Goode.+The+Digital+Identity+Divide

=Goode, Joanna. "The Digital Identity Divide: How Technology Knowledge Impacts College Students." =

Abstract
"This article embraces the concept of technology identity as an innovative theoretical and methodological approach to study the digital divide. Reporting on qualitative data taken from a mixed-method study, the analytical approach goes beyond an access and skills perspective in measuring digital inequities. Narratives collected from students demonstrate how powerful sociocultural influences, such as family practices and access to a quality K-12 education, contribute to the development of a technology identity. The stories outlined in this article offer illustrative accounts of how holding a particular technology identity impacts the academic and social life of college students. Taken together, the narratives highlight the role of schools and universities as institutions which are perpetuating--rather than resisting--inequalities associated with the digital divide (Goode 497).

Argument
Goode claims that informed navigation of the 'technological ecosystem' in an academic environment is integral for success, and she contends that female students, students of color, and students with low-incomes often glean limited, inadequate access to computers, and technological assignments, and, in turn, face significant issues in their university careers. She labels such a discrepancy, or the limited access to technology, the dismal instruction for usage, and the goal for producing "workers rather than scholars" (499), the digital divide, and contends that the solution lies, not in technological improvements, or increased access for underprivileged groups, but rather in social change. Asserting that technology identity influences our propensity for success, as well as our identity, she argues that home and school environments are where we construct our identities, based on the tools we are given and how we are taught to use them, and that teachers and parents must assume responsibility for exposing children to technology, aiding them as they learn, and encouraging them to find ways to make the skills meaningful. She examines the technological identities of three students, from diverse backgrounds who attend the same university in California, via their technobiographies, or the story of their relationship to technology, and she uncovers how the relationships forged individual identities based on their perception of their technical proficiency, their ability to use computers to attain success, their belief regarding the importance of technology, and their motivation to further their knowledge of technology. While she determines that the students' prior relationship to technology was reinforced by the college they attended, she chastises the university for failing to provide all students with equal opportunities for technological advancement, and, therefore, for perpetuating a cycle of sexism, racism, and classicism, as it attempts to instill academic, technological, and personal excellence in a select few while offering mediocrity to the others.

In conclusion, Goode suggests further study in the areas of digital identity and cultural influence on the development of such an identity (510). This information can be used in the larger context of social culture to help reduce inequalities.

Key Passages
The constituents of a technology identity:  "A technology identity represents a blend of four areas of an individual's belief system: beliefs about one's technology skills, beliefs about opportunities and constraints to use technology, beliefs about the importance of tecnology, and beliefs about one's own motivation to learn more about technology" (498).

 Technology in a college environment:  "Using factor analysis, they discovered high-income males who had early access to a computer were the most likely to use computers for construction, entertainment and communication purposes...they attributed this finding to the importance of home as a context of technology learning" (500).

 The cultural issues which are perpetuated by universities:  "In recent years, sociology and communication scholars have called for a more robust definition of the digital divide which moves away from a technological determinist perspective and toward a framework that examines how the digital divide reflects and reinforces society's social and economic inequities" (500).

 On the importance of the undergraduate experience in shaping a student's technobiography:  "By having a smorgasbord of scholarly disciplines to experience, students can analyze the ways in which particular communities understand knowledge and utilize technology in academic pursuits" (502).

 On why technology knowledge is an important component of identity formation:  "Technology knowledge serves as a gatekeeper to college success" (509).

Selected Works Cited
Cerulo, K.A. "Identity Construction: New Issues, New Directions." //Annual Review of Sociology// 23: 385-409 (1997). Print.  Gaudelli, W. "Identity Discourse: Problems, Presuppositions, and Education Practice." //International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy//. 21(3): 60-81 (2001). Print.  Goode, J., R. Estrella and J. Margolis. "Lost in Translation: Gender and High School Computer Science." //Women and Information Technology: Research on Underrepresentation//. Eds. W. Aspry and J.M. Cohoon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (2006): 89-113). Print.