Digital Divides

Education ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Hartnett
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Wrong Side ◽  
Digital Divides ◽  
Urban Rural

The term “digital divide” emerged in the 1990s in the United States to describe observed inequalities of access, initially, to computers and later to the Internet, information, and other digital technologies. Originally defined as the gap between those who have physical access to technology and those who do not, over time a more nuanced picture of the digital divide has emerged. Other factors such as motivation to use and technology skills, intention to use, and social support available vary among populations and are collectively referred to as the second-level divide. Recently, a third-level divide related to outcomes of using the Internet has emerged. A variety of sociodemographic factors have been identified across a multitude of national and cross-national studies that determine which groups are more likely to be on the wrong side of the access, use, and outcomes divides. These sociodemographic factors include: age, income, education, employment status, and geographical location (i.e., urban/rural). Other terms such as digital inclusion/exclusion and digital capital are increasingly used to highlight how sociodemographic factors related to digitally disadvantaged groups tend to reflect existing societal inequities. Over the two decades in which research about the digital divide has been undertaken, studies have shown that the divide is narrowing in terms of access but deepening, when considering use and outcomes of use, in countries where availability of digital technologies is near ubiquitous. Research in the last decade or so has identified various user groups whose characteristics sit on a spectrum from non-use to expert use. Digital divide theories are also emerging and large datasets across multiple countries are now being used to test such theories. It is also evident from recent research that the digital divide is not a static entity but is changing as a result of increasing use of digital devices, complexities of use, and socio-contextual factors. Research focused on initiatives that attempt to address digital divide issues demonstrates that there is no “one size fits all” solution and governments, in particular, play a central role in ensuring that technology infrastructure investment and development occurs to ensure the benefits of technological use are spread throughout society.

An Analysis of Factors Underlying E-Health Disparities

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
CYNTHIA BAUR
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
The United States ◽  
Universal Service ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Individual Health ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
Unequal Access ◽  
Levels Of Service

The potential public and individual health consequences of unequal access to digital technologies have been recognized in the United States for at least a decade. Unequal access to the Internet and related technologies has been characterized as a “digital divide”; naturalistic trends toward broader access across the population and targeted intervention to increase access are described as progress toward “digital inclusion.” The problem of the digital divide has been characterized as one of healthcare justice. The idea that everyone should have access to the telecommunications grid—telephone and computer—is a central tenet of the U.S. universal service policy. With the diffusion of broadband technologies, the issue of digital access includes not only access to the Internet but also access to new levels of service, such as broadband, to support a wide range of emerging applications.

New Faces of Digital Divide and How to Bridge It

2018 ◽  
pp. 7248-7258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor Freiman ◽  
Dragana Martinovic ◽  
Xavier Robichaud
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Cognitive Content ◽  
Special Groups ◽  
Political Access ◽  
Intellectual Limitations

The chapter aims to explore, through the lenses of digital divide, what are challenges to alleviating socio-economic and intellectual limitations for prosperity of each individual. Cutting-edge research is reviewed to discuss in what way new technologies and access to them really help to develop citizens who are able to contribute in creative and democratic ways to society. While much effort has been done, in the past decade, to bridge the digital divide, by resolving access issues and usage issues, the recent studies seem to indicate that the gap at all levels, nation-wide, community-wide, special groups-wide still exists and even deepens, especially regarding digital inclusion and meeting needs of at-risk population. More systematic research and innovative practical solutions are needed to address all the aspects of digital divide: physical, financial cognitive, content and political access; also, we have to consider the technological and social resonances of digital technologies in terms of digital literacy and development of critical thinking.

