CiteULike: Tag divide

Challenges in HCI: digital divide

Kibum Kim — 2006-10-14T16:58:55-00:00

Crossroads, Vol. 12, No. 2. (2005), pp. 2-2.

The Information Environment and Universal Service

LA Lievrouw — 2005-07-18T21:22:26-00:00

The Information Society, Vol. 16, No. 2. (1 June 2000), pp. 155-159.

This essay focuses on universal service and the Internet as means to support social and political participation. The emphasis on access to telecommunications systems in conventional approaches to universal service is contrasted with access to content. A model of the information environment is described that accounts for the roles of content and conduit, both of which are necessary conditions to achieve true access. A method is outlined for employing information indicators to observe or measure the information environment.

Social Inclusion : Possibilities and Tensions

2005-07-18T20:57:15-00:00

(30 September 2000)

<div>Against a background of globalization, risk, and cultural pluralism, the problem of social exclusion and its possible remedies have become a major focus for political and social analysis and policy making. This collection of original essays by leading social thinkers and analysts offers a comprehensive exploration of the topic and considers various practical agenda. </div>

Technology and Social Inclusion : Rethinking the Digital Divide

Mark Warschauer — 2005-07-18T20:32:31-00:00

(01 October 2004)

Much of the discussion about new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a "digital divide." Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education, and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States. A central premise is that, in today's society, the ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge using information and communication technologies is critical to social inclusion. This focus on social inclusion shifts the discussion of the "digital divide" from gaps to be overcome by providing equipment to social development challenges to be addressed through the effective integration of technology into communities, institutions, and societies. What is most important is not so much the physical availability of computers and the Internet but rather people's ability to make use of those technologies to engage in meaningful social practices.

Weaving the Western Web: explaining differences in Internet connectivity among OECD countries - Political consequences of language choice

E Hargittai — 2005-07-18T23:19:00-00:00

Telecommunications Policy, Vol. 23, No. 10. (November 1999), pp. 701-718.

Despite the Internet's increasing importance, there is little social scientific work that addresses its diffusion. Our knowledge is especially limited with respect to the conditions that encourage its spread across nations. This paper takes a first step in explaining the differences in Internet connectivity among OECD countries. After examining the impact of economic indicators, human capital, institutional legal environment, and existing technological infrastructure, the empirical analyses show that economic wealth and telecommunications policy are the most salient predictors of a nation's Internet connectivity.

Cognitive Development, Its Cultural and Social Foundations

Aleksandr Luriia — 2005-07-18T23:06:08-00:00

(01 December 1976)

Literacy in Traditional Societies

Jack Goody — 2005-07-18T22:55:54-00:00

(04 December 1975)

The importance of writing as a means of communication in a society formerly without it, or where writing has been confined to particular groups, is enormous. It objectifies speech, provides language with a material correlative, and in this material form speech can be transmitted over space and preserved over time. In this book the contributors discuss cultures at different levels of sophistication and literacy and examine the importance of writing on the development of these societies. All the articles except the first were specially written for this book and the extensive introduction unites and synthesizes the material.

The Passing of Traditional Society

Daniel Lerner — 2005-07-18T22:54:14-00:00

Technopoly : The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Neil Postman — 2005-07-20T22:02:39-00:00

(17 March 1992)

Neil Postman is one of the most level-headed analysts of education, media, and technology, and in this book he spells out the increasing dependence upon technology, numerical quantification, and misappropriation of "Scientism" to all human affairs. No simple technophobe, Postman argues insightfully and writes with a stylistic flair, profound sense of humor, and love of language increasingly rare in our hastily scribbled e-mail-saturated world. In this witty, often terrifying work of cultural criticism, the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death chronicles our transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it--with radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, education, intelligence, and truth. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Situated Learning : Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive & Computational Perspectives)

Jean Lave — 2005-05-11T20:27:15-00:00

(27 September 1991)

Electronic Literacies: Language, Culture, and Power in Online Education

Mark Warschauer — 2005-07-20T20:57:45-00:00

(01 October 2000)

Less cyber, more café: Enhancing existing small businesses across the digital divide with ICTs

Tony Salvador — 2007-04-30T04:34:17-00:00

Information Technology for Development, Vol. 11, No. 1. (2005), pp. 77-95.

