Nakamura bows out....

On pg. 178 Nakamura quotes Anna McCarthy, saying "television itself has become an "ambient" medium, newly common in waiting rooms, vehicles, and public spaces, television's migration out of domestic space and into public space has been driven partly by the influence of digital media. The internet is a paradox: notable for the ways in which scholars have predicted its "ubiquity," it is nonetheless far from universally accessible inside or outside the context of the living room."

This was one of the key points that Nakamura was trying to make in the book. While I certainly didn't agree with a lot of what Nakamura had to say, the one thing that I will give her credit for and agree with her on, is conveying that there is a digital divide. Quite frankly there is and will always be one no matter what. There will always be differnt socio classes, races, ethnicities, and genders. This will never change. What it really boils down to is how do we deal with the situation. Perhaps it's time to stop whining about the issue of race and such and deal with the situation individually? Does it start with every individual putting their best foot forward in an effort to maximize a collaboration amongst "everyone". I say "everyone" because this is truly an optomistic aberration. This will never occur. While there is a diversity of people in the world there is also diverse belief systems in place that prohibit this.

In our younger generation or Net Generation the divdie rears its head in the from of qualitative learning opportunities. While over 90% of schools currently have computers and internet access the amount of students actively participating in the process of digital learning ranges. It ranges in the form of demographics, race, ethnicity, learning facilities, etc...The idea that "Whites" have the upper hand falls parodoxically into statistics. But as I tried to point out in class the other day, "Let's look at how many "white" people there are in the country compared to other racial groups." There are far more "white" people in the United States thereby skewing the idea of a level playing field when dealing with statistical data.

Nakamura is quick to point out the racial aspect of this situation. Race may play a part in the digital divide, but it certainly isn't the only avenue that needs to be assessed in the process. She is also quick to point out a myriad of faulty statistical analysis as a recourse for her notions regarding the racial divide. It's always intersting to see this occur in the books that I read. Often times statistical analysis is a vehicle that does nothing more than allow an opinion to be expressed and to attach some form of validity to an asserted notion. Looking at the sampling for these given analysis could lead to any number of conclusions without necessarily representing the actual facts regarding the situation.

That being said, it is also interesting to note how Nakamura tries to play some sort of racial woo-is-me card in relation to commodification. Hello, marketing and advertising is going to be directed at people who have purchasing power. Advertisers simply aren't going to waste their resources marketing to people who can't purchase their goods. They are going to try to market certain products based on cultural bias...PERIOD. It's about money, not race in this particular case.

To some this may be seen as a divide, but when hasn't there been one. There has been a divide of classes or heirarchies (in every culture) since the beginning of time. Case in point, there will always be a divide. There will always be heirarchies and there will always be racial differences. It's up to us as individuals to deal with these issues and try to make the world a better place.