[Air-l] relation digital divide - knowledge gap

[Radhika Gajjala]

So instead of focussing on class and cultural capital and formations 
of knowledge-hierarchies we take for granted "smart" and "dumb" and 
proceed to study knowledge gaps.

interesting.

(of course I knew this - my question still is what "knowledge gap")

thanks for the kind explanation, Ulla:)


r

>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
>
>--
>***Address Change for Ulla Bunz:
>
>Starting July 1, I will be at Floriday State University. Please note 
>my new email
>address: ulla.bunz at comm.fsu.edu. The new address is already in 
>place, so you may use
>either the new address or the current address 
>(bunz at scils.rutgers.edu) until July 1.
>Thank you!
>
>_______________________________________________
>The Air-l-aoir.org at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
>is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
>Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: 
>http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
>Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
>http://www.aoir.org/


-- 
Radhika Gajjala
Associate Professor
School of Communication Studies
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403

http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik