Technology: The great equalizer?

The term digital divide entered our vocabulary in the mid-1990s as a response to the large gaps in computer access and use among people. Recently there have been mixed reports on the status of this gap, the pace at which. it is closing, and the shape of our dreams for technology as an equalizing force. Clearly the measures used to make the original diagnosis for the problem are showing healthy signs of improvement. But as technology has advanced, so have our expectations of quality, access, and utility. Because what we measure will often define what we seek to accomplish, it is important to reexamine our notions of this so-called divide. This chapter seeks to address the data behind the reports that might suggest that our measures of the digital differences we've labeled a divide should also be reconsidered.