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Google coding champion whose Cameroon hometown is cut off from the internet #mscedc https://t.co/1WSxVcZ9pX

I stumbled across this article on the BBC news app this afternoon and thought of it as a great example of the “Digital Divide” that Lister et al (2009) describes. Most notably when he says:

“More importantly, the central claim that we all live in an ‘information age’ is also open to question on the basis of the actual spread of technologies and access to them and the nature of the content of new media”

and

“the dissemination of  communication technologies has still not reached the level of penetration that would suppose the globe is encompassed in a complete web of interconnectedness”

These two quotes come from a chapter where Lister is explaining technology’s influence over global economies where he suggests that wealthy countries are reaping the benefits of digitisation whilst the poor are still struggling.

It was also interesting to compare the example he gives of the Chinese government blocking access to the internet to control democracy, and the case in the BBC story where the government of Cameroon imposed a block as an act of punishment. Perhaps they consider the Internet as a luxury rather than an embedded way of life.

References

Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Kelly, K. (2009). Networks, users and economics. In New media: a critical introduction. M. Lister (Eds.) (London, Routledge): pp. 163-236.