this source to explain how an increase access can cause fragmentation of a relatively uniform space as more people and means are added to the mix.
[May also find additional resources exploring how rich multimedia experiences in cyberspace can lead to issues of who and what we can access (e.g mobile devices (iPad/Phone) with no Flash, but certain resources require Flash).]

Kolko, Beth and Elizabeth Reid. "Dissolution and Fragmentation: Problems in On-Line Communities," 
     CyberSociety 2.0. Ed. Steve Jones. Thousand Oaks, Calif.:Sage Publications. 2000.

 - Self-selecting communities and inconsistent identities continue digital divide
In this essay Kolko and Reid discuss, in further detail, issues similar to those Dibbel discussed in "A Rape in Cyberspace." The article explores how people interact in online spaces, what issues arise, identity inconsistency as we more fully involve ourselves online, and how this level of anonymity can ultimately break online communities and create distance between users. I will use the examples noted in this essay to expose the fragility of wholly virtual communities and how these communities can create closeness, but at the same time keep people from fully engaging with others.


McCalla, Gordon. "The Fragmentation of Culture, Learning, Teaching and Technology: Implications for the
     Artificial Intelligence in Education Research Agenda in 2010." International Journal of Artificial 
     Intelligence in Education 11 (2000): 177-196.

-Further information related to Kolko article
This article discusses community retraction/specialization/exclusivity in the face of a growing pool of information and people. Not everyone will have access to information at the same time. They will have the ability to get the information, but certain (self-)imposed boundaries or restrictions in their "corner" of cyberspace will result in them accessing something ahead of or behind the curve that, given the rapid pace of change in today's cyberspace, will leave them disconnected on some level.


Souza e Silva, Adriana de. "From Cyber to Hybrid: Mobile technologies as interfaces of hybrid spaces." The 
      Cybercultures Reader. Ed. David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy. New York: Routledge, 2007.
      757 -772.

-Increases access to cyberspace through cheaper and more convenient(?) devices.
Souza e Silva explores the proliferation of cellular phones and how new spaces are being created. This increased access can potentially lead to bridging the digital divide. However, even as indirectly noted in the article, these spaces become divided through geography, technology, and community connections. I will use this as a counter point of sorts to my argument and point to examples in the article to link to other articles and points in my argument.

Ada Lovelace Day

Prior to being introduced to it by way of this blog post, I was completely unaware of Ada Lovelace Day. I know about Ada Lovelace, but the idea of a day devoted to Ada Lovelace and other women in technology and science is new to me, but completely awesome. 

Initially I started thinking about women in traditional science who I learned about in elementary and high school; unfortunately, it seems like women in technology and science are under-represented and those who are noted receive most, if not all, of the attention (Lovelace and Curie specifically). So, I decided to consider women in the more contemporary realm of the web and one of the first women to come to mind was Lifehacker.com founder Gina Trapani. I've read Lifehacker off and on for the past few years and the resource/community she has built is impressive and her efforts are something everyone should aspire to.

Before actually checking Ginatrapani.org, I assumed that Gina was primarly a blogger and focused more on book writing after becoming less involved with Lifehacker.com. However, that's just a small portion of Gina Trapani's contribution to technology. She's also a programmer of several internet tools and is working with a company on a platform that the White House will use to gain insight into what people in various social networks think about policy and other issues.

Check out http://ginatrapani.org/ to see all the other cool stuff she's working on.

The Final (Topic) Countdown....

That title is terrible, I'm sorry. Anyway, I've been struggling finding a topic I want to stick with and I think what I've settled on is teetering on the verge of report and argument, so I'd appreciate any feedback.

The current iteration of the web and cyberspace communities in general have been called collaborative, social, and supportive. Most of these have positive connotations, but anti-social and negative activities still occur all these years after the events outlined in Dibble's "A Rape in Cyberspace." Although we like to think that people and cyberspace have evolved over the past 10+ years I argue that cyberspace has tremendous potential for creating good, but it is also a cesspool for awfulness, which can be seen on a regular basis. Examples: Myspace suicide, griefing in online games, chatroulette trolls, etc.

I may also argue that this is not necessarily happening because people take on "different" identities in cyberspace, but rather accentuating latent or suppressed facets of their real world identities. Real world has more to do with crafting specific identities and rules of conduct than cyberspace. Supporting concept: Idea that there is less risk and fewer perceived enforced norms in cyberspace/virtual spaces.