Malaka Friedman
Finding the Middle Ground: Analyzing the Before and After of the Digital Divide Through the Lens of a Social Media Movement in Argument for Digital Literacy
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Rhetoric & Writing MA Portfolio
The world has changed from "the world told" to "there world designed."
-Gunther Kress
Future Areas of Research
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The digital divide now more than ever needs to be addressed. In a space where there are no set rules, there are still decisions made on who can participate before getting online and after getting online. With discussions on net neutrality and the possible resulting consequences, the digital divide may only continue to grow. Based off the work of Cynthia Self and Mckenzie Work, there is a difference into how individuals are organized into a hierarchy. Selfe notes that the digital divide is "heavily skewed toward middle and upper-class homes" in 1999, a statement which still holds some truth today.
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Additional research needs to explore how the digital divide is continuing to evolve for the better or for the worse, especially in the face of an ever changing digital landscape. Ideally these trends and changes can be adapted into ways to connect digital literacies with more traditional literacies in composition courses to decrease the digital divide. I hope to explore these areas while also bringing in the voices of individuals who are directly affected by aspects of the digital divide.
