Mobile: erased the digital divide?
Jinfo Blog

16th September 2010

By Joanna Ptolomey

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We all know that mobile phone use is increasing at a stellar rate – some recent LiveWire comment includes http://digbig.com/5bcjmk and http://digbig.com/5bcjmm. The Pew Institute recently reported that ‘mobile phone use in the US has increased dramatically over the past decade with eight in ten adults (82%) being users (http://digbig.com/5bcjkp). But is the ‘access revolution over and erased the digital divide’ as Susannah Fox declared in an e-patients.net article this week (http://digbig.com/5bcjft)? This article actually made to me stop in my tracks, and I think it has questions not just for the health sector. This is a regular work week for me and I have been contributing/following various digital accessibility projects and conversations such as mHealthDubai (#mhealthDubai) (http://digbig.com/5bcjks) and the CILIP programme ‘Becoming upwardly mobile’(#mobexec) (http://digbig.com/5bcjkt). I have also just completed a chapter on digital accessibility and the digital divide for a book to be published early next year. In my opinion, and contrary to Susannah Fox’s declaration, the access revolution still exists and thereby digital divide too. Why? Whilst the Pew statistics show that 82% of Americans have a mobile phone. What kind of phone – a smartphone with 3G or 4G and the interface and screen that allows useful access? With my daily experience working in health information with the public, let’s take an example that I see on a regular basis. A person suffering from chronic disease coming from the lower socioeconomic levels is hardly likely to spend £400/£500 or £40 monthly on an iPhone from a standard high street UK retailer (http://digbig.com/5bcjmb). A princely sum that could make the difference to whether they can heat their homes this winter and afford the food basics. That is an issue of access. The other issues surround information literacy. The mobile use tsunami has helped to create even more quantity of information – but not necessarily quality. Information overload is getting worse. Let’s talk about assessing quality of information – I am a information specialist and it is not always that easy for me to keep abreast of developments and sources of trusted data/information. My concerns are not just for the health sector – access is just one part of the information equation and yes we are moving to more mobile society, but the revolution is hardly over here in the real world (and I suspect in the US also). In order to complete the equation we need to remember good old fashioned literacy issues – the ability to find appropriate information, the ability to understand what the information means and also the ability to know what to do with that information. Having access to mobile technologies does not necessarily make you feel empowered – you need the information literacy factor to complete the equation. Yes mobile technology is moving at a pace - my BlackBerry is less than a year old and has now been superseded - and yes more of the population are buying into it. But will they have the best mobile phone for access, can they afford the unit costs and charges and will they know where to look for great quality information? How do we measure the outcomes? Come on people get with the whole story, not just the parts that create an eye catching headline.

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