Why is There a Gap?

The seniors at Kensington Gardens, on the most part, were on the opposite side of the digital divide to me.

It is important to note, that out of all of the seniors in the residence less then a dozen were interested in computer help.

Out of those not interested, only a very minuscule amount own and use their own computers.

Thus many residents either do not know how to use a computer, do not want to learn how to use a computer, know how to use a computer but simply don’t, or are not comfortable with searching for computer help.

I consider myself very well acquainted with computers, while two of the seniors I worked with were only capable performing very basic functions on a computer.

The digital divide exists in this demographic due to the lack of knowledge on how to use the computer as desired, lack of or diminishing of the motor skills required to navigate a computer system (due to deteriorating health), and the lack of motivation and intimidation of learning something new.

Some of these factors tend to be true for a small demographic while others can easily extend to a larger part of the population.

Reasonable Piece of Work

 How well did you negotiate, and carry out, a reasonable piece of work in the given time?

As was mentioned earlier, starting up actual correspondence between my assigned residents and myself took quite a while.

This resulted in much less time then was expected to complete the 16 hours of committed volunteer hours. To date, I have still not completed all 16 of these hours.

This is due to the fact that I have a busy schedule, which I need to co-ordinate around the schedules of the residents assigned to me. I do intend on completing all 16 hours and have made this commitment to my service learning partner.

Currently, I feel that I have already provided a reasonable piece of work. I have worked with two seniors over the course of a few weeks to teach them new practical computer skills, practice these new skills, and most importantly to instill motivation to continue practicing and using computers once I have stopped coming in.

As I contribute the last of my committed hours, I will only further these positive effects.

Me and the Digital Divide

My impression of what the digital divide is prior to this assignment was not quite right. In my mind, the digital divide referred to the unequal access of computers comparing someone like me to someone who simply does not have the means to physically access a computer. This was further skewed by viewing it on a world wide level, making my impression more like the definition of the global digital divide. [1]

As the semester passed, I refined my image of what the digital divide is. Research, work with my service partner, and the lecture on the digital divide have been the major influences in this refinement.

I now realize that the digital divide encapsulates many unseen factors. Many people have physical access to an Internet connected computer. It seems that the digital divide is prevalent due to the lack of knowledge and skills on how to use computers/the Internet as desired, and the lack in motivation to learn this knowledge and skills.

This extends to many other people outside the seniors in our population. In fact, many seniors are much more acquainted with modern computer technologies than we realize.

Appreciable Differance?

The question of whether my work at Kensington Gardens will make an appreciable difference in the community is presented on the assignment sheet.

Firstly, it is important to note that through this service learning assignment I interacted with only a small fraction of the community.

Secondly, the seniors at Kensington Gardens tend to be quite lonely on average. This seems to hold true across all nursing homes. Thus, the attention I gave them alone brightened their days.

Further, I spent time teaching and practicing basic computer practices to my assigned residents. I feel that I not only made them more comfortable with using the computer by themselves, but I also gave them motivation to further develop and practice their computer skills.

As such, I definitely feel that the work I did at Kensington Gardens has and will continue to make an appreciable difference.

Perhaps one day I can reach a larger audience.

What did I do?

I was assigned to 4 residents.

The building in which the residents live, has a “computer room” on the ground floor. It consists of 4 Internet connected desktop PC’s, a printer, one webcam, and a wireless router.

There are some residents with their own computers in their room, but this is quite rare. Only one of my assigned residents had his own computer in his room.

1) The first resident was very intent and eager to learn to use the computer for her age (she is around 90 years old). She had an email set up and was able to view her emails, but was not very comfortable with much else.

She had specific questions, which we addressed and practiced so that she would remember. My main role with her was to sit and watch as she used the computer. If she had any questions I would answer them for her. When I noticed she didn’t understand how to use something or wanted to learn more, I would attempt to teach her.

 She gained a lot of confidence in terms of using the computer. Learning the basics about how a computer file system is navigated and how to perform various simple functionalities on the computer, brought this resident closer to understanding and embracing computer technologies.

