News & Views

DIGITAL DIVIDE NETWORK LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE COMMUNITY

http://www.digitaldivide.net

Website Features Free Blogging, Virtual Community-Building Tools for Technology Activists

Newton, MA: In celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Digital Divide Network (DDN), the Center for Media & Community today launched a new interactive website for activists working to bridge the digital divide. The new Digital Divide Network website (http://www.digitaldivide.net) provides a unique, free online space for technology advocates, Internet activists, educators and policymakers to collaborate on bridging the divide.

"The new Digital Divide Network taps into the creative expertise of thousands of technology advocates from around the world," said DDN director Andy Carvin. "The website empowers digital divide activists to contribute and share their best ideas for extending Internet access and 21st century skills to marginalized communities."

DDN now boasts a wide array of interactive tools, encouraging activists to share resources, publish articles, host virtual discussions, establish online communities, and publish their own commercial-free Web journals, popularly known as "blogs." These resources can be used for communication and collaboration between the diverse groups who have a common cause to eliminate the digital divide.
Founded in December 1999 by the Benton Foundation and the Urban League in response to the National Digital Divide Summit in Washington DC, DDN is the premier online source of information on bridging the digital divide. The new website, funded by the Time Warner Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Benton Foundation, reaffirms DDN's commitment to improve Internet access opportunities and Internet literacy skills for marginalized populations in the U.S. and abroad. Significant strides have been made to eliminate the digital divide since DDN’s founding, but there is still much work to be done. According to the latest U.S. census data, nearly 70% of the lowest-income U.S. households lack access to the Internet. And around the world, billions of people remain disconnected, lacking access to computers and the skills to use them effectively. The tools available on the new website will bring activists, policymakers and the public together to discuss solutions to these difficult problems.

"The digital divide is a policy issue that is not well understood by the general public," said Andrea Taylor, director of the Center for Media & Community and vice president at Education Development Center (EDC). "The next phase of DDN will focus on group collaboration and resource development to build a brighter future for the millions of families and communities without Internet access and 21st century skills."

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The Digital Divide Network is a project of the Center for Media & Community (CMC), located at Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, Massachusetts. CMC promotes innovative uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to foster stronger communities and lifelong learning. <http://cmc.edc.org>

EDC is an international non-profit organization, building bridges between research, policy and practice. EDC manages 335 projects in 50 countries, and is dedicated to advancing learning and healthy development for individuals of all ages. <http://www.edc.org>

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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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Phil Shapiro pshapiro@his.com
http://www.his.com/pshapiro/ (personal)
http://teachme.blogspot.com (weblog)
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/pshapiro (technology access work) http://mytvstation.blogspot.com/ (video and rich media)

"We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." -- Dr. Konrad Adenauer