About 10% of the world has access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Telecenters and cyber cafés are one prevalent way to increase access. This paper suggests increasing access through currently existing, local businesses where people already gather and where proprietors already posses existing business relationships with suppliers and customers. This paper questions the prevailing emphasis on the ?cyber” characteristics of access, e.g., computing and internet access as is currently known, and attempts to refocus the conversation by considering computing and access in the context of the ?café,? e.g., as public life in the sense of Habermas, which permits an in situ evolution of relevant access. This analysis is based on extant literature and direct ethnographic research in several public places in six countries. We offer example design perspectives based on a reflection of ?third places? as inspiration for appropriate innovation in the provision of computing and communications. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

National Borders on the World Wide Web

Alexander Halavais — 2007-12-11T19:02:00-00:00

New Media Society, Vol. 2, No. 1. (1 March 2000), pp. 7-28.

The internet is often seen as a significant contributor to the globalization of culture and the economy. It is also seen as an inherently international medium, unimpeded by national borders and removed from the jurisdiction of the nation-state. This paper argues that although geographic borders may be removed from cyberspace, the social structures found in the `real' world are inscribed in online networks. By surveying 4000 web sites, it is determined that the organization of the world wide web conforms to some degree to traditional national borders. Web sites are, in most cases more likely to link to another site hosted in the same country than to cross national borders. When they do cross national borders, they are more likely to lead to pages hosted in the United States than to pages anywhere else in the world. 10.1177/14614440022225689

Gradations in digital inclusion: children, young people and the digital divide

Sonia Livingstone — 2007-08-11T20:49:55-00:00

New Media Society, Vol. 9, No. 4. (1 August 2007), pp. 671-696.

Little academic and policy attention has addressed the `digital divide' among children and young people. This article analyses findings from a national survey of UK 919-year-olds that reveal inequalities by age, gender and socioeconomic status in relation to their quality of access to and use of the internet. Since both the extent of use and the reasons for low- and non-use of the internet vary by age, a different explanation for the digital divide is required for children compared with adults. Looking beyond the idea of a binary divide, we propose instead a continuum of digital inclusion. Gradations in frequency of internet use (from non and low users through to weekly and daily users) are found to map onto a progression in the take-up of online opportunities among young people (from basic through moderate to broad and then all-round users), thus beginning to explain why differences in internet use matter, contributing to inclusion and exclusion. Demographic, use and expertise variables are all shown to play a role in accounting for variations in the breadth and depth of internet use. 10.1177/1461444807080335

Gender and the Use of the Internet at Home

Supriya Singh — 2007-12-11T19:00:54-00:00

New Media Society, Vol. 3, No. 4. (1 December 2001), pp. 395-415.

In the United States and Australia, men and women use the internet in nearly equal measure, whereas in Japan, India and China, men continue to dominate internet use. This article focuses on gender differences in the use of the internet at home as seen from women's perspectives and draws particularly on open-ended interviews in 1999 with 30 middle-income Anglo-Celtic women with internet access in urban and rural areas of Australia. The study found that women generally use the internet as a tool for activities, rather than as play or a technology to be mastered. This partially explains why women farmers use the internet more extensively than their farmer husbands. When women become comfortable with technology - as with the telephone or the PC on a farm - women see it as a tool rather than a technology. Women's continued discomfort with technology thus remains at the centre of the social construct of gender and technology. 10.1177/1461444801003004001

Understanding information inequality: Making sense of the literature of the information and digital divides

Liangzhi Yu — 2007-08-11T20:47:07-00:00

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Vol. 38, No. 4. (1 December 2006), pp. 229-252.

This paper reviews related research since the early 1990s on the information and digital divides. It shows that, despite their shared concerns with illustrating social inequality through the lens of information resource distribution, the two areas in effect represent two overlapping research communities. The research focus and discourse of the former were primarily shaped by three different theoretical perspectives and were inspired by a fairly strong sense of ethical principles; those of the latter, on the other hand, were shaped primarily by four different political standpoints and were imbued with a fairly strong concern for political and economical interests. The co-existence of multifarious perspectives and standpoints has produced divergent, and sometimes contradictory, research findings and policy recommendations, which inevitably perplex researchers and policy makers. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research and policy making. 10.1177/0961000606070600

The internet for empowerment of minority and marginalized users

Bharat Mehra — 2004-12-28T16:19:18-00:00

New Media & Society, Vol. 6, No. 6., 781.

The Internet and Knowledge Gaps: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation

Heinz Bonfadelli — 2007-08-11T20:41:09-00:00

European Journal of Communication, Vol. 17, No. 1. (1 March 2002), pp. 65-84.

