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The digital divide and the limitations it poses for those within it has been the focal point of many new community development initiatives over the past few years. One aspect of the digital divide that is seldomly addressed, however, is the success of individuals who, though in typically disadvantaged social groups, are using technology to serve and enrich the world. Digital equity is many strides ahead of the current state of social and global equity.  The enumeration of these successes can help lead the way to a fuller, broader equity.

The report, A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, published by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, has been the primary reference for digital divide policy and strategists since its release in February of 2002. The report has been used to illustrate the disparities between those Americans who have access to the internet and those who don’t. The same statistics have also been used to argue that the digital divide is nearly obsolete. Completely excluded from this report, however, were statistics on internet use by Native Americans who live on tribal land. In response to this, Carol Lujan of the Navajo Nation states that "'It's ironic how Indians are excluded from reports that record and analyze household access to technologies capable of providing unprecedented educational and economic opportunities...While at the same time, Indians are included in reports that address poverty and disease and social deviance.'" Victor Rocha of the Pechanga Nation goes on to say that "'what is most frustrating to me is that our effort and potential is being ignored...There is a lot of persistent, hard work that has gone unmeasured and unacknowledged. It's more than tribes wanting people at the federal level to understand our digital divide. We also want them to understand how we're making progress'"
(http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/stories/index.cfm?key=215).

Describing and addressing the digital divide between different groups of people is important, yet it is just as critical to recognize how technology is eliminating these disparities. While those who have meaningful access to technology can often be delineated on the basis of race, gender, class and many other circumstances, the recognition of these divisions must not further alienate people by isolating the image of digital prosperity to a particular group, such as white, middle-class Americans. If digital equity is to be truly established, communities of the information age must be populated by all types of people and recognized as such. In many cases, social circumstances do dictate different opportunities for people. In other cases, stereotypes and even statistics do not create an accurate perception of reality. At the Higher Colleges of Technology, in the United Arab Emerats, for instance, female students outnumber male students by 3:1 (from Ditnews, http://www.dit.net/news/news.php?id=EpuuVkZuVAoLrsUoFD. The district of Malappuram in Kerala, India is set to become the first completely computer literate area of the world with the addition of 600 new community technology centers. A member of every household will be trained to use the computers (The Indian Express, http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=17919.

Through new media and technology, voices that may not have had as much resonance in the past can be heard reverberating in the ears of people throughout the world. Childsoldiers.org is a website that bears witness to war in Sierra Leone, giving first hand accounts of the atrocities of war through stories, drawings and videos by the war-affected children. The website is a collaborative project between iEARN Canada and iEARN Sierra Leone and was created with the belief that war-affected children are the most authentic and telling witnesses available to bring the issues facing Sierra Leone to the international community. These children have received training in new media tools to communicate their thoughts to an international community.

Rather than hearing about social and economic barriers perpetuated by the digital divide, students may find it inspiring to explore some of the many ways technology is being used to break down these barriers. Have your students find and create their own digital success stories.

For more examples of global innovations visit The Digital Divide Network’s section on international issues, visit http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/sections/index.cfm?key=20

For peer to peer collaboration and story telling between students from different parts of the world, check out the following sites:

ChildSoldiers – http://www.childsoldiers.org/
iEARN – International education and resource network. http://www.iearn.org/
ePals - Classroom exchange. http://www.epals/