Universal Access... a New Problem

I have been ruminating on Kevin Kelly’s book What Technology Wants for a week or so. I think his proactionary principle is helpful for educators to think about (check our my posting on January 11). Another insightful observation he makes has to do with the digital divide.

Basically, Kelly argues that technologies begin as the toys of the rich. When technology is new and expensive, we see a “divide” between the “have’s” and the “have-not’s.” The digital divide that occupied educators’ attention is a recent example. Kelly notes, however, that it is those with the resources to be first adopters who give the technology a road test. These users pay for the research and development that allows for the good uses to be separated from the silly or unnecessary or cumbersome uses.

Once the good uses are identified and refined and once the production methods (both designs and manufacturing) have been developed and refined while producing the expensive (and less than optimal) initial versions of the technology, it becomes more widely available. This phenomenon has been seen with digital information technologies: Desktops and laptops were expensive, and they evolved quickly as processing capacity and storage and networking were refined.

Now, we see that the number of cell phones in the world is approaching 70% of the world population. It appears that the “good” information technology is not the desktop or the laptop (or even the net book), rather it is the Internet-capable phone.

Educators have a new problem: Now, everyone (or nearly everyone) has a cell phone or smart phone. The problem of access has evaporated, and now we face the opposite problem.

And we are unprepared.