scholarly journals Possible, Probable and Preferable Futures of the Digital Divide

10.28945/2651 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Contemporary Problem ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Technology Strategies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Quantitative Assessments

The digital divide is widely recognized as a contemporary problem between society and technology. Strategies for bridging the digital divide are often informed and guided by quantitative assessments of the deployment of information communication technologies. There are few rigorous qualitative attempts to assess the digital divide from either an ethnographic or a futures-oriented perspective. This paper reports findings from a study that examined the possible, probable and preferable futures of the digital divide from an ethnographic perspective. The contents of this report include background to the problem of the digital divide, a review of literature describing the relationship between society and technology, findings from the data collection, and implications for future strategies to bridge the digital divide.

Exploring the Notion of ‘Technology as a Public Good’

2013 ◽  
pp. 1472-1488
Author(s):  
Sunnie Lee Watson ◽  
Thalia Mulvihill
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Asian Context ◽  
Active Policy ◽  
Research Recommendations

This chapter aims to explore the historical, sociological, and economic factors that engender inequities related to digital technologies in the East Asian educational context. By employing critical social theory perspectives, the chapter discusses and argues for the notion of “Technology as a Public Good” by examining the Chinese, Japanese and Korean societies’ digital divide. This chapter examines how East Asian societies are exhibiting similar yet different problems in providing equitable access to information communication technologies to the less advantaged due to previously existing social structures, and discusses the urgency of addressing these issues. Based on the analysis of the digital divide in the East Asian context, this chapter also proposes and argues for the notion of “technology as a public good” in public and educational policies for information communication technologies. Finally, the chapter invites policymakers, researchers and educators to explore a more active policy approach regarding the digital divide solution, and provides specific future research recommendations for ICT policies and policy implementation in digital divide solutions.

Turkish Case of E-Government Strategy Development and Policy-Formulation Process

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asım Balcı ◽  
Tunç Durmuş Medeni ◽  
Ahmet Nohutçu
Keyword(s):  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Turkish Case ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Evaluation Techniques

Use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) by governments all over the world has opened new avenues in terms of redesigning the relationship between the state and not only the society but also the businesses, creating new forms of relationships with wider meanings especially for the society as a whole, and ideas and practices regarding policy making process. While enjoying centralist tendencies and a strict hierarchical bureaucratic model intrinsic to the inner cycles of the organizational levels, the Turkish administrative system has been trying new forms of governance models exemplified in e-government policies. This paper tries to analyze and discuss the main tenets, actors, coordinating and partnership mechanisms, undertakings, evaluation techniques and prospects of e-government policies as a newly emerging policy area with specific reference to Turkish e-transformation efforts, policies and initiatives. Firstly, the paper would underline the “formation” and “participation” (formulation) dimension and stage of the ICT policy process. Presenting up-to-date information and analyses regarding the developments in recent and current stage of evolution, guidelines and suggestions for future are also provided. The discussion will also be furthered by an analysis of country (Turkey) rankings in international (United Nations) e-government reports as an up-to-date case of strategy development, policy formulation and implementation.

Exploring the Notion of ‘Technology as a Public Good’

2011 ◽  
pp. 40-57
Author(s):  
Sunnie Lee Watson ◽  
Thalia Mulvihill
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Asian Context ◽  
Active Policy ◽  
Research Recommendations

This chapter aims to explore the historical, sociological, and economic factors that engender inequities related to digital technologies in the East Asian educational context. By employing critical social theory perspectives, the chapter discusses and argues for the notion of “Technology as a Public Good” by examining the Chinese, Japanese and Korean societies’ digital divide. This chapter examines how East Asian societies are exhibiting similar yet different problems in providing equitable access to information communication technologies to the less advantaged due to previously existing social structures, and discusses the urgency of addressing these issues. Based on the analysis of the digital divide in the East Asian context, this chapter also proposes and argues for the notion of “technology as a public good” in public and educational policies for information communication technologies. Finally, the chapter invites policymakers, researchers and educators to explore a more active policy approach regarding the digital divide solution, and provides specific future research recommendations for ICT policies and policy implementation in digital divide solutions.

