7/30/2019 Digital Nation Book Review

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Anthony G. Wilhelm holds a Ph.D in Telecommunications Claremont Graduate

Universitys School for Politics & Economics. He was Director of the Technology

Opportunities Program (TOP) for the U.S Department of Commerce. And has doneresearch and work on urban use of computers and Internet at institutions such as the

Tomas Rivera Policy Institute.

A Digital Nation, in many ways is like a mini manual in solving the digitaldivide. This fast rise in cyberspace is excluding people economically and socially associety slowly drifts to provide their services and information through online outlets.

Online interaction is the more preferred and dominant mode for participating in society;

people without these networked computing devices become digitally illiterate. Thisdivide exists among people of lower socio-economic status whom do not have access or

do not have the knowledgeable tools to use the Internet. They eventually become socially

excluded. Wilhelm proposes that the government should step in and that things should

be filtered down with equity and efficiency (39). Wilhem continues to discussthroughout Digital Nation on the infrastructure that should be implemented in order for

success. The goal is not to have technology given to the masses but accessing technology

in a manner that benefits the people lower on this digital divide hierarchy. Masstechnology is necessary but not sufficient in A Digital Nations goal. A digital nation is

an ambitious and achievable road map for arriving at a United States in which every

resident has nondiscriminatory access to essential communications tools and info services

as well as wide spread opportunity to cultivate the skills to navigate a post-enlightenmentsociety (p. 6). He focuses on the people that get left out in this current fast-paced

digitization and how ultimately effects our society as a whole.

Wilhem thoughtfully carries out his schools of thought in a compelling and artfulprose. It was an interesting read with a clear emphasis from a sociological standpoint.

Wherever a question arose, Wilhelm lays his explanations closely after. In the first couple

chapters, A Digital Nations manifesto is idealistic in many senses. It discusses the

advancement and distribution of healthcare access to the masses of people with littleacknowledgement to the realistic implications of how difficult this process could be. This

ideology proposes to solve all of the United States ailments such as the aforementioned

healthcare system, higher education budget cuts, and pollution. Published in 2004 andalready just 7 years later, it is out dated. That is how fast the rate of information

technology is changing.

Digital Nations main points are supported by Douglas Hindmans article. Even ifthe diffusion is widespread, the widening gap that is the digital divide is due in part to

the way that information is accessed. Youth are accessing mind-numbing information

that thwarts their potential. Restructuring the way technology delivers education is

Digital Nation successfully weaves history, policymaking, statistics, theory, and

practice. It was a marvelous read with topics seamed together flawlessly. The amalgam ofinformation presented is not overwhelming or daunting either as you are taken through aDigital Nationthis ideal realm. Wilhems approach to restructuring digital

communication through a socioeconomic approach is admirable. He notes that if we do

nothingto turn a blind eye to the promise of an inclusive technologywould cost us

socially and economically.