User:Amchu24/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Digital divide

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
(Briefly explain why you chose it, why it matters, and what your preliminary impression of it was.)

The digital divide is relevant to my practice experience, in which we research digital equity solutions related to local government policies. It is important to know the background of the digital divide (within the US) to know the specific statistical gaps within underserved communities to better target local policy. This article also includes a look at the global digital divide and correlating factors that I don't go in depth in my Needs Talk (age, disability, LGBTQ) which will allow for a wider perspective of the issue. I noticed that the "Economic gap in the United States" is not as fleshed out as the other sections, so I intend to add on that - especially since I am more familiar with this content.

Evaluate the article
Leading + First SectionThe introduction is mostly thorough and summarizes the topic well. A large portion I would change, however, is that it seems to go into depth on the history of the digital divide, which I think can be in its own section. When explaining the global digital divide in the last paragraph of the lead section, it is redundant. The introductory sentence "The digital divide refers to the gap between those able to benefit from the digital age and those who are not." sounds more like a thesis rather than an introduction; it's not necessarily people who can't benefit from the digital age and I think it can be replaced with some of the language from the second sentence.

Content, Tone and Balance

Similar to the lead section, the article is quite comprehensive, covering the history, aspects of the digital divide, correlating variables, solutions, and larger implications.

While it is very comprehensive, you can tell that it is written by multiple people since some sections are more fleshed out than others and more niche – for example, the "Facebook divide" shouldn't be it's own section, but perhaps a subsection of another.

Sources

There are 109 sources as well as a bibliography and further reading section. The sources are mostly from reputable research papers, government agencies, and nonprofits working on the issue – spanning different sectors and niches. They are also all active links. One of my qualms is that with the bibliography and further reading section, it can be more organized, so readers know exactly what to reference if they want to read about a particular aspect, as opposed to flipping through them all.

Organization and writing quality

The article is written mostly neutrally and not too opinionated. One note is that it does seem like a research paper instead of an encyclopedia article at times with a slight thesis.

Images and Media

There are not that many images, only a few graphs in the "Aspects of the digital divide section." I think it would be more impactful to have graphs in the "Reasons and correlating variables