Gender, capital endowment and digital exclusion of older people in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Juhua Yang ◽  
Peng Du
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Old Age Support ◽  
Capital Endowment ◽  
Digital Exclusion ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Amid rapid population ageing and the high-speed progress of information and communications technology, use of smart electronics can improve older people's quality of life by helping them to stay connected, active and independent, which may, in turn, increase their overall happiness and sense of social belonging. Taking a gender perspective, this paper aims to understand variations in digital exclusion among older people. Using data from the 2016 China Longitudinal Ageing Social Survey, it finds that digital exclusion seems to vary by gender, with rural female older people being most excluded, possibly because they have the lowest capital endowment. The gender difference in the digital divide is even more salient with all other things being equal. Digital exclusion in the information era may further exacerbate gender inequality, particularly for those who are already most vulnerable. Since digital inclusion is somewhat inherent in the concept of intelligent old-age support, it should be considered an urgent necessity to help older people, especially rural women, become familiar with smart electronic products.

Rural realities

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Freeman ◽  
Sora Park
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Digital Government ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Digital Exclusion

Purpose – This article explores challenges for rural Australian local governments during the transition to high-speed broadband infrastructure. Despite the National Broadband Network’s promised ubiquitous connectivity, significant access discrepancies remain between rural and urban areas. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical findings are drawn from a full-day workshop on digital connectivity, which included participants from seven rural local governments in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis of the workshop transcript was undertaken to extrapolate recurring nuances of rural digital exclusion. Findings – Rural communities face inequitable prospects for digital inclusion, and authorities confront dual issues of accommodating connected and unconnected citizens. Many areas have no or poor broadband access, and different digital engagement expectations are held by citizens and local governments. Citizens seek interactive opportunities, but rural authorities often lack the necessary resources to offer advanced participatory practices. Research limitations/implications – While this research draws from a small sample of government officials, their insights are, nonetheless, heuristically valuable in identifying connectivity issues faced in rural Australia. These issues can guide further research into other regions as well as civic experiences of digital inclusion. Practical implications – There is a need to reconceive Australia’s current policy approach to broadband. Greater rural digital inclusion may be achieved by focusing on connectivity as a public interest goal, targeting infrastructure developments to suit local contexts and implementing participatory digital government practices. Originality/value – The actions suggested would help ensure equity of digital inclusion across Australian municipal areas. Without such changes, there is a risk of rural citizens facing further marginalisation through digital exclusion.

Digital inclusion in later life: cohort changes in internet use over a ten-year period in England

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 1914-1932 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATEY MATTHEWS ◽  
JAMES NAZROO ◽  
ALAN MARSHALL
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Digital Exclusion ◽  
English Longitudinal Study

ABSTRACTThe ability to use the internet frequently is likely to provide a useful means of engaging with society and using services in later life, yet older people are the most likely to suffer digital exclusion, with those of the oldest ages at the greatest risk. Using six waves (2002–2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we model cohort-specific patterns of frequent internet use for people aged 50 and over. Multi-level growth models are used to observe trajectories of internet use over the ten-year period. Firstly, analyses are stratified by gender and wealth, and secondly we additionally test for health effects. The study finds cohort-specific differences in patterns of internet use. Rates of internet use increase faster among younger cohorts yet, despite initially increasing, begin to decline among older cohorts. Poor health is shown to be a key factor in shaping the trajectory of internet use over time. Rates of internet use are consistently lower for women than men and for those in poorer financial circumstances, independently of age cohort. The findings demonstrate the importance of ensuring older people can remain digitally included throughout later life, including after the onset of poorer health, especially as some of these individuals might benefit the most from some of the services the internet can provide.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL: Empowering the digitally excluded: learning initiatives for (in)visible groups

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Seale ◽  
William Dutton
Keyword(s):  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Human Intervention ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Digital Exclusion

There is growing evidence that some digitally excluded groups of learners are receiving more attention than others. Discussions regarding why some digitally excluded learners are more visible than others and therefore worthy of more committed digital inclusion interventions raises important questions about how we define and conceptualise digital inclusion and digital inclusion practice; particularly in relation to empowerment. In this article, we draw on a range of research, practice and policy literature to examine two important questions: what is empowerment and in whose hands does empowerment lie? We argue that empowerment involves making informed choices about technology use, but that learners often require support- human intervention- to make these choices. However, current digital inclusion research has failed to produce a detailed critique of what constitutes empowering support from educational institutions and their staff. A lack of open and reflexive accounts of practice means that we are no closer to identifying and understanding the kinds of empowering practices that are required to challenge the kinds of prejudices, stereotypes, risk-aversiveness and low aspirations associated with the most invisible of digitally excluded learners.Keywords: digital inclusion; digital exclusion; empowerment; risk-aversion; practice; conceptualisation(Published: 19 December 2012)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 20214 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.20214

scholarly journals Home schooling through online teaching in the era of COVID-19: Exploring the role of home-related factors that deepen educational inequalities across European societies

2021 ◽  
pp. 147490412110233
Author(s):  
Kostas Dimopoulos ◽  
Christos Koutsampelas ◽  
Anna Tsatsaroni
Keyword(s):  
Technology Use ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Home Schooling ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
School Conditions ◽  
Educational Environments ◽  
Teachers And Students

