Response to the Gates lecture
I listened to a recording of the Henry Louis Gates lecture (which Bethany was so kind to endow me with).
I am torn here whether to write on what he talked about during the lecture (the history and formation of the Encyclopedia Africano) or the digital-divide. However, as my knowledge is severely limited on the former subject, and I'm opinionated on the latter, I will address the digital-divide.
Gates mentioned in his presentation a brief bit where he went to Microsoft with the project and they told him that they needed to conduct a survey to find whether enough Black families owned a computer (and thus a market would exist for the encyclopedia). Gates didn't reveal the exact numbers (as perhaps they weren't revealed to him) but I was curious as to what criteria Microsoft had for Gates to get his thumbs-up.
I was also somewhat miffed at the implication that only Black individuals would be interested in the Encyclopedia Africano. I for one am very interested in Black culture (particularly how they have progressed from their customs in Africa, to their progression through slavery, to their portrayal now in the media and the culture-gap between Black and White America now). I might really enjoy the Encyclopedia Africano. Perhaps DuBios had was a bit on the mark when he said that information would be what changed minds. I for one and very ignorant and inexperienced with the Black race, and perhaps a bit of information would do me good. However, I'm sure any self-respecting Black individual would tell me that sitting in an air-conditioned room reading an entry of the Encyclopedia Africano spinning from a CD in the computer my parents bought for me is a poor excuse to growing up and out of the ghetto or living on the streets.
I'm not sure how the digital-divide works across the different factors which divide students: race, gender, SES, and geographic location. I do know that there IS a divide though.
A part of me wants to reject new technology's place in the classroom like I am inclined to reject the newest teaching method to hit the market sans-empirical validation through testing. If there's anything that left-brain right-brain transfer and facilitated communication have taught me, it's that the newest strategies and methods certainly don't make them the best ones. The same thing applies to software. The newest program could look very nice and be marveled to work well... but the first release is usually the one with the most bugs as well.
However, (thinking of Gates' Encyclopedia here) I can remember sitting on my computer for hours as a child, looking up entries on my Encyclopedia Britannica '95 edition CD-ROM. Everything from sting rays and ballistic missiles, to lymph-nodes and moving maps of civil war battles. There were also games within the software which I played that were maze-like, offering clues at each turn which you could research with the CD-ROM to find your way through. Looking back on it now, I can't believe that the "teaching" implications for it actually worked on me. I had no idea that I was learning. As far as I was concerned, I was playing a fun game with a wizard, not leafing through the pages of an Encyclopedia.
I also think of how much I've taken the internet for granted. I grew up in a household that has always had computers and the internet (my father is an electronic engineer) and so I forget just how much of the information I have acquired has passed through that fiber-optic line. In middle and high school, the internet was invaluable (as well as my Encyclopedia Britannica and the New Grolier’s Encyclopedia both on CD-ROM) for projects and reports. Since then, I've always been a bit pissed off when I have been *required* to use a physical source (like a real book) to cite when writing papers or doing projects. I always had to go out of my way to actually find a book, and then awkwardly work a citation or two somewhere into the paper.
My sight is very narrow here. It is difficult for me to understand how someone could not know how to use a search engine... utilize e-mail to send files back and forth, set up RSS feeds, search within sites, and find online searchable versions of texts and books. Such a skill is the epitome of the information age with its superhighway... and it seems like a dream that there are those that don't have it, or don't know how to get it.
I always think that most local libraries must have computers for students to use. But even these must have limited or restricted access to sites, not to mention some may lack spreadsheet software or even word processors.
There is inherent difficulty in creating a curriculum which utilizes technology when individuals or the school is severely limited in funding and know-how. However, as schools are supposed to be preparation for the "real world" a.k.a. a college education, and then the workforce, teaching how to properly use the internet, e-mail, and at least word processors seems essential for preparing children for life.
The effort, I feel, must lie in the teacher. I have always believed that where there is a will, there is a way... and by will, I mean pig-headed, stubborn, like a donkey that won't budge determinism (like Gates told about in effort to get the Encyclopedia Africano into production). I feel that if teachers look hard enough and are willing to invest their time and a bit of money into it, technology can be at least introduced into the classroom to get kids started on it. In the meantime, I don't see where funding is going to come from to bridge the digital-divide.
I feel there may be more things involved than just a surplus and void of technology. I think of it like the food problem. I have often heard it said that Americans *throw away* enough food to feed every hungry person on the planet. The problem is, getting that food to them. Food is distributed in surplus to specific areas where demand is higher as well as money to spend. Then there's issues of transportation... It would be getting a lot of people to chip in in a small way that would make a difference... but such a great change of mind or heart for so many people seems impossible.
