Nayeem Ali

Professor Ian Murphy

English 1100

1 March 2022

Rhetorical Analysis of Digital Divide 

Web Article: Digital Divide

Digital divide is a global phenomenon, it’s a concept focused on the gap between demographic groups who have access to technology or the internet compared to the less fortunate who do not have access to the internet. In the article “Digital Divide” multiple factors that contribute in digital inequity are discussed such as education level, income,  age, and the place of living in terms of the rural and urban areas. The author is Gale, a Cengage Company and it’s credible because Cengage is a big educational content provider for many colleges and universities including City College of New York.The audience is the residents of the United States because the article specifically talks about the causes and consequences of a digital divide in America on a national level. As stated in the article “Harvard researchers project that if existing racial gaps in the digital divide persist, a majority of Black and Hispanic Americans will be unqualified for more than 85 percent of all jobs by the mid-2040s.” When I first read this I was shocked because 85% is such a HIGH number and it’s hard to believe that only digital divide can cause such a high percentage of unqualification. 

The author’s tone is urgency because a lot of students and people of race especially African Americans and Hispanics are being affected in the pandemic and if the digital divide remains for another decade or two it can affect them immensely. The purpose is to inform about the causes of the digital divide in different aspects of life. The author states “On a national level in the United States several factors contribute to the digital divide, including income, education level, age, and being situated in an urban or rural area. Internationally, the digital divide also extends to low, middle, and high-income countries, with people in high-income countries generally enjoying better and more complete technology access.” The author also warns people about the consequences possible in the future and that we should look for ways to bridge the digital divide gap. The author’s stance is that digital divide always existed even when the internet was starting to become mainstream in the 1990s, and it still exists today and the COVID-19 pandemic exposed it at a larger scale because of the virtual learning environment.The genre is an overview of digital divide because the author talks about specific causes of the digital divide, such as the access divide, the use divide, and the quality of use divide. The author also talks about the possible consequences and solutions to bridge the gap in the digital divide, however not in-depth, simply ideas that are being discussed as solutions.  

Magazine Article: Internet is essential Community organizations are leading the fight for affordable internet in Canada 

Canada has a really high internet cost which makes it unaffordable for people with low income, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clearer as people who relied on public wifi through libraries and city services couldn’t access the internet due to the pandemic shutdown. ACORN Canada, an anti-poverty organization actively tries to launch a campaign to make the internet cheaper, and has tried in the past, and now after the pandemic, even city officials are trying to make the internet more affordable. The author is Madalyn Howitt, and they are credible because their work was posted on This Magazine which is an established magazine in Canada. The audience is Canadians because the article was published in a Canadian magazine and the topic is the lack of affordable internet in Canada which is affecting the less fortunate or financially unstable people. The author’s tone is urgency because the author discusses the necessity of having access to the internet, especially after the pandemic since it’s needed more than ever before. The author wants to encourage access to affordable internet in Canada because it’s too expensive. 

The author wants more digital equity and affordable internet for people in need especially since the need for the internet is really high at the moment. According to the text, “ AFTER A YEAR WHERE Canadians depended more than ever on reliable home internet, it’s clear that access to affordable and high-speed broadband is an essential service in this country.” Since the pandemic made everything online, the need for internet access is more than ever before in Canada and everywhere around the world. I remember that in my junior and senior years of high school, my high school offered laptops and free internet access to all the students. The genre is current events because the authors talks about the effects of the pandemic on access to public wi-fi. As stated in the article, “In May, members in Ottawa staged a demonstration outside of City Hall, bringing laptops and setting up stations to use the building’s free Wi-Fi, to shed light on how the shutdown of public spaces in the pandemic has impacted vulnerable residents who rely on libraries and city services to get access to the internet.” The pandemic led to the shutdown of schools, colleges, and public libraries, which a lot of working-class people rely upon for internet access. 

News Article:  Boris Johnson’s faster broadband promise is being broken, say MPs; UK ‘little nearer to closing great digital divide’ between cities and rural areas, says committee.

Boris Johnson the prime minister of United Kingdom had made a promise that he would level up the country by the end of  2025 by providing access to next-generation-speed broadband to people living in the rurals. However, it appears to be an impossible task since even by 2030, about 134,000 premises in the hardest to reach areas are excluded. The author is the news outlet, The Guardian, and its credible because it’s over 200 years old and well established in England. The audience is the residents of the UK because Boris Johnson promised the residents of UK that there would be high-speed internet access to everyone including people in rural areas. The tone is a disappointment because the plan by Boris Johnson is nowhere near to being completed for about another decade because even by 2030 134,000 premises will be excluded from having access to the internet.    

