Midterm

thomasjasengardner Thursday, February 19, 2009
Information Divides and Differences in a Multicultural Society
SLIS 201
Associate Professor E. Whitmire
Teaching Assistant: Nathan Johnson

MIDTERM: Week Five Readings;

Alkalimat, A., & Williams, Kate (2001). “Social capital and cyberpower in the African American community: A case study of a community technology centre in the dual city.”

• The authors suggest that the digital divide may be anti-democratic. Why do you think this is so?
• I guess you are asking me if this article was written under the presidium of Huey Newton or William Ayers. Throughout the reading the writers talk about the injustice distributed to the poor. On page 204, they conclude by writing how democracy is necessary for citizen involvement. As Jefferson proclaimed, an informed citizenry is the backbone of a democratic system. Citizens use information to make decisions and to confront obstacles to equality and justice.
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• What do the authors mean by the term “racial ravine”?

The digital divide is segregationist philosophy at its worst. Inner city black people are isolated from the technical, educational, informational advances of white society. Computer related skills will advance underemployed and underpaid black people with job skills, learning software, community awareness, and personal confidence. On page 177, the writers discuss the polarization of American society between the haves and the have nots. They add that the ‘racial ravine’ is a valley where people of colour find it impossible to climb the walls of empowerment in order to earn social capital.


• What is “public computing”? What is a “Community Technology Center (CTC)”? Define.

What a lovely place ‘public computing’ implies for a community without computers at home, school, or work. On page 178, the writers state that low income communities should be given free public access to computers and the internet. Opportunities to garner computer use skills and computer resources should be provided at places like the ‘Community Technology Centres’. Social spheres for computer access is traditionally at places of work, computer coffee houses, and copy shops. A CTC is a generic name given to a place where computers are open to the public. The authors hope that CTC’s located in poor communities will enhance social capital.

• 1960s-1980s: Rise of a Black middle class, but also increasing growth of an impoverished class. Urban poverty, in particular, causes disengagement and social exclusion.

On page 180, the writers state that the exodus of the black middle class from urban communities left a social and economic vacuum that enabled its members to depend on economic and social peers to help advance the agenda of the community. As the author implies, the black middle class climbed one rung up the ladder of economic and social empowerment, could not climb higher and because they had been released from Aristotle’s ‘cave’ they could not go back down the ladder because there is no room at the bottom. Traditionally the black middle class was a welcome part of the community. Recently, the black middle class has been called traitors to their black heritage by black extremists. The disengagement or voluntary segregation has left the poor black community without social, human, and material capital. I believe Alkalimat believes, that another disruptive social process is necessary to advance the generational second-class status of black America (p. 179). This missing social buffer has helped to create a permanent underclass.

• The authors invoke Castells’ “dual city”? What is it? Briefly identify.
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• Castell’s definition of a dual city (p. 181) implies that there are two distinct worlds that exist side by side in the city. These worlds differ economically, socially, education, and housing. The part of the city that is disconnected usually consists of the disenfranchised. low paid over worker residents. I like his phase ‘black information holes of informational capital’ in describing deepening divide between ‘social structures and power relationships’.
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• What is “cyberpower”? Define its three forms: individual, social, and ideological.
• cyberpower: interacting online activity is internet power, that empowers the user(s) (p.183)
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• Individual cyberpower: gaining computer skills and social connections for one’s self
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• social cyberpower: a social environment that complements individual goals. Technology in the community (computers, fax machines, cell phones, MP3 and etc.) is another advocate for continuing the struggle for information freedom. I think I also understand how a learning environment and staff behavior affect the environmental and teaching barriers of clients. I like how the Community Math Academy made use of the internet and educational software to improve and increase productive correspondence between participants and school administrators.
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• ideological cyberpower: information technology is the major ingredient for a successful revolution. Marginalized or/and socially segregated groups can actively pursue dialog within the community that results in a common goal that benefits all concerned.
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• How do CTCs/computing and Internet access create, enable or enhance “cyberpower”? Take examples from the cases given in the text.
• The three examples of organized resistance the writers used were excellent. The fight for human survival, community activism, and organized rebellion showed how social capital obtained from the Internet can counter the misinformation of corporate media. I was back in Seattle visiting my son, and could not believe the power cell phones and text messaging had in assisting organized opposition. The police expected rabble-rousers and were not prepared for controlled defensive strategies. While the web was used to advocate certain actions and to coordinate defense, it was cell phones that empowered the demonstrators (p. 185).
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• What partnerships (a.k.a. bridging and bonding social capital) were established between the Murchison Center and other groups or community stakeholders?

While I am not receptive of the religious propaganda used to promote the agenda, it is obvious that this bridging social capital helped to organize the participants into a cohesive unit.

stage one: the church and the centre: drug prevention program established. programmes, such as job counseling, computer training, and counseling were included. This bridging social capital increased positive relations between black parishioners and black drug addicts. But as the writers say on page 201, if Cyberchurch spiritual awareness enforces the personal, cultural, and political lives of black people from cyberspace interactions, then I cannot condemn this association. But I concur with the writers that bridging social capital does nothing more but regurgitate familiar themes that reinforce your possibly ignorant beliefs.

stage two; the state and the centre: This bonding of social capital increased city officials awareness of stage one’s success in the community. Reciprocity between the church’s volunteer, Mrs. Henderson, and government bureaucracy (CDBG) helped the state associate a familiar trusting artifact with the center. This constant dialog helped the state to understand the needs of the community and what specific resources were needed to address those needs. Still, the formal requirements established by government reminded me of how banana republics have to follow the detection of the IMF in order to get funding. Time constraints do not work where grant and business proposal knowledge is limited. Government should be familiar with these obstacles and provide a liaison to help complete the application process before the due date. Unlike middle and upper class communities, neighborhood residents do process the bonding social capital to help bridge the community’s needs. .

stage three: the university and the centre: I believe when the organization spilt into two separate entities, it became a third stage. The changing ideological landscape forced the separation of church and state. But the addition of University of Toledo and King School created a cyber community whose power reached beyond the neighborhood.

The following is an article detailing a personal history of lacking high-speed internet in rural America. The speaker says third world countries have better internet connections then Americans. what we also have to remember is how cable companies are trying to create a two tier system of internet access. as students and educators our resources may be severely limited because of limited financial resources. These organizations are effectively organized to provide the black community with world empowerment.
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A287743