[HPN] The Digital Divide and Organizing Groups

[H. C. Covington]

The Digital Divide and Organizing Groups


Dear Listserv Participants,

I'm about to start putting together an article about the roles that
organizing groups can play in addressing the digital divide issue.  Aside
from providing a point of access within organizational offices (as many of
you have) the other issue is on generating online content geared toward
membership to help motivate members to get on the Internet.  What I've been
finding is that even if an organization just says "Ok - We'll provide access
and training to the membership on "Using the Internet", that with everything
else folks have to deal with it's really not enough to get them there, it's
too removed.  So if instead you provide them a training on "Using the
Internet to find and Apply for Jobs" they see the practical application to
their lives and then they show up (the workshop of course includes basic
Internet training).

That kind of relating use of the Internet to a practical application in
folks lives is a role that organizing groups can play - the Organizing group
will know what their members want and also be in a better situation to find
out what their members will want to do online. By coming up with online
content you help enrich and strengthen folks experiences using the internet
and there by helping to build their confidence and provide training in a way
that your relating it on a more practical level to folks lives.  So I'm
looking for examples of this other than the work we've done on LINC. What
content that's online currently really relates to low-income peoples lives?

The article will appear in the Welfare Law Center's LINKING THE
NEIGHBORHOODS and I've gotten other publications expressing interested in
publishing the article as well - so chances are this will get a lot of
exposure.

Dirk Slater
Circuit Rider
Linc Project
Welfare Law Center

http://www.lincproject.org
http://www.welfarelaw.org