Digital Divisions

Blog-reading assignment.

I get Boyer AND Mark? Is this punishment?

1. THE GOOD
–4/20, “Just another inexpensive computer for education?”–
Good on ya’ for the reporting efforts. Affordable and functional computers are packed with level-the-playing-field potential. I spent 3 months in South America watching children pack into Internet cafes to not only play games, but to do homework, learn English, and see more of the world. Ryan’s reporting is better than the piece I saw on 60 minutes — no joke. He includes photos, separates out the quotes, and doesn’t push it. It could have been double the word length, but people check the length before they commit, and were it longer, it would’ve scared people away. Mazel tov, I say.

2. THE LESS GOOD
–4/16 Election season might halt progress on broadband legislation–
From the title, I want to know 2 things: What is the legislation, and why will it be halted? The post explains the legislation, but there could be more about the halting, even with the link to the article. Also, not sure if the links to the politicians are helpful…a little over-linkage, maybe?

3. OVERALL
As with sixthw.com, I will be reading this site going forward. It is NEW, rather than recycled. The design is simple and effective. I like the color scheme because it moves and focuses the eye very well.
The ‘community’ page is an excellent additon, too.
I would like a bit more about Ryan - who is this guy?

By Sol Lieberman on Apr 26, 2008

Ryan–
Great website! I really enjoyed reading it. I love the topic– it covers a wide range of issues that are well connected by the main theme.

I think your entries- as individual entries as well as a collection- are comprehensive in terms of showing how the internet has changed lives and lifestyles, how it has changed them in different ways, depending on the demographics, and who might get left behind in the wake of the digital revolution.

I think your writing style is great– smart and humorous, very readable. Good level of analysis without sounding opinionated.

Some of the entries were a little bit long, but not without good cause, and I think overall there was a good balance between shorter and longer entries.

I also like the ways you’ve brought in different perspectives on the same topic, more than one source (eg, The Digital New Deal).

Personally, I would love to see more on the developing world, like the phone lady entry. I’d be interested in reading about more projects like getting old used computers to developing countries, etc.

I also really liked what you pointed out about older workers in need of further technological investment. I think that it’s really interesting that as people live longer, technology also develops faster, so there is an increasing gap there. It’s a strange kind of future– that older people are more likely to get mired in older technologies and resistant to new ones, but at the same time, people are older and older and there are newer and newer technologies.

Overall, great job, I like your blog a lot.

By Christa on Apr 26, 2008

Good article Ryan!

By Jason Townsend-Rogers on Apr 29, 2008