digital divide

OneWebDay refocuses on the digital divide

Cartoon: digital divide (better version)

Over the past few years, as broadband reaches more and more communities and mobile Internet access extends its reach, the digital divide has receded into the background. Issues like net neutrality and intellectual property have taken centre stage and taken on new urgency.

But equal access to digital technologies is as important as ever. And this year, the folks behind OneWebDay want to remind us:

The RSS is always greener...

The RSS is always greener...

(one computer user to another) I never really understood the digital divide until you got a faster, better computer than mine.

No time to load fancy web graphics? Surf with loband

When broadband isn't available, loband comes to the rescue

Sometimes the niftiest tools are the ones that have been around for the longest time.

I just came across Aptivate's loband, a wonderfully handy web service that's been around since 2004. Loband lets you see highly-simplified versions of web pages, stripping out the fancy formatting and hefty graphics that can slow down users who don't have broadband Internet connections - mobile users, for instance, or people in developing countries.

Say it now and say it loud: "I'm a newbie, and I'm proud!"

Newbies: your tech unfamiliarity is just a first step on ladder of learning

I delivered a presentation today to the folks at Metro Vancouver (the level of government formerly known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District) on the social web and local government. It was a great group, with lots of lively discussion.

One of the members of the audience introduced herself to me as a "techno-peasant". It's a term I hear a lot from people, often with a rueful smile. But something about the term has always rubbed me the wrong way - and today I realized what it was.

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