digital divide and hyper cycle

Apply concepts of the digital divide and the hype cycle to your planned profession or a field that interests you.

The term digital divide made its appearance during the rise of the Internet and replaced the former term ‘knowledge gap’ to describe, just as the latter, the social and economic inequalities in the world (Norris, 2007). This gap can be seen by comparing digital possibilities different people, depending on where or how they live, have. With new technologies emerging the hype was big that this gap may slowly but surely disappear and encourage a development all over the world. With the introduction of new media, there was development and change happened, however, as not all people have access to online communication or information, digital divide made its appearance and until nowadays, the inequalities remain.

Introducing new media or other new world changing technologies to the world makes the hyperbole increase and expectations grow. After analysing Gartner’s theory of ‘Hype Cycle’, one knows that after the grand imaginations of where those new technologies may lead us, there comes the phase of the peak of the hype and scepticism of the new media arises. The adopting of new technologies cannot be established everywhere and not in the way one is often expecting in the beginning, it’s what we call the ‘trough of disillusionment’. After that benefits can be slowly made and standards are developed to move on to the plateau of productivity.

            After having established new technologies and knowing what their origins and outcome are, they can be spread throughout the world and actually cause change in digital but almost always also in social means. If we take the Internet as an example, one can see that it had a huge impact on how people nowadays interact and communicate with each other. Not only developed countries use it for social, economic and educational reasons, it did and is still establishing itself in developing countries. With the rise of online communication, the flow of information grows and people all over the world have access to global knowledge. Most flows of information come from countries controlling the five world news agencies, but the important outcome is that in a first instance it is actually a possibility to have this information on screen. Furthermore if people wanted access to other news corporations, this would probably not be a problem either with nowadays’ possibility of connecting everywhere and to almost every site. The possibility of people rich in education and digital technologies to gain more knowledge is endless, other countries like the developing ones, or nations under certain regimes have more difficulties establishing new media, but since its release, there has been a noticeable change on a social, educational and economic level.

            The presence of social media makes a difference to how new media comes in use in developing countries and diminishes the digital gap between cultures. As mass media once spread and became a tool of political and social change throughout the world, new media is doing the same, expending even faster, promising to bridge that knowledge gap which was established between different nations once.

            The use of smartphones, for example, has triggered an important social change in the world. The device makes it possible for people to communicate, get information online, explore technology and interact all in one. In lots of countries, even developing ones, access to the internet through smartphones is possible due to wireless connections installed mainly around cities, which makes it easier for people to be part of the revolutionary and digital change. Smartphones do not cost as much as computers do, they are easier to carry around and to understand, which makes it the perfect all-in-one tool to get people, from wherever they might be, interested in new communication, technologies and thus enable the access them to news and information.

One can conclude that the hype cycle often triggers too many expectations and too big ones when new technologies are on the rise and promise change. However, those new media almost always keep part of the promise and establish themselves in the digital world by contributing something new and revolutionary. All those small steps into the right direction may lead us one day towards a world where the digital gap will have disappeared or at least where the divide is not this big anymore as it is now. For journalism, innovations mean a lot because its main goal is to educate, inform and entertain as many people as possible. If new media makes it possible to reach more people, journalists will have a broader audience to work with and the news flow will spread even more widely. Important for people working in broadcasting or any other kind of journalism is also the access of information and with the digital divide getting smaller, the possibilities to explore themes on a more international basis will get bigger.

References:

Flew, T. (2008). New Media an introduction, 3^rd edition. Victoria: Oxford University Press.

McQuail, D. (2011) Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Grönlund, A., Isla, Y. (2010) A mobile e-learning environment for developing countries: the Bangladesh Virtual Interactive Classroom, volume 16, p.244-259.
DOI: 10.1080/02681101003746490

Schramm, W. (1964) Mass Media and National Development: The Role of Information in the Developing Countries. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Fenn, J., Raskino, M. (2008) Mastering the Hype Cycle: How to Choose the Right Innovation at the Right Time. USA: Gartner INC.

Brand, J. (2013) Digital Media and Society: Week 12 Lecture. Gold Coast: Bond University.