Technologia del Mundo
by M.V. Greene
mgreene@ccgmag.com
UNDERSTANDING THE LATINO ‘DIGITAL DIVIDE’ I
n today’s high-flying technology universe, where smart gadgets and gizmos are changing business models and driving personal, social and professional interactions, some segments of the population are mired at the side of the road.
They are the victims of the “Digi- tal Divide” – a chasm in America’s technology landscape where some are fortunate to enjoy opportunities such as broadband access to the Internet and others do not.
Nowhere is the divide more pro- found today in the United States than among the Latino population, the nation’s fastest growing demographic group. A February report from the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Cen- ter examining digital technology use among Latinos in 2010 found they are striking out on three fronts when compared to use by whites: Internet access, home broadband connections and mobile phone ownership.
And that divide deepens when sepa- rating foreign-born Latinos in the United States, according to Pew.
That Latinos are behind the curve on technology access comes at a critical juncture for the nation when U.S. Census Bureau figures show that more than half of the growth in the total U.S. population between 2000 and 2010 came from the Latino population.
Data show 308.7 million people lived in the United States on April 1, 2010, an increase of 27.3 million people, or 9.7 percent, since 2000. During that same period, the Hispanic population grew by 43 percent—from 35.3 mil- lion in 2000 to 50.5 million in 2010. Census projections also now forecast
14 HISPANIC ENGINEER & Information Technology | 2011 Antonio R. Flores, president and chief executive officer of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
that about a third of people living in the United States by 2050 will be of Latino origin.
When linked to technology access, such statistics present vexing implica- tions for public policy, said Antonio R. Flores, president and chief execu- tive officer of San Antonio, TX-based Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), noting that the income and educational attainment for Latino demographic in the United States is lower than that for the larger population.
“I hope that our country as a whole understands that it is not just about closing the gap for Latinos with respect to the digital divide,” said Flores, whose organization repre- sents Hispanic-Serving Institutions. “It is about really preparing the next generation and future generations of workers who need to be highly skilled in order to be competitive in the global marketplace. That’s what is at stake in terms of investments in education and in access to broadband connectivity.”
www.hispanicengineer.com
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