Horizontal Networks Vs. Vertical

One of the majority of our discussions was focused on The Three Industrial Revolutions and I wanted to expand on a previous post, with an emphasis on the organization of the three revolutions.

First Industrial Revolution:
Beginning: In the late 18th century.
Key technologies: Printing press, steam engine (transportation), machinery
Archetpyical workplace: workshop
Organization: Master-apprentice-serf
Expansion: This period defined individuals by their social status. Either you were lucky to have been taken in as an apprentice and work your way up to a master, or you fell into the later category of a se.rf. Much of your income was dependent on your families, or with intelligence with a bit of luck.

For the later two I would like to quote another blog that I found had a useful definition of vertical and horizontal networks.
That blog: http://growchangelearn.blogspot.com/2007/04/vertical-and-horizontal-networks.html
The poster defines them as: "Vertical networks are confining, imposed and physical. Horizontal networks are expansive, self controlled and non-physical."

The second revolution was characterized by these vertical networks in the late 19th century with the creation of: electricity, internal combustion, telegraph, telephone. Jobs were mostly taken place in factories, where there was a since of a boss, and a boss' boss. Big individual, like Rockefeller, rose out of this era.

The third revolution was characterized by horizontal networks. The advent of the Internet allowed for a bit of equality between individuals. Albeit those left behind (our topic in this class). The author describes this through a quote by Jarobe written in 2001 as "what we have is not a an Internet economy but an information economy in which computers and the Internet play an essential enabling role."

I think the distinction of these two terms is important and may be important for our exam.

Week 8: Types of Digital Skills

In the article: The Digital Divide As A Complex and Dynamic Phenomenon

-Instrumental skills: the ability to operate hardware and software. (Can you turn it on?)

-Informational skills: searching information using digital hardware and software. ( Can you use techology for basic means of communication and information exchange?)

-Strategic skills: using information for one's own purpose and position. (Are you comfortable enough with ICT to use it efficiently to aid in your communications and enhance your acquisition, analysis, and proliferation of information?)-Upon reaching this level, you are among the most skilled and most advantaged in the realm of ICT.

Instrumental and informational skills are united under the idea of informacy, the basic ability to apply technical know how and literacy to ICT operation. Informacy is not primarily determined by education, but rather, by age and gender.

If not born digital, having young children, particular hobbies, or access in the workplace can lead to a greater resevoir of technical skills.

Exam 2 Question

Week Seven, Question 4: What are the new categories of workers? What do workers in the new categories do?

The answer to this question comes from Warschauer, M.'s article, on page 22. In the new informational economy, Warschauer writes, the main division between workers is not whether they are blue collar or white collar workers, but whether they are routine production workers, in-person service workers, or symbolic analysts. Each of these three new categories has a specific relationship to the internet and computers.

Routine production workers, which could be payroll clerks or factory workers, engage in the internet on the job in a routine way. This also goes for in-person analysts, or janitors or taxi drivers, who also use the internet on the job in a routine way. Symbolic analysts, on the other hand, use the computer and internet for the interpretation and analysis of data, to create new knowledge, to use it for international communication and collaboration, or for the development of multimedia.

Warchauer also writes that well-paying blue collar jobs have disappeared in the new information economy, being replaced by the three new categories mentioned above.

Exam 2

What are the characteristics of people who are more likely to be online?

Wealthy households income

Certain occupations- access through job (for example provided with personal computers)

The higher the education the more likely to be online

Gender- many different findings but nothing has been inclusive

Generation- youngest age groups more likely to be online- brought up with technology 

Exam 2 Review

What are some solutions/implications suggested by the authors in Chapter 6?

• Research from this book “strongly suggest that neighborhoods in urban America, especially in large metropolitan areas like Chicago, are likely to remain divided, racially and culturally.” (161)
• Racial and ethnic tensions in our nation will continue to exist, especially when they begin at a community level
• The more individuals within groups perceive and highlight these differences, the less likely they are to welcome others or to feel comfortable sharing the same physical and social spaces, leading to increased ethnic/racial stratification
• Hirshman’s theory of exit, voice, and loyalty will continue, specifically with “white flight” to the suburbs as Latinos and blacks migrate to the inner city

There Goes the Neighborhood (exam 2 review question)

What is meant by the tipping point?

The tipping point = Rapid ethnic turnover.

"In many neighborhoods, an infusion of minorities prompted whites to leave and discouraged other whites from replacing them. Thus the proportion of minority-group members grew quickly, particularly after the minority group became the major force in the community. Real estate agents have historically abetted this process by "steering" purchasers to "live with their own kind." - page 7

Exam 2: Warschauer Article

What are the new categories of workers (as opposed to the old categories of blue-collar and white-collar workers)? What do workers in the new categories do?

Three new categories:

Routine production worker - e.g., data processors, payroll clerks, and factory workers

In-person service worker -e.g., janitors, hospital attendants, taxi drivers

Symbolic Analysts - e.g., software engineers, management consultants, and strategic planners

Employees in all three categories may use computers and the internet for their jobs, but the first to make use in routine ways such as inventory checks and ordering products, while the last group uses ICT to conduct analysis and interpretation of data, creation of new knowledge, international communication and collaboration, and the development of complex media products.

Compaine Article Questions

What factors does Compaine suggest increase the adoption of computer and internet use?

• 5 trends: Rapidly declining costs and increasing power of the hardware; improving ease of use; increasing availability of points of presense (POPs) for local Internet Service Provideraccess; decreasing cost of Internet access; and network externalitites associated with email and chat.
• Compaine presents some statistics about how fast computer and internet technology has evolved in such a short period of time
• Suggests the improving ease of use is directly related to Microsoft and Apple introducing the "Point-and-Click" operating system. This system greatly reduced technical barriers to access for many people. One no longer needed advanced "command prompt" knowledge to use a computer and the internet.
  

How does Compaine describe access in this article?

• Compaine seems to describe access in a light that reflects his opinion that there really isn't much of a divide. He presents many statistics and facts in a way that indicate access is nearly everywhere and considerably easy to obtain.

Exam 2 Review

What are the different types of digital skills? (Week 8, reading 2, question 2)

Instrumental skills: the ability to operate hardware and software

Informational skills: the ability of searching information using digital hardware and software

Strategic skills: using information for one's own purpose and position (this skill was added last)

These are found on page 319 under the "Digital Skills" section in the van Dijk, J. and Hacker, K. reading.

Stratification vs normalization

-Understand the difference between stratification and normalization as it relates to technological diffusion.

-“In the normalization figure illustrated in figure 2.2, those who adopt the innovations at an early stage will be ahead of the curve, with the resources, skills, and knowledge to take advantage of digital technologies, but in the long term cyber optimists believe that penetration will become saturated in these societies.” (30). “In contrast, cyber pessimists emphasize that the stratification model provides a more realistic scenario where groups already well networked via traditional forms of information and communication technologies will maintain their edge in the digital economy.” (31).