ICT and educational (dis)advantage : Families, computers and contemporary social and educational inequalities
- Authors: Angus, Lawrence , Snyder, Ilana , Sutherland-Smith, Wendy
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Journal of Sociology of Education Vol. 25, no. 1 (Feb 2004), p. 3-18
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- Description: Because access to new technologies is unequally distributed, there has been considerable debate about the growing gap between the so-called information-rich and information-poor. Such concerns have led to high-profile information technology policy initiatives in many countries. In Australia, in an attempt to 'redress the balance between the information rich and poor' by providing 'equal access to the World Wide Web' (Virtual Communities, 2002), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Virtual Communities (a computer/software distributor) and Primus (an Internet provider) in late 1999 formed an alliance to offer relatively inexpensive computer and Internet access to union members in order to make 'technology affordable for all Australians' (Virtual Communities, 2002). In this paper, we examine four families, one of which had long-term Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) access, and three of which took advantage of the Virtual Communities offer to get home computer and Internet access for the first time. We examine their engagement with ICT and suggest that previously disadvantaged family members are not particularly advantaged by their access to ICT.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000750
ICT educational (dis)advantage : Cultural resources and the digital divide
- Authors: Angus, Lawrence , Sutherland-Smith, Wendy , Snyder, Ilana
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Ethnographies of Educational and Cultural Conflicts: Strategies and Resolutions Chapter 11 p. 45-66
- Full Text: false
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- Description: B1
- Description: 2003000749
The digital divide : Differences in computer use between home and school in low socio-economic households
- Authors: Angus, Lawrence , Sutherland-Smith, Wendy , Snyder, Ilana
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Educational Studies in Language and Literature Vol. 3, no. (2003), p. 5-19
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- Description: This article examines information and communication technologies (ICTs) practices in the home and school settings of four disadvantaged families. It reports the findings of a year-long study that investigated the nexus between computer-mediated literacy practices at home and at school and whether this inter-connectivity could make a difference in school success. The findings indicate that there was disjunction between home and school use. The ``digital divide'' exists for the families of this study, not in terms of access but in the gap between ICT practices at home and school. Schools in this study did not integrate ICT skills learned and demonstrated in the home environment into ICT practices at school. The study concludes that constructing pedagogical connections between home and school ICT practices may begin to bridge the ``digital divide''.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000427