New Faces of Digital Divide and How to Bridge It

2019 ◽  
pp. 431-443
Author(s):  
Viktor Freiman ◽  
Dragana Martinovic ◽  
Xavier Robichaud
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Cognitive Content ◽  
Special Groups ◽  
Political Access ◽  
Intellectual Limitations

The chapter aims to explore, through the lens of digital divide, the challenges to alleviating socio-economic and intellectual limitations for prosperity of each individual. Cutting-edge research is reviewed to discuss in what way new technologies and access to them really help to develop citizens who are able to contribute in creative and democratic ways to society. While much effort has been done in the past decade to bridge the digital divide by resolving access issues and usage issues, the recent studies seem to indicate that the gap at all levels, nation-wide, community-wide, special groups-wide still exists and even deepens, especially regarding digital inclusion and meeting needs of at-risk population. More systematic research and innovative practical solutions are needed to address all the aspects of digital divide: physical, financial cognitive, content, and political access; also, we have to consider the technological and social resonances of digital technologies in terms of digital literacy and development of critical thinking.

Why the Institutional Access Digital Divide Might Be More Significant than the Home Broadband Divide

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-79
Author(s):  
Christopher McConnell ◽  
Joseph Straubhaar
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Broadband Access ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
The Family ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
Policy Priority

Digital-inclusion policy in the United States has historically emphasized home broadband access as both its policy priority and goal. Supplying households with broadband access may not do much to improve the ability of individuals to make meaningful use of the Internet, however, since it provides Internet access with little social context beyond the family. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of disposition, habitus, and multiple forms of capital, this paper endeavors to situate Internet use in its broader social context and explores the importance of institutional access, Internet use at work or school, in developing the dispositions and competencies needed to use the Internet in instrumental ways, such as applying for educational programs or communicating with governments. Through descriptive statistics, it identifies which segments of a US city lack institutional access, and, using multivariate analysis, it highlights the role institutional access plays in developing these abilities and its role in further inequality.

Digital inclusion

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald M. Baecker
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Rich

J. C. R. Licklider, Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart, Ted Nelson, and Alan Kay optimistically and exuberantly imagined how computers could better the lives of people. Much of this has come to pass. The Internet supports learning by ‘students’ at all levels. Information on laws, procedures, diseases, and medical care may be found on the web. The Internet now provides the easiest, or in some cases the only, way to pay bills or order items such as books, groceries, and even clothing. It is a means of communication with family, friends, individuals one would like to meet, individuals with whom one could share insights, and potential employers. Music, films, and other means of entertainment stream to our digital devices. This implies that those for whom digital technology is not available are at a disadvantage. The gap between the technology-haves and the technology-have-nots became known in the 1990s as a digital divide. The concept is nuanced; we can speak of availability or scarcity of hardware, such as personal computers (PCs) and mobile phones; of infrastructure such as cellular networks; of communications bandwidth that enables a smooth media viewing experience; of expertise in using the technology; of commitment to its use; and of engagement in the process. Some only consume information; others contribute their ideas via methods such as blogging and tweeting. Yet a better way to describe digital technology widely accessible is the goal of social inclusion, to allow all individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status, location, race, gender, or ability or disability, to take advantage of the benefits of modern computing and telecommunications. To have terminology that is even more evocative, we shall use the more modern and descriptive term of digital inclusion. This has been defined by the International Telecommunications Union as ‘empowering people through information and communication technologies (ICTs)’. The term ‘people’ is meant here to imply all people throughout the world. This chapter will first examine the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots (often the rich and the poor) within several nations. Examples of the benefits of digital inclusion will be cited.

scholarly journals Exploring the Gender Digital Divide in E-Government Use in a Developing Country

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Ali Acilar
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Wrong Side ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Digital Gap ◽  
Services Use

This article explores the gender digital divide in e-government use in Turkey. Historical trends and differences in internet and e-government use by males and females are investigated. The findings of this study indicate that although internet use has increased over the years, there remains a steady and significant gap between males and females in terms of internet use and e-government services use. It appears that females in Turkey tend to be on the wrong side of the digital divide, and a significant number of females do not benefit from the potential advantages of the internet and e-government services. The gender digital gap in e-government use is higher than in internet use.

