Session Information
16 SES 04.5 PS, General Poster Session
General Poster Session
Contribution
For some years now, the digital communication literacy is considered essential for the full social integration of individuals. In Britain, for example, according to the Qualifications Curriculum Authority it is "an essential skill for life and enables learners to participate in a rapidly changing world" (QCA 2007). For this reason, the learning of this skill cannot happen without a structured commitment from the education system in order to prevent any inequality. If in the early years of the Internet inequality regarded the simple access, more recently this digital access divide has reduced substantially . But having equal access to the Internet does not mean that everyone has equal access to knowledge and opportunity (Boyd, 2014). According to Putnam compared to their poorer counterparts, young people from upper-class backgrounds (and their parents) are more likely to use the Internet for jobs, education, political and social engagement, health, and news gathering, and less for entertainment or recreation (Putnam, 2015, p. 212; Hargittai & Hinnant, 2008). One of the consequences of this digital inequality is the so-called “Matthew effect” (Merton, 1973) whereby initial advantages translate into increasing returns over time: those having more experience with technologies and more exposure to various communication media or those whose social circles include users savvy about the Web will benefit more from the Web by using it in a more sophisticated manner and for more types of information retrieval and denying access to better resources to the underprivileged (Hargittai, 2003). In other words offline inequalities carry over online and Internet seems more likely to widen the opportunity gap than to close it (Hargittai, 2008).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Boyd, D. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Fraillon, J., Ainley, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T., Gebhardt, E. (2015), Preparing for Life in a Digital Age, Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research Hargittai, E. (2003). The Digital Divide and What to Do About It. In New Economy Handbook, ed. Jones, D.C., San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 821-839. Hargittai, E. (2008). The Digital Reproduction of Inequality. In Social Stratification, ed. Grusky D.. Boulder: Westview, pp. 936-944. Hargittai, E. & Hinnant, A. (2008). Digital Inequality: Differences in Young Adults’ Use of the Internet. Communication Research, 35 (5), pp. 602-621. Merton, R.K. (1973). The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Putnam, R.D. (2015). Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Simon & Schuster. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) (2007). Assessment guidance. Retrieved 7th April 2012 from http://www.qca.org.uk/7889.html
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