Aim/Purpose: The aim of this paper is to identify the possibilities for reducing the second and third levels of the digital divide (or inequality) through conscious application of digital ...technologies, especially through the promotion of digital means for information, enlightenment, and entertainment.
Background: This article reviews studies carried out between 2000 and 2017, which investigate the social benefits of digital technology use for disadvantaged user groups and, especially, of their outcomes in terms of increasing digital skills and motivation to use information and communication technologies.
Methodology: The literature review of the selected texts was carried out using thematic content analysis. The coding scheme was open but based on the theory of three levels of digital divide by van Dijk.
Contribution: The results of the analysis show the difficulties related to the attempts of reducing the digital divide on the second and third level using only digital interventions, but also reveal the potential of these interventions.
Findings: The literature review confirms the connection of different levels of digital divide with other relational and structural inequalities. It provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses of digital interventions aimed at the reduction of digital inequalities. Their success depends on the consideration of the context and participants needs as well as on carefully planned strategies.
The paper summarizes and demonstrates the shortcomings and limitations of poorly designed interventions in reducing the digital divide but emphasizes the possibilities of raising the motivation and benefits for the participants of strategically planned and implemented projects.
Recommendations for Practitioners: While planning a digital intervention with the aim of reducing digital inequalities, it is necessary to assess carefully the context and the needs of participants. Educational interventions should be based on suitable didactic and learning strategies.
Recommendation for Researchers: More research is needed into the factors that increase the effectiveness of digital interventions aimed at reducing the digital divide.
Future Research: We will apply the findings of this literature review in an intervention in the context of Lithuanian towns of different sizes.
Although research has demonstrated a grey divide where older adults are less involved and skilled with digital media than younger adults, by treating them as a homogenous group, it has overlooked ...differences in their digital skills and media use. Based on 41 in-depth interviews with older adults (aged 65+ years) in East York, Toronto, we developed a typology that moves beyond seeing older adults as Non-Users to include Reluctants, Apprehensives, Basic Users, Go-Getters, and Savvy Users. We find a nonlinear association between older adults’ skill levels and online engagement, as many East York older adults are not letting their skill levels dictate their online involvement. They engage in a wide range of online activities despite having limited skills, and some are eager to learn as they go. Older adults often compared their digital media use with their peers and to more tech-adept younger generations, and these comparisons influenced their attitudes toward digital media. Their narratives of mastery included both a positive sense that they can stay connected and learn new skills and a negative sense that digital media might overwhelm them or waste their time. We draw conclusions for public policy based on our findings on how digital media intersect with the lives of East York older adults.
Based on a comprehensive set of studies collected via five academic databases, this scoping review examines how inequality and discrimination have been studied in the context of paid online labor. We ...identify three approaches in the literature that aim to (1) identify participation patterns in (national) survey data, (2) examine background characteristics of online contractors based on survey or digital trace data, and (3) reveal social biases in the hiring process using experimental data. Building on Shaw and Hargittai’s pipeline of participation, we present a multi-stage model of engagement in online labor. When we map the studies across the stages, it becomes clear that the literature focuses on later stages (i.e. having been hired and received payment). Based on this analysis, future research should examine barriers to participation in earlier stages. Furthermore, we advocate for research that examines participation across multiple pipeline stages as well as for analysis of platform-level biases.
This paper examines three levels of digital inequality, access, use, and outcomes, within a major U.S. city. The Resources and Appropriation (RA) Theory is used to explain the digital divide within a ...city. Using paper and electronic surveys in English and Spanish, the researchers conducted a city-wide survey to examine all three levels of digital inequality. The research methods were descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Findings include that the digital divide persists at all three levels, with older respondents. Furthermore, geographical residential location, income level, and educational attainment emerged as significant predictors of digital inequality. Findings not normally found in the digital divide literature are that geography and limited English proficiency significantly impacted internet use and outcomes. These findings contribute to our understanding of the digital divide within a large urban area and shed light on how inequalities manifest across different regions of the city. The study also highlights the persistent presence of digital inequality in various low-income communities within the city, underscoring the need for further research on the community level.
•Three levels of digital inequality in access, use, and outcomes are examined.•Findings include that the digital divide persists at all three levels.•Residential location, income level, and educational attainment predictors of digital inequality.•Geography and limited English proficiency significantly impacted internet use and outcomes.•These findings contribute to understanding the digital divide within a large urban area.
Amid global attention on the growth of China's e-commerce economy, prior research has focused more on demonstrating the digital dividends created by this new economy than on addressing the social ...inequalities that arise. One presumption in particular is that e-commerce economy will leverage the deterritorializing effects of digital technologies to create more equal opportunities for consumers in remote areas. Based on fieldwork with e-traders in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province, and customers from a rural county of Tibet, this article argues that while e-commerce economy has eliminated trade barriers to a certain extent, it has also drawn new geographic boundaries and engendered new social divides in China. By exploring the e-traders' hierarchal conception of baoyouguo (literally, "the free-shipping kingdom") and their subsequent differentiated treatments of customers from different regions, this study illuminates China's emerging e-commerce geography and its consequences in the Internet age.
Older adults are in triple jeopardy during COVID-19: compared with younger people, older adults are (1) more likely to develop serious conditions and experience higher mortality; (2) less likely to ...obtain high quality information or services online; and (3) more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness. Hybrid solutions, coupling online and offline strategies, are invaluable in ensuring the inclusion of vulnerable populations. Most of these solutions require no new inventions. Finding the financial resources for a rapid, well-coordinated implementation is the biggest challenge. Setting up the requisite support systems and digital infrastructure is important for the present and future pandemics.
Amid the increasing reliance on digital tools and services in education, this article examines the datafication and commodification of student life in Denmark. We analyse the web and app (iOS and ...Android) versions of 45 tools and services that teachers in Danish public primary schools use as part of their teaching, the types of data generated by them, and the market actors harvesting and distributing the user data. The analysis finds that the websites and apps collect significant amounts of user data, use it for functional as well as commercial purposes, and distribute it to a long list of third-party services. In light of these findings, we reflect on how the increasing datafication of school life and the inherent commodification of digital learning challenge established welfare state ideals surrounding public schooling, raise challenges for schools and teachers alike, and create new inequalities amongst students.
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.
Given the rapid rise of mobile-only users, we investigated the digital inclusion process through smartphones. By using Chile as a case study, a country that has strongly promoted mobile connections ...to address internet access gaps, we compared mobile-only and computer users in different dimensions of the digital inclusion process, including digital skills and differentiated uses of the web. By relying on a face-to-face national representative survey, the results showed that smartphones represent an opportunity to access the internet for those who traditionally lag behind. However mobile-only use does not necessarily lead to a more complete digital inclusion process because it was related to lower levels of skills and less diverse types of uses of the web compared to those people who also use the computer. Also, skills partially mediated the association between access device and types of uses of the web, which suggests that the differences by access device partly occur because people have greater chances to develop skills when accessing the web through computers.
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