scholarly journals Role of the Internet in Solving the Last Mile Problem in Medicine

10.2196/16385 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. e16385
Author(s):  
Bradford William Hesse
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good News ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Last Mile Problem

Internet-augmented medicine has a strong role to play in ensuring that all populations benefit equally from discoveries in the medical sciences. Yet, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected from 1999 to 2014 suggested that during the first phase of internet diffusion, progress against mortality has stalled, and in some cases, receded in rural areas that are traditionally underserved by medical and broadband resources. This problem of failing to extend the benefits of extant medical knowledge equitably to all populations regardless of geography can be framed as the “last mile problem in health care.” In theory, the internet should help solve the last mile problem by making the best knowledge in the world available to everyone worldwide at a low cost and no delay. In practice, the antiquated supply chains of industrial age medicine have been slow to yield to the accelerative forces of evolving internet capacity. This failure is exacerbated by the expanding digital divide, preventing residents of isolated, geographically distant communities from taking full advantage of the digital health revolution. The result, according to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Connect2Health Task Force, is the unanticipated emergence of “double burden counties,” ie, counties for which the mortality burden is high while broadband access is low. The good news is that a convergence of trends in internet-enabled health care is putting medicine within striking distance of solving the last mile problem both in the United States and globally. Specific trends to monitor over the next 25 years include (1) using community-driven approaches to bridge the digital divide, (2) addressing structural disconnects in care through P4 Medicine, (3) meeting patients at “point-of-need,” (4) ensuring that no one is left behind through population management, and (5) self-correcting cybernetically through the learning health care system.

scholarly journals The Digital Divide And Job Stability During The Great Recession

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Sumati Srinivas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Computer Use ◽  
Job Loss ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Policy Objective ◽  
The Great Recession

Researchers and policy makers have identified the existence of a Digital Divide in the United States, between those who have access to the internet and technology in general, and those who do not. Most research into the relationship between the access to technology and labor market outcomes has revolved around on-the-job computer use and the extent to which it determines wages. Using a nationally representative dataset, this study looks instead at access to the internet at home prior to the Great Recession, and examines whether this is significantly related to job loss during the Great Recession. The results of this analysis indicate that internet access prior was a stronger predictor of job loss during the Great Recession than on-the-job computer use. With recent data that internet access levels in the United States may have plateaued for certain sections of the population, this finding has broad implications for both workers and employers, and lends urgency to the policy objective of expanding internet access.

scholarly journals A Study on Impact of Digitalization Rural Development in Khambhat Taluka

2019 ◽  
pp. 220-224
Author(s):  
Sahima N.Vohra
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Factors ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Digital Gap

In recent years, information and communication technology (ICT) has rapidly spread across the globe, along with increased market penetration and easy availability of economical smartphones and cell phones with both wired and nonwired connections to access the Internet; this leapfrogging in the Internet access is true even in the rural areas of the world's developing countries. This study explored the interplay between contextual and individual factors related to Internet adoption in isolated rural communities. By investigating 10 remote villages throughout Chile that received Internet access infrastructure in 2010–2011, we identified 3 areas in which contextual and individual factors are intertwined.1.Geogeaphical isolation,2. the communities' aging population also represented a strong challenge because they lack young people, a relevant technology socialization agent.3.Jon and economic. When the Internet has reached the vast majority of the population, isolated communities confront specific challenges that we need to consider in policy?making decisions. As Internet access spreads and the level of penetration reaches high percentages in both developed and developing countries, the urban–rural digital gap remains strong (e.g., LaRose, Strover, Gregg, &Straubhaar, 2011; Rivera, Lima & Castillo 2014). Thus, many policy?making efforts have promoted online connection in rural areas. For example, in the United States, the Department of Agriculture has promoted broadband access programs such as the Sustainable Broadband Adoption Program (LaRose et al., 2012).

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