Issues in the Digital Divide

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Issues in the Digital Divide

• Info 280
• February 15, 2007
• Mahad Ibrahim

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Universal Service 2.0
The concept of "universal service" in U.S.
telecommunications policy has traditionally
referred to the goal that all Americans should
have access to affordable telephone service. As
America has increasingly become an information
society, however, that concept has broadened to
include access to information services. Now that
a considerable portion of today's business,
communication, and research takes place on the
Internet, access to the computers and networks
may be as important as access to traditional
telephone services.
NTIA, FALLING THROUGH THE NET IINEW DATA ON THE
DIGITAL DIVIDE
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Emergence of a Concept

• Digital Divide developed to describe situation
  in the US
• Initial concept about equity rather than
  developmental power
• ICT4D an out growth of the digital divide
• Internationalization
• Leapfrogging

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Dimensions of the Divide

• Caveat household access does not equal use
• Regional (highest in northeast and west)
• Employment status (higher among the employed)
• Income (rises linearly with income)
• Education (80 of college grads had access)
• Race/Ethnicity (highest among asian-americans and
  non-hispanic whites)
• Age (highest among those under 25)
• Gender (no longer an issue)
• Family Structure (households w/ children have
  higher access)

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Critiques

• Many have rejected binary and time-based measures
• Access/non-access or time spent online
• Physical vs. Social Access
• Global, Social, and Democratic divides
• 5 dimensions
• Technical means, autonomy of use, use patterns,
  social support, skill
• Second-level divide - ability to search
  effectively and efficiently

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Non-users

• Not all non-use is involuntary
• Continuum of non-users
• Intermittent, dropouts, lack desire to use

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Then and Now

• In the US, many disparities have diminished
• Geographic
• High income and presence of children still lead
  to higher access
• Presence of computers and access to Internet
  increasing across the board

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Implications

• What do we mean by access?
• Does access have implications for life chances?