Previous Post: The Sun-Oracle Next Post: Joshua and his amazing technicolor guitar
Digital “social” divide: a thought
April 25, 2009 at 13:37
We hear about the digital divide, but there is also a more social aspect holding some users back. While I don’t have actual recorded data to back up this hypothesis I would like to posit the idea that there is a “privacy divide” which is a cultural divide more closely linked to age and the associated attitudes toward privacy. Just as in the movie “Pleasantville” life turned from black and white to color as a garden-of-eden-like self-awareness descended upon the 1960s I propose that there has been a similar opening up of ones private life with the dawn of the electronic social network. These open attitudes are embraced particularly by college undergraduates and younger students but has also affected social networking users of all ages to some extent. If we, as developers of new educational communications technologies, can understand what exactly the needs and preferences are of this new group I believe we are a step closer to better serving them by designing systems that enable learning by working within this.
Tags: digital divide, Education, social networking
