[Air-l] relation digital divide - knowledge gap

[Ulla Bunz]

Radhika and others, the knowledge gap hypothesis is a theoretical approach (not a
full-blown theory)  that was developed quite a while ago and that basically
describes how the smart are getting smarter and the dumb are not, and so the dumb
seem dumber in comparison to the smart that are getting smarter. Well, this is
oversimplification, but you may get the idea this way. Famous case study:
Sesamestreet in Britain, which was originally designed to teach the kids of the
lower/blue color classes, but because kids of the middle classes watched it too and
the middle class kids had more resources (supportive parents, exposure to learning
opportunities, etc.), the middle class kids actually learned more from Sesamestreet
than the working class kids did. Ergo: the knowledge gap widened, rather than
closed. And yes, this is very applicable to the digital divide and I've long been
asking myself why no one seems to have picked up on that and did some theory-based
work here. Glad to see Michael's interest in this and hope good sources will pop up
on the list.
Ulla

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