Looking to bridge the ‘digital divide’

Christine Carrillo

The whirl of technology has rapidly accelerated over the years,

scooping up a significant number of persons in its path and leaving

others seemingly more behind -- or at least, that’s the debate.

To discuss the issue of a possible digital divide, the School of

Humanities’ HumaniTech and the Humanities Center at UCI have joined

forces to sponsor a lecture series that begins today.

The man who has been widely credited for coining the term “digital

divide” will give the series’ primary lecture.

Larry Irving, a former presidential advisor who has worked at

developing policy in the telecommunications and information

technology industries on national and international levels for more

than two decades, will speak from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today in room 100 in

the Humanities Instructional building on campus.

“My goal is not to politicize the debate but to tell people the

truth ... and let them figure things out for themselves,” he said in

a telephone conversation.

The lecture, open to the public, will be more in the form of a

comfortable question-and-answer session moderated by John Smith,

director of the center, rather than a formal speech at a podium.

Audience members will also have an opportunity to ask Irving

questions pertinent to the digital issue.

“I’m really looking forward to having him here,” said Barbara

Cohen, dean of the School of Humanities’ HumaniTech. “He’s a very

dynamic speaker and he has the gift of gab.”

The goal of Irving, as well as the sponsors of the event, is to

educate the public about the surge of the digital age. As the use of

Internet and online services increases, Irving and those who have

witnessed “the digital divide” have found that certain communities --

namely minorities, women and rural Americans -- have not been swept

up with the age as they should have been.

“We pay a lot of lip service to this issue,” Irving said, adding

that the federal government neglected to address the issue when it

could’ve been most effective. “We had the wallet, but not the will;

now we have the will, but not the wallet.”

Irving will also discuss how the digital divide can be seen on a

local, national and global level.

“I think people will have a better understanding of what the

digital divide is,” Cohen said. “I think they’ll come out of it

realizing there’s more to it than they thought there was.”

While the idea of the lecture is to present the issues facing a

digital age, the sponsors of the event have a slightly more human

focus in mind.

“Each year, we choose a very specific aspect of what it means to

be human in a digital age,” she said. “Technology is so much a part

of our culture. ... What part does humanity play?”