By working with her and being able to see her progress, I realized that part of the digital divide can truly be attributed to the fact that people simply do not know how to or are not comfortable with using a computer.

2) The second resident I worked with required much less attention. He was already well acquainted with using a computer, and even had his own computer in his room. He was having trouble using his microphone.

After spending some time with the computer, it was evident that the sound driver needed to be reinstalled/updated. After I helped him with this task, he was satisfied. I tried to arrange further meetings with him, but he seemed adamant with receiving no more help.

Drivers are not something, which I would assume a “basic” computer user might have knowledge of. In fact this particular resident would not, in my opinion, be far away from me in terms of the digital divide.

To clarify, this particular resident had his own Internet connected computer, which he knew how to navigate and use “regularly”. He may have been less knowledgeable in terms of recent functionality, which the Internet has brought the average citizen (ie. web 2.0, file sharing, etc.).

3) The third resident had worked with a student from the University of Toronto from a previous year that this service learning assignment was done. She did not remember much.

She is a very pleasant woman who was genuinely interested in using the computer. She also seemed quite lonely, and my time seemed to be a relief to an otherwise bland and boring day.

Her first impediment to overcoming her “position” in the digital divide was the fact that she has arthritis. This, coupled with the fact that she is just learning to use the mouse and keyboard, made navigation of the computer quite frustrating and difficult for her.

Further, she did not seem to have very much experience with using a computer and thus did not really understand the value of the functionalities that a computer can bring an individual.

I focused on first giving her motivation to learn to use the computer while she practiced the motor skills required to navigate the computer.

I tried to acquaint her with using the computer along with basic use of the Internet (searching, news, etc).

Her success at minimizing her “distanced position” in the digital divide will be based on her personal motivation to learn to use the computer. Based on her health, her previous knowledge of computers, and the fact that she does not see much use for computers in her current life style, I do not think that she will make much progress once I stop working with her.

I hope that she proves me wrong.

4) I was assigned a fourth resident with whom I was not able to work with. To my knowledge he was well acquainted with using the computer. He was younger then the average resident in the facility, and according to my service learning client he plays a lot of video games online.

I tried to approach him on a few occasions, but he was very reluctant to accept any help from me.

In my mind he was well enough acquainted with computers to perform whatever functions he desired. We did not interact sufficiently for me to determine what he was and was not capable of doing on the computer.

I realized that in some cases the digital divide is widened for an individual due to their character. That is, they may be reluctant to learn the skills required to participate as an active digital citizen for various personal reasons.

Unless there is the motivation to learn, one will not learn.

Digital Divide - What is it?

 "The digital divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalance both in physical access to technology and the resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen." [1]

Please refer to the link below for a better understanding of what the digital divide is.



[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide

Service Learning - Slow Start

 The first thing I would like to note is that a substantial amount of time (4-5 weeks) passed between signing up for the said service learning partner, and actually sitting down with our assigned residents.

This I will attribute to the following reasons:

1) Communication between the group and the client was initially very slow.

  i) Communication within the group was very loose and not effective at first (slow email response)

  ii) The client was initially communicating to the group through the course instructor (vs. directly), which further slowed down project correspondence.

2) Police background check forms must be brought to a specific police station, after the forms have been sent by the service learning to the student

3) TB tests span 2 weeks, require going to a health clinic/doctors office, and forms needed to be provided by the service learning partner.

4) Orientation sessions occur once a week on Saturdays, for three hours starting off at 9am.

  - This further delayed the start up process because I had to work this into my schedule and it was a while before I was even aware when and where the orientation sessions take place.

Once all this was completed everything began to run very smoothly.

We sat down with our client and decided what to do based on the amount of time until the end of the school semester.

Originally the client was envisioning having two groups of students giving group workshops to any residents that may be involved.

In reality, the group consisted of me and one other student. This did not allow us to work with a large group. Further, our client realized that there was not as much enthusiasm in the program as was anticipated.

With much discussion, we came to the conclusion that to maximize our positive impact on the residents at Kensington Garden, it would be most beneficial to work individually with a set of interested residents.

Our client decided which residents we are paired up with.