The much-heralded Digital Divide seems to be less a problem than it appeared a decade ago. True, there are demographic differences (particularly at the lower end of the economic spectrum), but the latest numbers (see the OCLC post earlier in this blog) suggest massive availability of the Internet in one form or another.
But we much more serious Digital Divide is looming. Rather than adversely affecting demographic groups, it is affecting geographic areas. It has to do with new Web technologies such as the collection known as Web 2.0 and AJAX , RSS, and even blogs. Here's what I'm seeing.
When it comes to non-geographic-specific sites, we find a range of old and new technologies. Plenty of people area out there writing HTML by hand (!), but there are also plenty of people driving Web sites from databases, using AJAX to improve performance and reduce bandwidth, and generally using the new--and simpler--technologies to power Web sites. These sites are truly worldwide in scope--they can be hosted anywhere and developed from anywhere.
However, when it comes to geographic-specific sites--such as a local newspaper or TV station, local businesses, libraries, and government agencies, the story is very different. If you take a community's sites together, some communities present themselves as being as sophisticated as anyone on the Web. And this is one of the great benefits of new technology for small communities: it takes imagination and keeping up with technology to be a worldclass Web site, but it doesn't take a great deal of money.
On the other hand, if you take a community's Web presence as a whole, some seem to be in a time warp from the early days of the Web. Static HTML. Home pages that remain unchanged for years. "Calendars" with current events....from 2002. The assumption is that users will be happy with old technologies and be content to click through endless links that sometimes work. Where are the RSS feeds that deliver updates without effort? Why do we still have Web sites for businesses and public organizations that demand you create account names and passwords with no disclosures about how the information will be used or stored?
It's not surprising that this happens in some communities: the group of Web designers in a community may be happy to live in the past, and users as well as clients, are happy to join them there. Taken together, it's a big flashing sign on the Internet: not keeping up with technology in this community.
The much-heralded Digital Divide seems to be less a problem than it appeared a decade ago. True, there are demographic differences (particularly at the lower end of the economic spectrum), but the latest numbers (see the OCLC post earlier in this blog) suggest massive availability of the Internet in one form or another.
But we much more serious Digital Divide is looming. Rather than adversely affecting demographic groups, it is affecting geographic areas. It has to do with new Web technologies such as the collection known as Web 2.0 and AJAX , RSS, and even blogs. Here's what I'm seeing.
When it comes to non-geographic-specific sites, we find a range of old and new technologies. Plenty of people area out there writing HTML by hand (!), but there are also plenty of people driving Web sites from databases, using AJAX to improve performance and reduce bandwidth, and generally using the new--and simpler--technologies to power Web sites. These sites are truly worldwide in scope--they can be hosted anywhere and developed from anywhere.
However, when it comes to geographic-specific sites--such as a local newspaper or TV station, local businesses, libraries, and government agencies, the story is very different. If you take a community's sites together, some communities present themselves as being as sophisticated as anyone on the Web. And this is one of the great benefits of new technology for small communities: it takes imagination and keeping up with technology to be a worldclass Web site, but it doesn't take a great deal of money.
On the other hand, if you take a community's Web presence as a whole, some seem to be in a time warp from the early days of the Web. Static HTML. Home pages that remain unchanged for years. "Calendars" with current events....from 2002. The assumption is that users will be happy with old technologies and be content to click through endless links that sometimes work. Where are the RSS feeds that deliver updates without effort? Why do we still have Web sites for businesses and public organizations that demand you create account names and passwords with no disclosures about how the information will be used or stored?
It's not surprising that this happens in some communities: the group of Web designers in a community may be happy to live in the past, and users as well as clients, are happy to join them there. Taken together, it's a big flashing sign on the Internet: not keeping up with technology in this community.
But we much more serious Digital Divide is looming. Rather than adversely affecting demographic groups, it is affecting geographic areas. It has to do with new Web technologies such as the collection known as Web 2.0 and AJAX , RSS, and even blogs. Here's what I'm seeing.
When it comes to non-geographic-specific sites, we find a range of old and new technologies. Plenty of people area out there writing HTML by hand (!), but there are also plenty of people driving Web sites from databases, using AJAX to improve performance and reduce bandwidth, and generally using the new--and simpler--technologies to power Web sites. These sites are truly worldwide in scope--they can be hosted anywhere and developed from anywhere.
However, when it comes to geographic-specific sites--such as a local newspaper or TV station, local businesses, libraries, and government agencies, the story is very different. If you take a community's sites together, some communities present themselves as being as sophisticated as anyone on the Web. And this is one of the great benefits of new technology for small communities: it takes imagination and keeping up with technology to be a worldclass Web site, but it doesn't take a great deal of money.
On the other hand, if you take a community's Web presence as a whole, some seem to be in a time warp from the early days of the Web. Static HTML. Home pages that remain unchanged for years. "Calendars" with current events....from 2002. The assumption is that users will be happy with old technologies and be content to click through endless links that sometimes work. Where are the RSS feeds that deliver updates without effort? Why do we still have Web sites for businesses and public organizations that demand you create account names and passwords with no disclosures about how the information will be used or stored?
It's not surprising that this happens in some communities: the group of Web designers in a community may be happy to live in the past, and users as well as clients, are happy to join them there. Taken together, it's a big flashing sign on the Internet: not keeping up with technology in this community.
posted by Jesse at
4/23/2008
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