A ten-year longitudinal study of the impact of national, state, and local programs that address issues of digital divide and digital inclusion in Austin, Texas.
For a long time, a common opinion among policy-makers was that the digital divide problem would be solved when a country’s Internet connection rate reaches saturation. However, scholars of the ...second-level digital divide have concluded that the divides in Internet skills and type of use continue to expand even after physical access is universal. This study—based on an online survey among a representative sample of the Dutch population—indicates that the first-level digital divide remains a problem in one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world. By extending basic physical access combined with material access, the study finds that a diversity in access to devices and peripherals, device-related opportunities, and the ongoing expenses required to maintain the hardware, software, and subscriptions affect existing inequalities related to Internet skills, uses, and outcomes.
Based on Bourdieu’s theory, this article focuses on the third-level digital divide in relation to offline outcomes of Internet use. Based on 30 in-depth qualitative interviews with young people in ...Madrid, we analyzed the mechanisms used to convert three main forms of capital—economic, cultural, and social—into digital capital (DC) and the subsequent reconversion of DC back into the three main forms of capital. We conclude that economic capital is the most basic form of digital inequality, imposing material barriers to access. Cultural capital is transformed into DC through people’s techno-socialization, while social capital is converted into DC by means of social practices and social support. DC can be retransformed into each of the three main forms of capital: to economic capital by means of professional networking and access to goods; to cultural capital through access to knowledge; and into social capital by the differential management of social ties.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had huge effects on the daily lives of most individuals in the first half of 2020. Widespread lockdown and preventative measures have isolated individuals, affected the ...world economy, and limited access to physical and mental healthcare. While these measures may be necessary to minimize the spread of the virus, the negative physical, psychological, and social effects are evident. In response, technology has been adapted to try and mitigate these effects, offering individuals digital alternatives to many of the day-to-day activities which can no longer be completed normally. However, the elderly population, which has been worst affected by both the virus, and the lockdown measures, has seen the least benefits from these digital solutions. The age based digital divide describes a longstanding inequality in the access to, and skills to make use of, new technology. While this problem is not new, during the COVID-19 pandemic it has created a large portion of the population suffering from the negative effects of the crisis, and unable to make use of many of the digital measures put in place to help. This paper aims to explore the increased negative effects the digital divide is having in the elderly population during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also aims to highlight the need for increased attention and resources to go toward improving digital literacy in the elderly, and the need to put in place measures to offer immediate solutions during the COVID-19 crisis, and solutions to close the digital divide for good in the long-term.
In the digital age, schools are a central part of a nationwide effort to make access to technology more equitable, so that all young people, regardless of identity or background, have the opportunity ...to engage with the technologies that are essential to modern life. Most students, however, come to school with digital knowledge they've already acquired from the range of activities they participate in with peers online. Yet, teachers, as Matthew H. Rafalow reveals in "Digital Divisions," interpret these technological skills very differently based on the race and class of their student body. While teachers praise affluent White students for being "innovative" when they bring preexisting and sometimes disruptive tech skills into their classrooms, less affluent students of color do not receive such recognition for the same behavior. Digital skills exhibited by middle class, Asian American students render them "hackers," while the creative digital skills of working-class, Latinx students are either ignored or earn them labels troublemakers. Rafalow finds in his study of three California middle schools that students of all backgrounds use digital technology with sophistication and creativity, but only the teachers in the school serving predominantly White, affluent students help translate the digital skills students develop through their digital play into educational capital. "Digital Divisions" provides an in-depth look at how teachers operate as gatekeepers for students' potential, reacting differently according to the race and class of their student body. As a result, Rafalow shows us that the digital divide is much more than a matter of access: it's about how schools perceive the value of digital technology and then use them day-to-day.
More and more countries have become greying societies along with the burgeoning of digital devices. The older generation suffers from a sharp digital divide. Although the information infrastructure ...is fully developed, the elderly, not having grown up with it, tend to lack digital literacy and hold less intention to learn to use digital technologies. In the past, it was cable TV which pervaded the market and because of its long history of development became indispensable in the lives of the elderly. Recently, the maturity of Smart TV, provides us with an appropriate digital learning tool to assist seniors in Taiwan to improve their digital literacy. This is done utilising a digital remote control, designed to be a mixture of new and old technologies that offers seniors a high degree of familiarity. The study explore the effects of technology anxiety, digital feedback, and familiar technological skills on the adoption of digital devices by the elderly. In addition, a learning strategy compatible with the existing living environment of the elderly is proposed. The findings and recommendations for an effective approach to this problem are discussed as well as limitations and future research directions.
