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Digital divide is increasing

A new study finds the digital divide is increasing.
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An interesting read from the Gates Foundation came out yesterday, highlighting the increasing digital divide between the haves and have nots.

The term digital divide has been used to describe inequalities in access to computers and technology by minorities and low-income families.

According to a Pew Research Center study quoted by the foundation, e-reader ownership in the U.S. nearly doubled over the holiday season. Overall, nearly 29% of American adults own either a tablet or e-reader.

The Pew study included statistics showing that 36% of families with incomes greater than $75-thousand have some form of mobile reading device in the home while only 8-percent of low income families, those making less than $30-thousand, own an e-reader of any kind. The Foundation says these statistics present a challenge - threatening to exacerbate the digital divide that is already perpetuated across the U.S.

Larry Irving, assistant secretary for communications and information for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, calls the the divide a racial ravine. According to a NTIA report, despite dramatic gains in the number of Black and Hispanic households that have computer access, they are still only 40% as likely to have home internet access as White households.

An article in today's Hechinger Report, an online education news source, the technological gap between wealthier schools and their poor counterparts is increasing.

The Pew Internet Project, funded by the Gates Foundation, is studying the ownership of both tablet computers and e-readers as part of its effort to understand how people consume media (text, video and audio) on the devices, how they are used to access the Internet, and how mobile connectivity has affected users

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