Although the knowledge gap hypothesis is often mentioned in connection with the social consequences of the Information Society, there is little discussion of its theoretical background or specific empirical evidence. Therefore, this article explores the theoretical potential of the knowledge gap perspective for Internet research and presents data based on two recent Internet surveys, which demonstrate a double digital divide. Access to the Internet in Switzerland is still dominated by well-educated, affluent, young males and between 1997 and 2000 the gap between those who do and those who do not have access widened not narrowed. Furthermore, there are gaps in the use of the Internet too. More educated people use the Internet more actively and their use is more information oriented, whereas the less educated seem to be interested particularly in the enter-tainment functions of the Internet.

Reconsidering Political and Popular Understandings of the Digital Divide

Neil Selwyn — 2007-08-11T20:39:15-00:00

New Media Society, Vol. 6, No. 3. (1 June 2004), pp. 341-362.

This article presents a theoretical examination of the digital divide, tracing its origins in the centre-Left social inclusion policy agenda of the 1980s and 1990s to its current status of political hot topic'. It then moves on to outline four conceptual limitations to conventional dichotomous notions of the digital divide and individuals' access' to information and communications technology (ICT): what is meant by ICT; what is meant by access'; the relationship between access to ICT' and use of ICT'; and a lack of consideration of the consequences of engagement with ICT. The article outlines a more sophisticated, hierarchical model of the digital divide based around these conceptual stages' while recognizing the mediating role of economic, cultural and social forms of capital in shaping individuals' engagements with ICT. It concludes by developing a set of research themes and questions for future examination of inequalities in individuals' use of ICT. 10.1177/1461444804042519

The European Union and the information society: Discourse, power and policy

Ian Goodwin — 2007-12-11T18:45:08-00:00

New Media Society, Vol. 4, No. 2. (1 June 2002), pp. 225-249.

In this article, critical discourse analysis is utilized to scrutinize the discursive structure of an increasingly contested debate over the social, cultural and economic impact of the 'information society' within the European Union (EU). This debate has informed the development of information policy goals and affected their implementation. This analysis builds upon previous critiques of language and policy by focusing on language as a mode of social action. Four major discourses are identified: threat/ opportunity, technological determinism, market dominance and citizen vs consumer. Despite the articulation of a broad set of policy goals, it is argued that these discourses act to structure the debate in such a way that its economic parameters become privileged, at the expense of social and cultural factors. Further, it is contended that this has consequences for information policy, and the type of information society that will ultimately be achieved.

Digital Whiteness, Primitive Blackness

Janell Hobson — 2008-06-23T09:40:40-00:00

Feminist Media Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2. (2008), pp. 111-126.

This essay argues that cultural scripts, such as popular films and other forms of visual culture, have constructed a racial ideology about technology, especially in conceptualizations of the digital divide. By associating whiteness with progress, technology, and civilization, while situating blackness within a discourse of nature, primitivism, and pre-modernity, the digital divide amasses cultural and racial weight and highlights hostile interactions with digital technology among marginal groups. However, a growing corpus of work by digital artists of color and web 2.0 participants has exposed these mythic constructions by re-imagining blackness and womanhood beyond technological exclusion and surveillance.

Access to the internet in the context of community participation and community satisfaction

Mohan Dutta-Bergman — 2008-02-29T16:31:51-00:00

New Media Society, Vol. 7, No. 1. (1 February 2005), pp. 89-109.

The introduction of the internet in American life has led to debate among media scholars, sociologists and political scientists about the role of the internet in society. Two areas of research that have received substantial attention in the domain of internet effects are the digital divide and social capital. Digital divide researchers have pointed out the critical gaps in society among different groups in the context of their access to new media and technology. Social capital researchers have focused on the influence of the internet on community life. The article contributes to the literature by (a) consolidating the two concepts of access and community participation to articulate the community correlates of the digital divide, and (b) applying a complementary resource-based perspective to capture the relationship between the internet and community outcomes. It investigates the role of community access to the internet in the context of the participation of individuals in their communities and their satisfaction with community life. 10.1177/1461444805049146

Handbook of Public Information Systems, Second Edition (Public Administration and Public Policy)

Garson — 2008-02-29T12:24:05-00:00

(29 March 2005)

Delivering IT projects on time and within budget while maintaining privacy, security, and accountability is one of the major public challenges of our time. The Handbook of Public Information Systems, Second Edition addresses all aspects of public IT projects while emphasizing a common theme: technology is too important to leave to the technocrats. Doing so imperils democratic values and is poor public management, jeopardizing strategic planning, policy development, and the mobilization of human capital. The handbook points the way to successful execution of IT projects by offering 39 contributed articles by experts in the field. Content includes introductory material that addresses 21st century public information systems, modern IT needs, and the development of e-government. It follows with an examination of the growth and use of information technology within and among government agencies and organizations. The book addresses current policy issues, offers case studies, and demonstrates successful public sector applications. Each section leads to a holistic approach that emphasizes communication, understanding, and participation from top management, technology teams, and end users.

