An important contribution of digital inequalities research has been the discussion of nuances in ways that people (dis)engage with information and communication technologies (ICTs). One such practice ...is proxy Internet use (PIU): indirect Internet access by asking others to do things online for them or on their behalf. Whereas there is a good amount of research on those who are on the receiving end of PIU, users-by-proxy, little is known about “proxy users” who provide PIU. Analyses of nationally representative survey data from Slovenia (N = 1047) collected in 2018 show that 51% of Internet users reported to have acted as proxy users in the past 12 months. Multivariate analyses unveil that those Internet users who report a wider array of personal, economic, social Internet uses as well as those with higher levels of operational Internet skills are more likely to act as proxy users.
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Although a number of instruments have been used to measure Internet skills in nationally representative surveys, there are several challenges with the measures available: incompleteness and ...over-simplification, conceptual ambiguity, and the use of self-reports. Here, we aim to overcome these challenges by developing a set of reliable measures for use in research, practice, and policy evaluations based on a strong conceptual framework. To achieve this goal, we carried out a literature review of skills-related studies to develop the initial Internet skills framework and associated instrument. After the development of this instrument, we used a three-fold approach to test the validity and reliability of the latent skill constructs and the corresponding items. The first step consisted of cognitive interviews held in both the UK and the Netherlands. Based on the cognitive interview results, we made several amendments to the proposed skill items to improve clarity. The second step consisted of a pilot survey of digital skills, both in the UK and in the Netherlands. During the final step, we examined the consistency of the five Internet skill scales and their characteristics when measured in a representative sample survey of Dutch Internet users. The result is a theoretical, empirically and cross-nationally consistent instrument consisting of five types of Internet skills: operational, navigation information, social, creative, and mobile.
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Although much research examines the factors that affect technology adoption and use, less is known about how older adults as a group differ in their ability to use the Internet. The theory of digital ...inequality suggests that even once people have gone online, differences among them will persist in important ways such as their online skills. We analyze survey data about older American adults’ Internet skills to examine whether skills differ in this group and if they do, what explains differential online abilities. We find that there is considerable variation in Internet know-how and this relates to both socioeconomic status and autonomy of use. The results suggest that attempts to achieve a knowledgeable older adult population regarding Internet use must take into account these users’ socioeconomic background and available access points.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This study assessed the construct and criterion validity of the short version of the Internet Skills Scale and examined whether its four dimensions - Operational, Information Navigation, Social, and ...Creative skills - are influenced by a higher-order dimension of general internet skills as one second-order factor. In 2018, a face-to-face survey comprising of the 20-item Internet Skills Scale and 22 other items related to digital inclusion was conducted in a sample of 814 internet users in Slovenia. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as other multivariate methods, showed that the Internet Skills Scale is characterized by high to adequate convergent and divergent validity. Acceptable criterion validity was observed for Operational and Information Navigation skills. In terms of measurement invariance, the data supported configural and metric invariance, whereas the scalar invariance was not fully confirmed, suggesting that older adults' lower scores on the Creative skills items were not related to lower levels of internet skills in the same way as they were among younger individuals. Last, the results provided original evidence of the Internet Skills Scale as a second-order construct, meaning that a single summative Internet Skills Scale score could be created as an adequate measure of an individual's internet skills.
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Considerable scholarship has established that algorithms are an increasingly important part of what information people encounter in everyday life. Much less work has focused on studying users' ...experiences with, understandings of, and attitudes about how algorithms may influence what they see and do. The dearth of research on this topic globally with diverse populations may be in part due to the difficulty of studying a subject about which there is no known ground truth given that details about algorithms are proprietary and rarely made public. This paper explicitly takes on the methodological challenges of studying people's algorithm skills to shed light on the special considerations required when studying a topic about which even the researchers possess limited know-how. The paper advocates for more such scholarship to accompany existing system-level analyses of algorithms' social implications and offers a blueprint for how to do so.
