Digital Divide And Factors Affecting Digital Literacy Education Essay
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Information & Digital Literacy COMM110 ESSAY Digital divide is an international issue and a new feature of contemporary inequality between digital users. Several researchers have used the term “Digital divide” to differentiate between people who are better able to gain control over technologies and master digital skills than others (C. Jones & Czerniewicz, 2010)(Harambam et al. 2012). Ferro, Gil-Garcia, and Helbig (2007) present digital divide as an “inequality in the relationship between groups of individuals and their relationship with information communication technologies (ICTs)” (2007, p. 266). However, researchers differentiate between two distinct levels of digital divide (Attewell and Gates, 2012)(Korupp 2005). The first level of digital divide is the inequality and varying levels of computing and i……………………..ital divide from the second level.
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Write My Essay For MeResearchers proposed various reasons that stand behind the digital divide among the individuals. One of the most fundamental aspects of digital divide is different population groups. For instance, home differences in computer and internet access are one of the factors that cause the digital divide.
Researchers also claim that, age and generation gap between technological users are the main factors of these differences (Carrington & Marsh, 2005; Prensky, 2001a; 2001b; Snyder, 2007). Hence, older citizens for whom new technology has arrived late in life are less skilful than the younger generation. However, other researchers doubt these claims that can be generalized. For example, a study conducted by Eshet-Alkalai and Chajut (2009) to distinguish between the age, generation gap, and the usability experience as factors responsible for the changes through time in individuals’’ digital skills.
The researchers used three matched control groups, which are similar in age and demographic background to the groups of previous study conducted by Eshet-Alkalai and Amichai-Hamburger (2004). They tested their groups with similar tasks that have been used in the study of Eshet-Alkalai and Amichai-Hamburger (2004). The researchers found that digital literacy skills change significantly over time and the commonly held notion that the younger generation is more digitally literate than older technology users is not an accurate fact.
Thence, experience with technology is responsible for the changes over time in digital literacy skills, regardless of users’ age. This indicates that digital literacy skills change over time and is not equally shared among all age groups. The experience of using technology in every day is responsible for individual’s digital skills changes (Y Eshet-Alkalai & Chajut 2010) (Hargittai, 2005, Nielsen & Tahir, 2002). Therefore, this indicates clearly that the reason that stands behind th,……………..………