The purpose is to inform people of the truth of the matter, in other words, criticize Boris Johnson’s office because the plan by Boris Johnson is extremely hard to accomplish even by 2030 let alone 2025. The author’s stance is that the Boris Johnson office has been incompetent towards their promise and that it will affect the residents of rural areas, especially during pandemics which has increased the need to have internet access, for schooling and jobs. The author says “The huge demand for reliable, high-speed internet connections as millions moved to home, remote and flexible working and schooling during the pandemic has increased pressure on and scrutiny of the government’s plans.” Since everything has become virtual, access to the internet has become a necessity. The genre is criticism because the author is pretty much is showing how incompetent Boris Johnson’s office is and how far off they are from their promised goal. As stated by the author, “The PAC pointed out that the longer-term goal of every household getting access by 2030 still excludes about 134,000 premises in the hardest to reach areas that are not commercially viable.” 

Scholarly Article: THE DIGITAL DIVIDE REVISITED: WHAT IS NEXT?

Author:  The author is Stephanie Huffman.

The article “THE DIGITAL DIVIDE REVISITED: WHAT IS NEXT?” is about how there is a huge gap between poor people and rich people when it comes to access to the internet, even though the poor would benefit from it the most. The lack of internet access isn’t the only issue for poor people as limited to no knowledge about the use of the internet is another huge issue that is a big cause for the digital divide.  

This is a scholarly article discussing several studies and research papers about the topic of digital divide and how we can overcome it, and the publisher was “Project Innovation” which is an organization that is committed to supporting the interests and needs of our diverse communities.​​ the audience has to be other professionals and academics. The author’s tone was change, the author really wants to bridge the gap between people with technology and people without technology, and encourage the learning of proper use of technology so people can benefit as much as possible. The author states, “ Because technology offers access not only to educational tools, but also information resources. In the Field of Education, access to technology can help in the basic skills of writing papers, completing homework, doing research, providing assistance to those who need accommodations, helping English as a Second Language students increase language proficiency, and providing students the necessary training for a global job market (Piccianio, 2012).” There are many benefits of technology, and if more people had access to it with adequate knowledge about how to use it they would be able to be more successful in their pursuit of education or technological careers. 

The author’s purpose was to first identify the causes of digital divide, but more importantly how to tackle it in a way that the gap between people who have access to technology compared to those who don’t will decrease, in addition to more people learning and knowing how to to use technology appropriately. As stated in the article, “ ​​NDDSS is a three-step process beginning with establishing partnership (formal and/or informal) between educational institutions, government, and business/industry. Within each organization training of not only employees, and clients are established but outreach to the community to educate parents, grandparents, local residents are also essential. Reaching the largest percentage of the population is essential and requires all sectors (public and private) to provide a thorough saturation.” In my opinion that is a great plan because this plan includes most people in our society, and if it was put into practice I do think the gap would become smaller.  The author seems to really care about digital divide because they not only talk about the common causes for digital divide that have been mentioned in other sources such as “ I) income level, 2) age, 3) race, 4) education, and 5) physical abilities “ but also the causes that are not talked about in any other sources especially in-depth as it’s done in this article. It’s not only a matter of whether people have access to the internet but do people know how to use technology appropriately. According to the text, “Therefore, our priorities must also adjust and shift from simple access to include comprehensive training on the use of technology, the pitfalls and dangers, and the ramifications of such use. Otherwise, we are doing our students and citizens a disservice and leaving them vulnerable to predators and their own ignorance.”  Since people who don’t know how to use technology appropriately can be victimized by scammers, break copyright laws unintentionally, or even end up misusing it by bullying people which is unethical. The article is a Detailed Report about the main causes of the digital divide, such as income, age, education level, and the lack of knowledge about how to use technology. The author also gives a detailed solution to tackle digital divide in order to bridge the gap between people who have access to the internet compared to those who don’t have access.

Work Cited 

“Digital Divide.” Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CYVTCA397462731/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=b03223bf. Accessed 1 Mar. 2022.

Howitt, Madalyn. “Internet is essential Community organizations are leading the fight for affordable internet in Canada.” This Magazine, vol. 55, no. 2, Sept.-Oct. 2021, p. 6. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A679116102/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=09004b7a. Accessed 1 Mar. 2022.

“Boris Johnson’s faster broadband promise is being broken, say MPs; UK ‘little nearer to closing great digital divide’ between cities and rural areas, says committee.” Guardian [London, England], 19 Jan. 2022, p. NA. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A689922056/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=baa022c3. Accessed 1 Mar. 2022.

Huffman, Stephanie. “THE DIGITAL DIVIDE REVISITED: WHAT IS NEXT?” Education, vol. 138, no. 3, spring 2018, pp. 239+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A531709941/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=e4d96c06. Accessed 1 Mar. 2022.