I am torn here whether to write on what he talked about during the lecture (the history and formation of the Encyclopedia Africano) or the digital-divide. However, as my knowledge is severely limited on the former subject, and I'm opinionated on the latter, I will address the digital-divide.
Gates mentioned in his presentation a brief bit where he went to Microsoft with the project and they told him that they needed to conduct a survey to find whether enough Black families owned a computer (and thus a market would exist for the encyclopedia). Gates didn't reveal the exact numbers (as perhaps they weren't revealed to him) but I was curious as to what criteria Microsoft had for Gates to get his thumbs-up.
I was also somewhat miffed at the implication that only Black individuals would be interested in the Encyclopedia Africano. I for one am very interested in Black culture (particularly how they have progressed from their customs in Africa, to their progression through slavery, to their portrayal now in the media and the culture-gap between Black and White America now). I might really enjoy the Encyclopedia Africano. Perhaps DuBios had was a bit on the mark when he said that information would be what changed minds. I for one and very ignorant and inexperienced with the Black race, and perhaps a bit of information would do me good. However, I'm sure any self-respecting Black individual would tell me that sitting in an air-conditioned room reading an entry of the Encyclopedia Africano spinning from a CD in the computer my parents bought for me is a poor excuse to growing up and out of the ghetto or living on the streets.
I'm not sure how the digital-divide works across the different factors which divide students: race, gender, SES, and geographic location. I do know that there IS a divide though.
A part of me wants to reject new technology's place in the classroom like I am inclined to reject the newest teaching method to hit the market sans-empirical validation through testing. If there's anything that left-brain right-brain transfer and facilitated communication have taught me, it's that the newest strategies and methods certainly don't make them the best ones. The same thing applies to software. The newest program could look very nice and be marveled to work well... but the first release is usually the one with the most bugs as well.
However, (thinking of Gates' Encyclopedia here) I can remember sitting on my computer for hours as a child, looking up entries on my Encyclopedia Britannica '95 edition CD-ROM. Everything from sting rays and ballistic missiles, to lymph-nodes and moving maps of civil war battles. There were also games within the software which I played that were maze-like, offering clues at each turn which you could research with the CD-ROM to find your way through. Looking back on it now, I can't believe that the "teaching" implications for it actually worked on me. I had no idea that I was learning. As far as I was concerned, I was playing a fun game with a wizard, not leafing through the pages of an Encyclopedia.
I also think of how much I've taken the internet for granted. I grew up in a household that has always had computers and the internet (my father is an electronic engineer) and so I forget just how much of the information I have acquired has passed through that fiber-optic line. In middle and high school, the internet was invaluable (as well as my Encyclopedia Britannica and the New Grolier’s Encyclopedia both on CD-ROM) for projects and reports. Since then, I've always been a bit pissed off when I have been *required* to use a physical source (like a real book) to cite when writing papers or doing projects. I always had to go out of my way to actually find a book, and then awkwardly work a citation or two somewhere into the paper.
My sight is very narrow here. It is difficult for me to understand how someone could not know how to use a search engine... utilize e-mail to send files back and forth, set up RSS feeds, search within sites, and find online searchable versions of texts and books. Such a skill is the epitome of the information age with its superhighway... and it seems like a dream that there are those that don't have it, or don't know how to get it.
I always think that most local libraries must have computers for students to use. But even these must have limited or restricted access to sites, not to mention some may lack spreadsheet software or even word processors.
There is inherent difficulty in creating a curriculum which utilizes technology when individuals or the school is severely limited in funding and know-how. However, as schools are supposed to be preparation for the "real world" a.k.a. a college education, and then the workforce, teaching how to properly use the internet, e-mail, and at least word processors seems essential for preparing children for life.
The effort, I feel, must lie in the teacher. I have always believed that where there is a will, there is a way... and by will, I mean pig-headed, stubborn, like a donkey that won't budge determinism (like Gates told about in effort to get the Encyclopedia Africano into production). I feel that if teachers look hard enough and are willing to invest their time and a bit of money into it, technology can be at least introduced into the classroom to get kids started on it. In the meantime, I don't see where funding is going to come from to bridge the digital-divide.
I feel there may be more things involved than just a surplus and void of technology. I think of it like the food problem. I have often heard it said that Americans *throw away* enough food to feed every hungry person on the planet. The problem is, getting that food to them. Food is distributed in surplus to specific areas where demand is higher as well as money to spend. Then there's issues of transportation... It would be getting a lot of people to chip in in a small way that would make a difference... but such a great change of mind or heart for so many people seems impossible.
posted by D. Calkins at
9:51 PM
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