Crossing the Bridge of the Digital Divide: A Walk with Global Leaders
explores the combined effect of the rapid growth of information as an
increasingly fragmented information base, a large component of which is
available only to people with money and/or acceptable institutional
affiliations. In the recent past, the outcome of these challenges has
been characterized as the "digital divide" between the information
"haves" and "have nots" along racial and socio economic lines that seem
to widen as time passes. To address the issues of digital equity and
digital inequality in an effort to bridge the digital divide,
educational scholars, researchers and practitioners are in positions to
ensure equitable opportunities are made available for people of all
ages, races, ability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity in support of
social justice for bridging the digital divide. The digital divide
addresses issues concerning equal opportunity, equity and access that
have an effect on the development of marginalized and otherwise
disenfranchised populations within and across systems nationally and
internationally.
The contributing authors- representing Unites States, Canada, South
Africa, New Zealand, and the UK - posit that education institutions can
serve as the bridge to close the digital divide for students who do not
have access to information technology in their homes. At a time when
more computers are made available in schools than ever before, the
digital divide continues to widen and fewer people in the lowest SES
groups are given the opportunity to join the world of computer
technology and the internet. As a result, the influence of leadership
activity on institutional racism, gender discrimination, inequality of
opportunity, inequity of educational processes, digital exclusion, and
justice have gained currency and attention.
The contributing national and international authors examine the digital
divide in terms of social justice leadership, equity and access. It is
within this context that the authors offer discussions from a lens of
their choice, i.e. conceptual, review of literature, epistemological,
etc. By adopting an educational approach to bridging the digital divide,
researchers and practitioners can connect and extend long-established
lines of conceptual and empirical inquiry aimed at improving
organizational practices and thereby gain insights that might be
otherwise overlooked, or assumed. This holds great promise for
generating, refining, and testing theories of leadership for equity and
access, and helps strengthen already vibrant lines of inquiry on social
justice.
