With a $400,000 research grant, Iowa State will be teaming with Drake University to narrow the bridge known as the digital divide.

The digital divide is a name given to the current situation in today’s information age. Some rural and poor communities lack the funding to have the same technological capabilities as those in wealthier areas.

The grant, provided by the National Science Foundation, will help the two universities figure out how to bring these communities up to par, said Sally Beisser, professor of education at Drake.

“[The grant] will promote information technology literacy and identify methods for narrowing the digital divide,” she said.

Mack Shelley, education professor and statistician at Iowa State, said there are many people who have either limited Internet access or no access at all, therefore they are without valuable information.

“Take, for instance, a welfare mother who doesn’t know what her benefits are,” Shelley said.

He said a computer-literate person could pull up the necessary information off the Web in 10 minutes, whereas many less fortunate people do not have the access or the ability.

Beisser said the bridge must be narrowed to establish equality.

“People without technological access are clearly left behind,” Beisser said. “The inequity lessens the ability of citizens to have a voice in issues and problems that are of concern to them personally and professionally.”

Students at both schools will be used to raise the level of awareness.

“The project’s primary objective is to see how well service-learning students, using their knowledge to educate others, can improve citizenship by increasing computer literacy,” Beisser said.

Both Beisser and Shelley said they want to teach citizens how to use current technology to get and use information productively.

Beisser said most Americans live in an age of information where they have intentional access to technology and the Internet, through their personal and work roles, giving them an unfair advantage over others.

She said the study and the class will help bring equality on a political level as well.

The study began Sunday and will continue for three years.