The paradoxical future of digital learning

Mark Warschauer — 2008-02-28T21:52:53-00:00

Learning Inquiry, Vol. 1, No. 1. (27 April 2007), pp. 41-49.

Abstract What constitutes learning in the 21st century will be contested terrain as our society strives toward post-industrial forms of knowledge acquisition and production without having yet overcome the educational contradictions and failings of the industrial age. Educational reformers suggest that the advent of new technologies will radically transform what people learn, how they learn, and where they learn, yet studies of diverse learners’ use of new media cast doubt on the speed and extent of change. Drawing on recent empirical and theoretical work, this essay critically examines beliefs about the nature of digital learning and points to the role of social, culture, and economic factors in shaping and constraining educational transformation in the digital era.

Laptops and Literacy: A Multi-Site Case Study

Mark Warschauer — 2008-02-28T21:50:12-00:00

Pedagogies: An International Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1. (2008), pp. 52-67.

This multi-site case study examined literacy practices in 10 U.S. schools with one-to-one computing programs where all students had access to laptop computers throughout the school day. Important changes noted in the processes, sources, and products of literacy were along the lines often touted by educational reformers but seldom realized in schools. For example, reading instruction featured more scaffolding and epistemic engagement, whereas student writing became more iterative; more public, visible, and collaborative; more purposeful and authentic; and more diverse in genre. Students also gained important technology-related literacies such as those that involve analysing information or producing multimedia. However, laptop programs were not found to improve test scores or erase academic achievement gaps between students with low and high socioeconomic status. Both the benefits and limitations of laptop programs are discussed in this article.

Technology and Equity in Schooling: Deconstructing the Digital Divide

Mark Warschauer — 2008-02-28T21:41:16-00:00

Educational Policy, Vol. 18, No. 4. (1 September 2004), pp. 562-588.

This qualitative study compared the availability of, access to, and use of new technologies in a group of low- and high-socioeconomic status (SES) California high schools. Although student-computer ratios in the schools were similar, the social contexts of computer use differed, with low-SES schools affected by uneven human support networks, irregular home access to computers by students, and pressure to raise school test scores while addressing the needs of large numbers of English learners. These differences were expressed within three main patterns of technology access and use, labeled performativity, workability, and complexity, each of which shaped schools' efforts to deploy new technologies for academic preparation. 10.1177/0895904804266469

The challenges of redressing the digital divide: a tale of two US cities

Lynette Kvasny — 2005-12-23T03:18:57-00:00

Information Systems Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1. (January 2006), pp. 23-53.

Technology and Literacy: Introduction to the Special Issue

Mark Warschauer — 2008-02-29T10:40:22-00:00

Pedagogies: An International Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1. (2008), pp. 1-3.

The Network Society (Key Concepts)

Darin Barney — 2006-03-12T22:39:39-00:00

(30 November 2004)

The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity

Michael Piore — 2006-05-31T15:51:49-00:00

Theorizing the digital divide: Information and communication technology use frameworks among poor women using a telemedicine system

Melissa Gilbert — 2008-05-28T20:37:55-00:00

Geoforum, Vol. 39, No. 2. (March 2008), pp. 912-925.

In this paper, we argue that reconceptualizing the "digital divide" from the perspective of those with the least access requires that the policy concern shift from disparities in access to computers and the Internet toward an examination of how Internet information resources are differentially accessed and used. Drawing on an archive of clinical narrative descriptions documenting training sessions related to eight African American, low-income women involved in a clinical trial of a telemedicine system intervention for monitoring cardiovascular disease risk factors implemented at Temple University; we illustrate the shortcomings of a limited conceptualization of access. Rather, we propose a model that depicts information and communication technology (ICT) access in terms of four interrelated elements: (a) information delivery approaches (how information is shared, disseminated and accessed through the use of e-communication technologies), (b) technology use contexts (what are the specific settings in which technology is accessed), (c) social networks (what is the role of social networks in shaping access to and use of ICTs) and (d) the social policies and institutional mechanisms regulating technology access (specifically targeted to ICT use as well as more generally). This model highlights the embeddedness of ICT use in the geography of people's daily lives and suggests a number of policy concerns related to how ICTs may mitigate or exacerbate economic and political inequalities in the United States.

The Participation Divide: Content creation and sharing in the digital age

Eszter Hargittai — 2008-04-26T10:32:36-00:00

Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 11, No. 2. (2008), pp. 239-256.

