This on-going discussion about the "digital divide" has to do, in part, with
the institutionalized and taken-for-granted aspects of the computer
interface. We are all used to the "office" metaphor, with its "desktop",
"files", "folders", "documents", "word processors", "spread sheets",
"recycle bins", etc. But this is just one way to design the interface, and
its institutionalization is part of a larger process.
When we use computers as if we were "digital office clercs", we are actually
(re)producing a socio-historical form. And everyone in the process of
learning how to use a computer has to "interiorize" the office metaphor and
everything that goes with it. This could help explaining the differences in
terms of performance.
Of course there are other uses of computers beyond "productive" work, such
as playing games, drawing, listening to music, participating in online
communication, etc. But notice how pervasive the office metaphor is: even in
this examples, we have "files" which can be "saved" in "folders".
I hope this contribution deserves to be "saved" for future discussion.
Rgrds,
Luiz Carlos Baptista
lucabaptista@sapo.pt
lucabaptista@hotmail.com
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