Tracing the Networks of Digital Access and Equity for Adults

• In Event: 52.055 - New Concepts in Adult Learning: Readiness to Learn, Parental Learning, and Digital Learning

Abstract

Much is said about the dire consequences of the digital divide for marginalized adults but little is known about people’s actual experiences of digital access and use, particularly among low-income adults who depend upon public digital computing spaces. Adopting ethnographic extended case study methodologies, and perspectives of socio-cultural theory, New Literacy Studies and Actor Network Theory, the study investigates the complexities of access and the materiaiization of corporate and consumer discourses and practices in digital tools and objects. These have consequences for equitable access to digital technologies, driving confidence and fluency gained through consistent practice, with implications for digital strategies tied to adult learning.

Author

• Suzanne Kathleen Smythe, Simon Fraser University