I am increasingly aware of the digital divide between the Haves of the most recent technology…
And the Have-nots who do not have the money to upgrade to the most recent technology!
And staying behind, because the Have-nots are not able to communicate with the Haves.
My case in point: I have a Blackberry 9360 Smartphone, which do not allow me to do most of the cool stuff, and which do not have long battery life. I have chosen this phone, because I have to pay for two smartphones (the other one is for my daughter who is a student), and I can’t afford a more expensive option.
I have an iPad2 with 16G memory which is stretched to its limit, and gives me notifications that I can’t upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 because there is not enough memory. And iOS 7 is already available in beta…
(Of course, if I had the money, I would have upgraded long ago!)
I find it very frustrating, especially because I am not able to take part fully in ANZ 23 Mobile Things, and this week I can’t download Google + Hangout because it needs iOS 6.1.3.
Luckily I can Skype from my iPad, and I will be following the conversation on Twitter.
Karen's 23 Mobile Things 
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Hi Karen,
I’m hearing you loud and clear. As a primary school teacher I sometimes wonder how the digital haves and have nots will cope as schools increasingly rely on mobile devices and social media to connect with students and parents. Schools need to be teaching students how to participate in a global, connected world. How can we do this when this divide between haves and have nots grows? Governments need to overhaul their funding models to ensure that students are not left behind. The Australian federal government is trying to do this with the Gonski reforms, but is having trouble getting the states to sign up to it. What is happening about this in South Africa?
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Hi Paul
I think we are even more behind with regards digital haves and have-nots. Although there is progress with regards getting tablets into schools, it is by far not common-place occurrence. I love that iSchool Africa is running a campaign here with getting iPads into schools, but not enough!
I am even trying to get tablets into my daughter’s pre-primary school, but so far it has moved very slow. They haven’t moved, although they have said they are interested…
I don’t know of any initiatives from our government’s side!
I am worried because our children are now being schooled in an outdated way, although their world has changed considerably!
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Are public libraries embracing the necessary changes? Maybe change can begin there? Still doesn’t address the funding questions…
Paul
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You make a good point! Public libraries should definitely be brought into the dynamics of digital have-nots, and they should be able to help bridging the gap of the have-nots. Funding is THE issue! Of course!
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