Media, Libraries, and Archives

2020 ◽  
pp. 243-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collence Takaingenhamo Chisita ◽  
Munyaradzi Shoko ◽  
Alexander Madanha Rusero ◽  
Joseph Ngoaketse
Keyword(s):  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Digital Revolution ◽  
Holy Trinity ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Work ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Radical Transformation

This chapter seeks to explore how the dawn of the 21st century and how the proliferation of information communication technologies (ICTs) has necessitated a fundamental rethinking on the interface existing between the media, libraries, and archives. There has been a gradual but rapid paradigm shift, following the information revolution made possible by the digital revolution, which have brought unparalleled radical transformation to the operations, procedures, products, and services of the information profession. Given the timeliness of media work and intense competition to break the most recent information to the world at real time, media personnel ought to add flavor to their work through retrieval of stored but relevant information found in libraries and archives. This chapter seeks to place on record the relationship, which exists among the “holy trinity.” The chapter also intends to recommend solutions to enhance the relationship between the holy trinity.

Digital Divide and Social Cleavage: Case Studies of ICT Usage among Peasants in Contemporary China

2011 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 580-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhua Guo ◽  
Peng Chen
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
Ict Adoption ◽  
Social Cleavage

AbstractDuring its structural transformation, rural China witnessed the emergence of four types of village: traditional, industrialized, commercial and villages in cities. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), including fixed phones, cell phones, television sets and the internet (with personal computers), are now commonly used in Chinese villages but in ways that differentiate villagers according to variables such as occupation, villager membership and social status. The adoption of ICTs by peasants not only represents but also accelerates growing peasant differentiation; in other words, the function of ICTs could not penetrate the barrier of social structure. Meanwhile, structural transformation in China has been an activator to shaping peasants' diversified ideas about information, and the demand for and usage of ICTs. An analysis of peasants' ICT adoption thus enables us to identify the basic trends and characteristics of social transformation in contemporary China.

Promoting Transparency and Strengthening Public Trust in Government through Information Communication Technologies?

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank L. K. Ohemeng ◽  
Kwaku Ofosu-Adarkwa
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
The Public ◽  
Remarkable Progress

This paper attempts to examine Ghana's quest to use ICT as a tool to enhance transparency and build public trust in government. The questions the paper attempts to answer are: what are the main challenges confronting the government's e-governance initiative as a tool to ensure transparency and citizens' trust in the public sector? What steps are being taken to address these challenges? We argue that while Ghana seems to have made remarkable progress in this endeavour, it still faces a number of significant obstacles, which must be addressed if the objectives of its e-governance project are to be fully realized. Key challenges include infrastructure development for the growth of ICT, the huge gap in access to ICT (or what may be described as the digital divide), and the change in organizational culture to enhance easy accessibility to public documents.

Families, Cultural Resources and the Digital Divide: ICTs and Educational (dis)Advantage

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Angus ◽  
Ilana Snyder ◽  
Wendy Sutherland-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
Gain Access

By concentrating on cases of family engagement with information communication technologies at a very local level, this paper tries to illustrate that issues related to ‘access’ and social disadvantage require extremely sophisticated and textured accounts of the multiple ways in which interrelated critical elements and various social, economic and cultural dimensions of disadvantage come into play in different contexts. Indeed, to draw a simple dichotomy between the technology haves and have-nots in local settings is not particularly generative. It may be the case that, even when people from disadvantaged backgrounds manage to gain access to technology, they remain relatively disadvantaged.

scholarly journals Influence of Digital Divide and Experience on Nigerian University Students’ Attitude Towards the Use of Information Communication Technologies for Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-102
Author(s):  
Olori Abiola Lateef
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Nigerian University

Recent studies have shown that factors influencing technology use include, but are not limited to, accessibility and availability. Several studies in developed countries revealed that digital division and experience significantly influence students’ attitude towards ICT utilization. However, there is lack of empirical evidence to show that such variables do influence ICT utilization by Nigerian students. This study examined the influence of digital divide and experience on Nigerian university students’ utilization of information communication technologies. Two research hypotheses were formulated for the study. A self-constructed and validated twenty-five- item instrument was used to gather information from one thousand and five hundred randomly selected respondents in three public universities in Ogun State, southwestern Nigeria, while t-test statistical method was used to analyze the data collected. Findings revealed that there is a significant difference in the perception of digital native and digital immigrant students in attitude towards ICT utilization (t = 3.25, p<0.05). The findings of this study also showed that there is no significant difference in the perception of digitally experienced and less experienced students in attitude towards ICT utilization(t = 1.16, p>0.05). Based on the findings, it was recommended that postgraduate students in Nigerian universities should be further encouraged not to allow age to influence their perception towards ICT utilization negatively. Also, Nigerian Government should subsidize the cost of ICT devices in order to make them affordable to all students.

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