Rethinking the Digital Divide

2001 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Light
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Technical Issue ◽  
Robust Solutions ◽  
Access To Technology ◽  
Unequal Access ◽  
The Relationship

The term digital divide entered the American vocabulary in the mid-1990s to refer to unequal access to information technology. However, public debate has addressed the digital divide as a technical issue rather than as a reflection of broader social problems. In this article, Jennifer Light critically analyzes how access to technology is constructed as a social problem and examines the particular assumptions about technology and inequality that frame the debate. Drawing on historical examples, Light examines why hopes that technology would improve society have often not been fulfilled. The author examines the striking asymmetries between the current and earlier debates about the relationship between technology and society. She invites us to consider the different ways in which the problem of access to technology has been constructed, and suggests that these differences may generate ways to enrich the current debate and begin a conversation about more robust solutions. (pp. 710–734)

scholarly journals Internet Access on the Cheap: The Power of the Co-Op

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sorin Gudea
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Country Case Study ◽  
Unequal Access ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Networked Economy

Internet access in the former socialist block continues to lag behind more developed countries. Unequal access to Information Technology has produced uneven levels of participation in the networked economy and society. Internet access, which is important to maintaining a technologically competent labour force, is a staple in the developed countries. However, it continues to be limited in Romania. Would-be users are devising inventive solutions to the relatively costly access solutions in order to get on the Information Highway. A country case study of Internet access in Romania reveals the advent of self-established, co-operative networks providing shared Internet access - seemingly a unique and innovative approach. Several of the Internet access plans on the market are presented in this paper together with a discussion of cyber cafés and the home-grown, co-operative networks that seem to be popping up all over the country. Understanding the context within which these home-grown networks arise and prosper offers valuable lessons and ideas for transferring these approaches to other developing countries that, like Romania, are struggling to bridge the infamous digital divide.

Solving the Paradoxes of the Information Technology Revolution

2013 ◽  
pp. 1440-1455
Author(s):  
Francesco D. Sandulli
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Skilled Labour ◽  
Technology Revolution ◽  
Homogeneous Set

The research on the digital divide usually analyzes the differences between those who have access to information technology and those who have not. This approach typically considers information technology a homogeneous set of technologies. In this chapter, we will break this assumption establishing different subsets of information technologies according to their impact on the task productivity and the firm’s demand for high skilled labour. This new focus reveals that depending on the information technology used by the firm to perform a given task, the demand for high skilled and low skilled workers may vary and consequently their wages and income, producing in some cases a new and till now unobserved digital divide.

scholarly journals Epistemic Value Theory and the Digital Divide

2011 ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Fallis
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Social Disadvantage ◽  
Epistemic Value ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Principal Value ◽  
Epistemic Value Theory

The digital divide refers to inequalities in access to information technology. Those people who do not have access to information technology are at a significant economic and social disadvantage. As with any other policy decision, in order to evaluate policies for dealing with the digital divide, we need to know exactly what our goal should be. Since the principal value of access to information technology is that it leads to knowledge, work in epistemology can help us to clarify our goal in the context of the digital divide. In this paper, I argue that epistemic value theory can help us to determine which distribution of knowledge to aim for. Epistemic value theory cannot specify a particular distribution to aim for, but it can significantly narrow down the range of possibilities. Additionally, I indicate how the exercise of applying epistemic value theory to the case of the digital divide furthers work in epistemology.

scholarly journals Keeping Promises: Municipal communities struggle to fulfill promises to narrow the digital divide with Municipal Community Wireless Networks

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea H Tapia ◽  
Julio Angel Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Wireless Networks ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Public Rhetoric ◽  
The Public ◽  
Actual Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Some public elites assert that the digital divide is a serious social problem and that governments must intervene by affording wireless solutions to improve this social ill.  Few studies, however, examine the relationship between the claims-making activities around such interventions, specifically in reference to closing the digital divide, and the perceptions of the actual impact of those initiatives on this divide.  We bring together two data sets.  The first dataset is from a previous study examining the public rhetoric surrounding these initiatives vis-à-vis the digital divide.  The latter is part of a much larger study on the network’s impact on the divide.  We conclude that these networks are necessary but insufficient in bridging the gap.

scholarly journals Epistemic Value Theory and the Digital Divide

2008 ◽  
pp. 3105-3118
Author(s):  
Don Fallis
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Social Disadvantage ◽  
Epistemic Value ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Principal Value ◽  
Epistemic Value Theory

The digital divide refers to inequalities in access to information technology. Those people who do not have access to information technology are at a significant economic and social disadvantage. As with any other policy decision, in order to evaluate policies for dealing with the digital divide, we need to know exactly what our goal should be. Since the principal value of access to information technology is that it leads to knowledge, work in epistemology can help us to clarify our goal in the context of the digital divide. In this paper, I argue that epistemic value theory can help us to determine which distribution of knowledge to aim for. Epistemic value theory cannot specify a particular distribution to aim for, but it can significantly narrow down the range of possibilities. Additionally, I indicate how the exercise of applying epistemic value theory to the case of the digital divide furthers work in epistemology.

Solving the Paradoxes of the Information Technology Revolution

2010 ◽  
pp. 423-438
Author(s):  
Francesco D. Sandulli
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Skilled Labour ◽  
Technology Revolution ◽  
Homogeneous Set

The research on the digital divide usually analyzes the differences between those who have access to information technology and those who have not. This approach typically considers information technology a homogeneous set of technologies. In this chapter, we will break this assumption establishing different subsets of information technologies according to their impact on the task productivity and the firm’s demand for high skilled labour. This new focus reveals that depending on the information technology used by the firm to perform a given task, the demand for high skilled and low skilled workers may vary and consequently their wages and income, producing in some cases a new and till now unobserved digital divide

Microprocessor Architecture Era for Development Cloud Computing of Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Egypt

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 5199-5209
Author(s):  
Heba A. El-Khobby ◽  
Mostafa M. AbdElnaby ◽  
Abdel-Aziz Ibrahim Mahmoud HASSANIN ◽  
Abdallah D. Maziad
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Organization Structure ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
Organization Structures ◽  
Competence Evaluation ◽  
Competency Based ◽  
Services Evaluation ◽  
The Relationship

A development and evaluation the Cloud Computing (ClComp) of Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Egypt (MEEE) is presented in this paper. In order to be able to judge whether the ClComp of MEEE is competence, there is a need to develop criteria which performance can judged. Competency based standards and the ability to perform the activities within an occupation to the standard expected in the organization structure are presented. The key objective of Cloud Computing is to integrate Authorized Groups (AuthGs) development with the needs of the organization structures of MEEE. The ClComp of MEEE was developed jointly between the telecommunication information technology and ClComp services. Evaluation enables participant to distinguish between AuthGs centered view and a customer centered view of cloud computing of MEEE is competence evaluation. Recognize the main types of evaluation, explain the purpose of evaluation compare the approaches to cloud computing evaluation and review the relationship between the process and policy of evaluation are investigated. Microprocessor architecture presented an optimistic view of multicore scalability to develop the ClComp. Moreover this paper investigates the theoretical analysis of multiprocessor developing and scalability. The analysis was based on the laws of Amdahl's, Gustafson's, Hill's and Marty for fixed-workload condition. Moreover, challenged the difficulties to develop better cloud computing is taken into account. Also, multicore analysis of ClComp scalability, performance and power under fixed-time and memory-bound conditions are studied. These results complement existing studies and demonstrate that ClComp architectures are capable of extensive scalability and developing.

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