Page 85 - Communication Cultural and Media Studies The Key Concepts

DIGITAL DIVIDE

(whether it is 01 or 10, 001, etc.) will determine how that information
is decoded or reconstituted into the appearance of the original. As
Nicholas Negroponte explains: ‘the world is a very analogue place.
From a microscopic point of view, it is not digital at all but
continuous. Nothing goes suddenly on or off, turns from black to
white, or changes from one state to another without going through a
transition’ (Negroponte, 1995: 15).
In terms of distribution, analogue signals are transmitted in a
continuous wave whereas digital information is distributed as a code to
be converted by the receiving equipment. As analogue technology is
analogous to the original and digital technology is a conversion of the
original into binary language, analogue technology is arguably more
true to the original and should therefore offer a better quality sound or
image. However, as digital bits are either ‘on’ or ‘off’, you will be able
to receive digital content well or not at all, and digital information can
be replicated infinitely without loss of quality. Analogue technology,
on the other hand, can suffer from interference, where the wave of
impulses are interrupted by competing signals: hence snowor unclear
images on the set. It also suffers degradation through generations of
copying.
There are economic implications to these technological differences.
One is that digital distribution allows for interactivity (see datacast-
ing) and therefore creates newmarketing opportunities for media and
content industries. Another is that digital distribution puts perfect
rather than degraded copies at the disposal of ‘pirates’. As analogue
copies were never as good as the original, consumers were still likely to
pay for quality goods (such as CDs produced by the record company).
Digital piracy produces copies of a standard that cannot be
differentiated from industry-produced goods, resulting in new copy-
right concerns.

See also: Analogue
Further reading: Negroponte (1995); Tassel (2001)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

The digital divide is the stratification of people according to access to
interactive computer-based technologies – on one side, groups and
individuals possessing the ability to participate within the network
society, and on the other, those who are absent or excluded from it. It
is the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor.

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