This paper looks at the prevalence of creative activity and sharing in an age when the barriers to disseminating material have been considerably lowered compared with earlier times. The authors use unique data to explore the extent to which young adults create video, music, writing and artistic photography, as well as the prevalence of sharing such material online. Findings suggest that despite new opportunities to engage in such distribution of content, relatively few people are taking advantage of these recent developments. Moreover, neither creation nor sharing is randomly distributed among a diverse group of young adults. Consistent with existing literature, creative activity is related to a person's socioeconomic status as measured by parental schooling. The novel act of sharing online, however, is considerably different by gender with men much more likely to engage in it. However, once internet user skill is controlled for, men and women are equally likely to post their materials on the Web.

Democracy in the Digital Age: Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace

Anthony Wilhelm — 2008-06-08T18:33:22-00:00

(20 January 2000)

_Democracy in the Digital Age_ is a fascinating philosophical exploration of how the emerging information and communication technologies are impacting political participation in the United States. Rather than being the antidote to democratic ills, the political conversations occurring online are neither inclusive nor deliberative, suggesting that new technologies, as currently designed and used, are as much threats to progress as they are vehicles of progress. Wilhelm finds that there is often an appearance of progress, but negligible advancement of the human condition. He discusses the four features of digitally-mediated political life (resources, inclusiveness, deliberation, and design) and demonstrates the need for a strong public policy.

Broadband and e-Government Diffusion

Enrico Ferro — 2008-04-29T13:01:57-00:00

(2007)

Is It Only About Internet Access? An Empirical Test of a Multi-dimensional Digital Divide

J Gil-Garcia — 2008-04-29T12:53:30-00:00

Electronic Government (2006), pp. 139-149.

Scholars from different disciplines have recently studied a phenomenon called “the digital divide”. Since many of the new government information technology initiatives are based on Internet technologies and require the use of the Internet by citizens, understanding the digital divide (and consequently, the potential demand) is important for e-government scholars. For some researchers, the divide is not a problem and Internet access is the only relevant determinant of Internet use (access divide). For other researchers, the divide is rooted in more fundamental social differences and opportunities (multi-dimensional divide). Using data from the Piedmont region in Italy, this paper tests these two competing views of the digital divide. Overall, the models based on a multi-dimensional view have greater explanatory power and provide evidence about the relevance of multiple factors affecting both Internet access and Internet use. For instance, females use the Internet for a smaller number of activities than males. Individuals with more formal education and who can speak English use the Internet more. Finally, individuals with more experience using a PC and the Internet itself also use the Internet to perform a broader range of activities.

When Technology Meets the Mind: A Comparative Study of the Technology Acceptance Model

Lucy Dadayan — 2008-04-29T13:25:20-00:00

Electronic Government (2005), pp. 137-144.

Issues related to technology, including diffusion, acceptance, adoption, and adaptation, have been the focus of research for different disciplines including Information Systems (IS), System Dynamics, Psychology, and Management Science. Of all research conducted and models developed to study technology related issues, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) stands out as most prominent, particularly in the field of IS. However, technology acceptance research has been relatively limited in its application to the public sector. Therefore, there is a concurrent need to develop and gain empirical support for models of technology acceptance within the public sector, and to examine technology acceptance and utilization issues among public employees to improve the success of IS implementation in this arena. In this paper we present a more comprehensive, yet parsimonious model of technology acceptance and suggest testing it both in public and private sectors to help understand the similarities and differences (if any) between the two sectors.

The Internet, mobile phone and space-time constraints

Tim Schwanen — 2008-05-28T20:40:39-00:00

Geoforum, Vol. 39, No. 3. (May 2008), pp. 1362-1377.

While the implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for daily travel and activities have been studied extensively, there is only scant attention paid to the relations between ICTs and space-time constraints. This study therefore explores the extent to which the Internet and mobile phone increase the spatial and temporal flexibility of everyday activities through a review of the literature and empirical research with data from Columbus (Ohio, USA) and Utrecht (The Netherlands). The analysis suggests that the implications of the Internet and mobile phone are complex and dependent on the type of activity, persons involved, technologies and socio-physical context in which they are embedded. Various regularities can, however, be detected. For the study participants, the Internet and mobile phone relax temporal constraints to a stronger degree than they enhance spatial flexibility. There are also space-time constraints that seem to persist or have come about because of ICT adoption. Finally, it appears that the Internet and mobile phone at best consolidate differences between men and women in the space-time constraints associated with everyday activities.