1. This exercise is meant to give a sense of how information technology impacts the every day world we live in, and how its affects might change for every individual.

a) Make a list of the ways in which your community has been impacted by ICT.

b) Now choose which three you feel had the most significant impact. What criterion did you use to decide if one impact was more or less important than another?

c) With this list in mind, interview a friend about the ways in which she or he sees ICT as having impacted the community you live in and which three she or he feels has had the greatest impact. (You might want to define ICT for the person you are interviewing).

d) Were your answers and those of the person you interviewed the same or different? Think about why this might be. Does ICT affect every person in the same way?

e) Now interview a parent or grandparent, or a friend’s parent or grandparent, and ask how ICT has impacted their lives and their community. How do this person’s answers compare to yours and your friend’s? Does the impact of ICT change by generation?

2. Use this exercise to understand how information communications and technology is different from past technological innovations, and to think about why the United Nations Secretary-General has called the impact of information and communications technology a "revolution."

a) In order to think about how ICT resembles or differs from past revolutions, first make a short list of past technological innovations you think have had a particularly strong impact on the world we live in today.

b) After compiling your list, make a second list of why one or two of these are labeled revolutions. Compare this list to the four key characteristics of the digital revolution. Keep in mind impact, degree and rapidity of penetration. How are your two lists different or the same? Was distribution of past revolutions equitable? Or did they have their own type of digital divide?

3. Use this exercise to think about the role each and every one of us plays in the fight to bridge the digital divide, one of the Key Objectives of the Secretary-General’s Millennium Report "We the peoples" (http://www0.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/report/index.htm).

a) First think about what the digital divide is. Can you think of examples both between countries and within countries? Looking at your own community, do you see examples of the digital divide? You might want to collaborate with friends or classmates to compile a list of examples.

b) Looking at your list can you think of ways that the divide might be bridged and how you can contribute to this effort?

4. Visit e-pals.com, a UN partner site, and join the global discussion on the Digital Divide (http://www.epals.com/projects/digital_divide/results_en.html). Do the experiences of any of these students resemble your own? Can you make of list of at least three reasons why different countries might have different experiences?