Policy by the Numbers: 2012: Driving down the information superhighway, in reverse

2012: Driving down the information superhighway, in reverse

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Metaphors comparing the Internet to an information superhighway were common in the 1990s. They’ve since been replaced by other terms and abbreviations, such as the net, but this older comparison to a freeway is still applicable. In particular, digital citizens require a type of “driver training” program to be able to understand the cyber rules of the road and navigate to the online content that’s most important and compelling to them. Without knowing how the Net can change their world, users may not fully benefit from or value becoming digital citizens.

In America, it’s common for new automobile drivers to pass a driving instruction test with both a technical component teaching laws and procedures and, for all new drivers, a practical driving test demonstrating their ability to drive a car around town.

Similarly, digital citizens that learn the “technical” rules of the road are able to access the Net without revealing private information, avoiding unsafe practices and without leaving digital footprints that could adversely impact their future job prospects. ConnectSafely, Enough is Enough, iKeepSafe, Wired Kids, the Family Online Safety Institute, GetNetWise, the National Consumers League, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Cyber Security Alliance and Common Sense Media are just some of the important safety organizations that help organizations like mine teach non-users how to pass some of the technical parts of their online drivers training program and safely traverse the Net.

Unfortunately, some digital inclusion providers don’t spend adequate time on the “practical” parts—asking non-users what’s important to them in the “real world” so they can learn about the related content that is online and will make the Net relevant to them.   According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, most people that remain offline do not believe that the Internet is sufficiently relevant to justify the time, money and energy for them to become digitally literate. Most non-users haven’t been shown a compelling and personal value proposition, and without one, the Net is much less compelling and useful to them. Last year between May 2010 and August 2011, Pew reported that the number of adult Americans that don’t use the Internet increased from 21% to 22%! Because many users don’t have a personal value proposition that makes the Net important and useful, they exited the highway.

Culturally respectful grassroots initiatives with a national direction best leverage the synergies within the colorful mosaic of communities that comprise America. Net Literacy is a long-time proponent of tapping into the tens of millions of digital natives that attend high schools and colleges to form a Digital Literacy Corps that helps to reduce the digital divide. In 2009, the FCC recommended the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps in the National Broadband Plan presented to Congress. One non-user at a time, a Digital Literacy Corps could help individuals discover their personal value proposition and why they should accelerate to the onramp of the information superhighway.

Posted by Daniel Kent, Founder of Net Literacy

1 comment :

guarantepass said...: The bridge between research and driver training is just beginning and there are a small number of emergent driving schools creating the kind of programs that are based on research. Finally, there seems hope that we can see a reduction in the number of incidents involving teen drivers.

PCV Training; September 15, 2012 at 3:47 AM

Policy by the Numbers

2012: Driving down the information superhighway, in reverse

1 comment :

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