The Digital Divide

• Dystopia (plural dystopia)
• A vision of a future that is a corrupted
(usually beyond recognition) utopian
society
• State in which the condition of life is
extremely bad as from deprivation or
oppression or terror
• http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dystopia
• Moral Panic
• A semi-spontaneous or media-generated mass
movement based on the perception that an
individual, group, community, or culture is
dangerously deviant and poses a menace to
society.
• A public outcry.
• Coined in 1972 by Stanley Cohen, who coined
the phrase to describe media coverage of Mods
and Rockers in Great Britain in the 1960s.
• http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moral_panic
• What are the current Moral Panics
that relate to The Internet?
1. Which area of the UK has the highest
percentage of Internet access?  Why do
you think this is the case?
• The region with the highest level of
Internet access was London at 80 per
cent.
• This is because London is the Capital
and the largest, wealthiest city in the
UK.
2. Which area of the UK has the lowest
percentage of Internet access?  Why do you
think this is the case?
• Scotland had the lowest proportion of
households with Internet access at
62 per cent.
• This is because it is remote, sparsely
populated and not as wealthy as
South East England.
3. What percentage of Internet access does
Yorkshire have?  Are you surprised by this
figure and why/why not?
• Only 64% of
households in
Yorkshire have
Internet access.
This is the lowest
percentage of
anywhere in the
UK except
Scotland!
4. How does Internet access differ in
relation to age?  Why is this an
important issue?
5. How does Internet access differ in
relation to gender?  Why do you
think there is such a difference?
• Men were 8 percentage points more likely to have accessed the
Internet in the last three months than women (80 per cent
compared with 72 per cent).
• The proportion of men who made recent purchases remained at
the 2008 level of 83 per cent, while those made by women
continued to rise (by 2 per cent) to 82 per cent.
• Of those men who had purchased goods or services online in
the last three months, the most popular item was films and
music (52 per cent).
• However, the most popular purchases made by women were
clothes or sporting goods (54 per cent).
• Women were twice as likely to purchase food or groceries
online than men (30 per cent compared with 15 per cent).
6. According to this report, what do
people use the Internet for?  Which
of these activities do you engage in?
7. How does Internet access relate to
levels of education?
• Almost all adults (95 per cent) aged under 70 who
had a degree or equivalent qualification were
estimated to live in a household with Internet
access.
• Those who had no formal qualifications were least
likely to have an Internet connection, at 52 per
cent.
8. What percentage of people don't
have access to broadband?  Why is
this significant?
• 37% of people in the UK do not have access to
broadband Internet.
• ¼ of people in the UK have never used The
Internet!
• 39% of people in the UK without Internet
access are over 65!
• 49% of people in the UK without Internet are
in the lowest socio-economic group (D/E)!
• 70% of people in Social Housing don’t have
Internet access!
• 38% of people in the UK without Internet are
also unemployed!
9. What does the article say about
Internet access in relation to
consumption of TV and Music?
• The use of the Internet for online
audiovisual activities also saw significant
developments in 2009.
• An increasing number of broadcasters
made their content available to web
viewers or listeners in 2009, highlighted
by the 42 per cent of recent users
listening to web radio or watching web
television.
• This increased from 34 per cent in 2008.
• 49% of men and 36% of women used
The Internet for listening to Web
Radio or watching Web TV.
• 52% of males and 47% of females
purchase films of music via the net.
10.Why is Internet access such an
important issue?
• It is important that people not only have
access to the internet, but are supported
and encouraged to develop skills to make
best use of online resources and services.
• In a 21st century knowledge economy,
equality of access is needed to help
ensure an equality of opportunity.
• http://www.21stcenturychallenges.org/focus/d
britain/
Homework Task
• Discuss how the digital divide in the
UK might have ramifications for the
TV and music industries.
• 750 words.