In this paper we ask the question “inequality of what” to examine the multiple inequalities revealed under the covid-19 pandemic. An intersectional perspective is adopted from feminist studies to ...highlight the intersection and entanglement between digital technology, structural stratifications and the ingrained tendency of ‘othering’ in societies. As part of a future research agenda, we propose that IS research should move beyond simplistic notions of digital divisions to examine digital technology as implicated in complex and intersectional systems of power, and improve our sensitivity to the positionality of individuals and groups within social orders. Implications for practice and policy are also discussed, including moving beyond single-axis analysis of digital exclusion.
•Digital inequality is relational and occurs along multiple fracture lines which demarcate social positioning.•Digital technology does not just provide ‘solutions’ and ‘innovations’, but also produces and reproduces social orders.•Individuals are not just users but also actors situated the intersection of various social structures and systems of power.•An intersectional approach sensitises us to the positioning and subjectivity of individuals and groups in power structures.
This paper presents highlights of research conducted into the Internet supported household activities of residents at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). The routines of residents in ...five distinct basic needs activity areas were examined in an effort to identify the role of the Internet in supporting these undertakings. The results indicate that the Internet can be characterized as an essential technical resource that supports the stability of TCHC households by helping to multiply and interconnect the activities that constitute household routines. By providing an explanatory model of the Internet’s role in supporting the stability of TCHC households, this research advances an argument for public intercession in the provisioning of household Internet services to help redress the digital divide in Canada’s most populous city.
Digital Divide of Russia's Regions Beksultanova, Aibika; Gaisumova, Liza; Eniev, Movsar
SHS Web of Conferences,
2021, Letnik:
93
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Digital technologies in all spheres of life are becoming an increasingly necessary requirement of the current era, an imperative for states that want to ensure themselves a foothold in an ...ever-changing world. It is no coincidence that the Digital Economy has become one of Russia's key programs to shape the country's future. This paper analyses the digital divide between cities by comparing settlements of different sizes, economic structure, income levels and histories. Such comparisons provide a voluminous analysis of the digitalisation of the country as a whole, assisting in strategic decision-making in both government and business. The analysis leads to conclusions and proposes key directions for a possible program of action for the regions.
Internet use for health information is important, given the rise of electronic health (eHealth) that integrates technology into health care. Despite the perceived widespread use of the internet, a ...persistent "digital divide" exists in which many individuals have ready access to the internet and others do not. To date, most published reports have compared characteristics of internet users seeking health information vs nonusers. However, there is little understanding of the differences between internet users seeking health information online and users who do not seek such information online. Understanding these differences could enable targeted outreach for health interventions and promotion of eHealth technologies.
This study aims to assess population-level characteristics associated with different types of internet use, particularly for seeking online health information.
The 2015-2016 California Health Interview Survey datasets were used for this study. Internet use was classified as never used the internet (Never use), ever used the internet but not to search for health information in the last 12 months (Use not for health), and ever used the internet and have used it to search for health information in the last 12 months (Use for health). Weighted multinomial logistic regression was used to assess sociodemographic and health characteristics associated with types of internet use. Findings are reported as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs.
Among 42,087 participants (weighted sample of 29,236,426), 19% reported Never Use of the internet, 27.9% reported Use not for health, and 53.1% reported Use for health. Compared to Never Use individuals, Use for health individuals were more likely to be younger (OR: 0.1, 95% CI 0.1-0.2 for ≥60 years vs <60 years), female (OR: 1.6, 95% CI 1.3-1.9 compared to males), and non-Hispanic white (OR: 0.54, 95% CI 0.4-0.7 for Latinos and OR: 0.2, 95% CI 0.2-0.4 for African Americans) and have a higher socioeconomic status (>400% of Federal Poverty Guidelines; OR: 1.3, 95% CI 1.4-2.4). Overall, characteristics for the Use not for health and Use for health groups were similar, except for those with lower levels of education and respondents not having visited a physician in the last year. For these two characteristics, the Use not for health group was more similar to the Never Use group.
Our findings indicate that a digital divide characterized by sociodemographic and health information exists across three types of users. Our results are in line with those of previous studies on the divide, specifically with regard to disparities in use and access related to age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Disparities in online health-seeking behavior may reflect existing disparities in health care access extending into a new era of health technology. These findings support the need for interventions to target internet access and health literacy among Never Use and Use not for health groups.
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