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to produce solutions to the abruptly interrupted work in education. School systems appear to have responded rapidly, creating home schooling and online educational environments, where teachers and students would interact with safety. In this paper, we attempt a synthesis of Sen’s capability approach, Bourdieu’s theory of capital and Bernstein’s framework in order to theorize the relationships between home and school conditions and practices, and to analyse the data of the 2nd Survey of Schools: ICT in Education (a survey conducted in 2019 on behalf of the European Commission collecting data regarding digitalization in education and digital technologies in learning in the European Union). The survey is complemented by a second set of indicators provided by Eurostat to further investigate the availability and functionality of household space per family in selected European countries. We find significant differences in important social and environmental conversion factors, likely limiting children’s capability to benefit from digital schooling. The most important differences are found in regard to parents’ familiarity with information and communications technology use, while inequalities in environmental factors, such as overcrowded housing, are also existent. Overall, there are large inequalities within and between countries in Europe, which need to be addressed by policymakers.

scholarly journals Remote or Removed: Predicting Successful Engagement with Online Learning during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312098820
Author(s):  
Thurston Domina ◽  
Linda Renzulli ◽  
Brittany Murray ◽  
Alma Nidia Garza ◽  
Lysandra Perez
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Socioeconomic Resources ◽  
Using Data ◽  
School Programming ◽  
Remote Learning

Using data from a spring 2020 survey of nearly 10,000 parents of elementary school parents in one large southeastern public school district, the authors investigate predictors of elementary school student engagement during the initial period of pandemic remote learning. The authors hypothesize that household material and technological resources, school programming and instructional strategies, and family social capital contribute to student engagement in remote learning. The analyses indicate that even after controlling for rich measures of family socioeconomic resources, students with access to high-speed Internet and Internet-enabled devices have higher levels of engagement. Exposure to more diverse socioemotional and academic learning opportunities further predicts higher levels of engagement. In addition, students whose families remained socially connected to other students’ families were more likely to engage online.

scholarly journals Gypsy–Traveller communities in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands: socially and digitally excluded?

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-653
Author(s):  
Leanne Townsend ◽  
Koen Salemink ◽  
Claire Denise Wallace
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Digital Communications ◽  
Digital Inclusion ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Socially Excluded ◽  
The Impact

With the pervasiveness of digitisation communications, those that are left behind are seen as socially excluded. In both academic and policy discourses, it is assumed that digital inclusion as a route into mainstream society is a desirable solution to problems of multiple exclusion and has led to many studies of the digital inclusion/exclusion of ‘hard to reach’ groups. Yet, Gypsy–Travellers, among the most marginalised people in society, have received little attention. Using data from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, we assess the impact of digital communications on Gypsy–Traveller communities. This article makes a contribution in the following ways: First, we address the theories of ‘fields of inclusion’ to show how exclusion and inclusion work together in different ways; Second, we explore how different policy frameworks in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom shape these possibilities; Third, we document the forms of inclusion that Gypsy–Travellers experience in terms of digital communications; Fourth, we look at how Gypsy–Travellers use digital communications to recreate their own cultures as well as selectively integrate with mainstream society.

scholarly journals Blog-based professional development of English teachers in Mumbai: The potential of innovative practice under scrutiny

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atiya Khan
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Interactive Workshop

The professional development of teachers in India is still, by and large, based on formal and outdated professional learning traditions, often characterised by crash courses and one-off workshops. In education, blogs have proven to be an effective means of establishing and maintaining collaborative learning networks and helping members reflect on their professional practices. Information and communications technology (ICT) enabled practices of teacher professional development is still in its infancy in India. Moreover, there is limited research in India to secure foundational understanding of how and in what ways teachers of English in India use blogs for their professional development. This study explores the use of teacher reflective practice, teacher networking, and teacher collaboration, beyond formal ICT training, through blog-based professional development of English teachers in the Mumbai region of India. Using data collected from 32 teachers from three private schools in Mumbai, through ICT interactive workshop observations, questionnaires, interviews, and blog comments, this action case study explains whether and why blogging, as a learning community, has the potential to add significant value to existing professional development of English teachers in Mumbai.

scholarly journals Understanding the Non-medical Costs of Healthcare: Evidence from Inpatient Care for Older People in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 242 ◽  
pp. 487-507
Author(s):  
Wei Yang
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Medical Costs ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Rural Populations ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Medical Visits ◽  
Using Data ◽  
New Policies ◽  
Health Payment ◽  
Care For Older People

AbstractNon-medical costs, including costs associated with carers, travel, food and accommodation for family members who care for older people during their medical visits, can constitute a substantial part of total healthcare costs, especially for older people. Using data from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, this study examines the effects of such non-medical costs on catastrophic health payments and health payment-induced poverty among older people in China. Results indicate that non-medical costs account for approximately 18 per cent of total inpatient costs. The percentage is highest for those in the lowest economic brackets. Rural populations are more likely than urban populations to incur catastrophic health payments and suffer from health payment-induced poverty. Non-medical costs increase the chances of older people incurring catastrophic health payments and suffering from health payment-induced poverty. These findings suggest that policymakers should look to develop new policies that facilitate reimbursement of non-medical costs, particularly for the rural population.

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