Analysis: The Deepening Divide

Part A Question 3

Discuss van Dijk’s causal model of information inequality (see page 24) and the five types of access (i.e., motivational access, material access, skills access, and usage access). Discuss the incremental nature of these access points and discuss how these access points interact and impact our individual and collective ability to utilize new information and networked technologies.

In The Deepening Divide by Van Dijk, the casual model of information inequality shows the bridges and connections of people’s characteristics and how their surroundings can affect their access to technology. The most common way of categorizing these types of characteristics are demographics. Looking at the model, there are several categories like

With the first of access being motivational, Van says that is simply the “motivation to use digital technology”. (Van Dijk, 21) A consumer’s buying intent when it comes to computers and technology has motivational access when to “purchase a computer and network connection, to learn the requisite skills, and to use interesting applications”. (Van Dijk, 43) Like any decision making, both rational and emotional factors can play a part in the final decision. A very common rational reason to buy technology or not is that the consumer lacks the money or financial support to purchase technology seeing as some items such as iPads can in the end cost about $1,000. An example of emotional reason, one I find to be more common with older adults, is the fear of being unable to use or learn the technology therefore deciding not to buy. With motivational access, a very common reason parents learn or buy technology is to stay connected with their children. This obviously becomes more prevalent when they go off to college or university in faraway cities. Now the parents has more emotional connection and reason to buy and learn the technology, and at the same time most likely have the financial resources to purchase it. With this being said, the parent can now move onto the next phase of

(Van Dijk, 21) In life, not everything is fair and balanced, with technology; assets have an unequal distribution from the result of different factors. They are positional like the overall labour market to personal such as gender and age. Using our last example of the parents and their children, let’s say that the parent had trouble with their computer. Most likely they are living in an urban area and realistically there will be a shop or service store that can help them fix their issues. By speaking to a qualified computer representative, they could buy the appropriate computer and receive complementary lessons on how to use it properly. Therefore, when they are home they already know what to do without having to ask others such as their children on how to use the computer properly. In the end, some people may just not have the money or material access to obtain computers and have access to the Internet. This ending is simply known by Van Dijk as the “digital