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•People with disabilities (PWD) are less likely to use the Internet and are less likely to engage in a wide range of activities when online.•However, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, ...PWD are no less likely to engage in any activities online, and are more likely to engage in some.•The five activities involve key areas of online production and consumption, such as sharing content, reviewing products and writing reviews.•Results show that barriers for PWD going online exist, but the online world may offer a means to adapt to an inaccessible culture and society.
While the digital inequality literature has considered differences in the online experiences of many population segments, relatively little work has examined how people with disabilities (PWD) have incorporated digital media into their lives. Based on a national survey of American adults, this paper explores this question through considering both barriers to Internet use and the possibilities the Internet offers PWD. Findings indicate barriers for many PWD to accessing the Internet. Those with five of six types of disabilities measured are considerably less likely to be online than those who are not disabled. People who are deaf or hearing impaired to do not lag in Internet access once we account for demographics, Web use skills, and Internet experiences. However, the study also finds evidence that once online, PWD engage in a range of uses of the Internet as much as people without disability. Moreover, PWD take distinct interest in certain online activities, such as sharing their own content and reviewing products and services, pointing to ways they may go online to adapt and respond to the wider inaccessible society. These findings indicate great potential for the Internet for people with disabilities and suggest that moving more of them online holds the potential for considerable gains among this group.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
In this article, we set out to explain different types of social uses of the Internet of Things (IoT) using forms of capital and Internet skills. We argue that the IoT platform entices different ...manners of social communication that are easily overlooked when focusing on the novelty of smart “things.” How people use the IoT socially is crucial in trying to understand how people create, maintain, or absolve social relations in a networked society. We find inversed effects for social capital, income and education on private use, and on sharing IoT data with a partner. Sharing with acquaintances and strangers is predicted by cultural activities. Sharing IoT data with acquaintances can especially be attributed to social relations that escape the immediate household. We conclude that varying figurations of capital and Internet skills predict how the IoT is used socially.
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The World Health Organization considers coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to be a public emergency threatening global health. During the crisis, the public's need for web-based information and ...communication is a subject of focus. Digital inequality research has shown that internet access is not evenly distributed among the general population.
The aim of this study was to provide a timely understanding of how different people use the internet to meet their information and communication needs and the outcomes they gain from their internet use in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also sought to reveal the extent to which gender, age, personality, health, literacy, education, economic and social resources, internet attitude, material access, internet access, and internet skills remain important factors in obtaining internet outcomes after people engage in the corresponding uses.
We used a web-based survey to draw upon a sample collected in the Netherlands. We obtained a dataset with 1733 respondents older than 18 years.
Men are more likely to engage in COVID-19-related communication uses. Age is positively related to COVID-19-related information uses and negatively related to information and communication outcomes. Agreeableness is negatively related to both outcomes and to information uses. Neuroticism is positively related to both uses and to communication outcomes. Conscientiousness is not related to any of the uses or outcomes. Introversion is negatively related to communication outcomes. Finally, openness relates positively to all information uses and to both outcomes. Physical health has negative relationships with both outcomes. Health perception contributes positively to information uses and both outcomes. Traditional literacy has a positive relationship with information uses and both outcomes. Education has a positive relationship with information and communication uses. Economic and social resources played no roles. Internet attitude is positively related to information uses and outcomes but negatively related to communication uses and outcomes. Material access and internet access contributed to all uses and outcomes. Finally, several of the indicators and outcomes became insignificant after accounting for engagement in internet uses.
Digital inequality is a major concern among national and international scholars and policy makers. This contribution aimed to provide a broader understanding in the case of a major health pandemic by using the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as a context for empirical work. Several groups of people were identified as vulnerable, such as older people, less educated people, and people with physical health problems, low literacy levels, or low levels of internet skills. Generally, people who are already relatively advantaged are more likely to use the information and communication opportunities provided by the internet to their benefit in a health pandemic, while less advantaged individuals are less likely to benefit. Therefore, the COVID-19 crisis is also enforcing existing inequalities.
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