Digital Divide and Rural Communities

World Wide ◽

Digital Culture ◽

Wide Spread ◽

Balanced Development ◽

Source Of Information

During the last years, due to the wide spread of World Wide Web (WWW), the Internet has become one of the most valuable and effective communications media and the most inclusive source of information. However, in many cases the difficulties of establishing universal effective access could serve to reinforce current patterns of social exclusion and produce barriers to balanced development instead of supporting it. World widely there is a rising concern over the so-called “digital divide”–a term that refers to the gap existing in the opportunities to access advanced information and communication technologies between geographic areas or by individuals at different socioeconomic levels. The experience shows that specialized initiatives are needed for disadvantaged areas in order to anticipate expansion of current digital divide. This chapter is focusing on the specific instance of digital divide occurring in rural territories, and examines the ways to foster digital culture among citizens, utilizing a specific initiative (the so called “Telecentres”).

The Need for Community Informatics in Malaysia

Global Information Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-939-7.ch139 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 1932-1937

Author(s):

Jayapragas Gnaniah ◽

Peter Songan ◽

Alvin W. Yeo ◽

Hushairi Zen ◽

Khairuddin Ab. Hamid

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Digital Divide ◽

Community Informatics ◽

The World Bank ◽

Sustainable Human Development ◽

The World ◽

Digital Gap

The Malaysian government, through many initiatives, has seriously looked into reducing and if possible eliminating, the digital divide that exists between the developed urban and the technologically impoverished rural communities. The e-Bario Project, a successful research showcase of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, is one of the leading examples in Malaysia of such an attempt to bridge the digital gap and to achieve sustainable human development through the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT). According to Harris, Bala, Songan, Khoo and Trang (2001), the World Bank had introduced a systematic approach to the application of ICT to meet the needs and bridge the digital divide of the rural community.

Encyclopedia of Developing Regional Communities with Information and Communication Technology ◽

The Need for Community Informatics in Malaysia

10.4018/978-1-59140-575-7.ch091 ◽

2005 ◽

pp. 512-517 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jayapragas Gnaniah ◽

Peter Songan ◽

Alvin W. Yeo ◽

Hushairi Zen ◽

Khairuddin Ab. Hamid

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Digital Divide ◽

Community Informatics ◽

The World Bank ◽

Sustainable Human Development ◽

The World ◽

Digital Gap

The Malaysian government, through many initiatives, has seriously looked into reducing and if possible eliminating, the digital divide that exists between the developed urban and the technologically impoverished rural communities. The e-Bario Project, a successful research showcase of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, is one of the leading examples in Malaysia of such an attempt to bridge the digital gap and to achieve sustainable human development through the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT). According to Harris, Bala, Songan, Khoo and Trang (2001), the World Bank had introduced a systematic approach to the application of ICT to meet the needs and bridge the digital divide of the rural community.

Bridging the Digital Divide through Schools

IASL Annual Conference Proceedings ◽

10.29173/iasl7558 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen M. Mutula

Keyword(s):

Digital Divide ◽

Information Seeking ◽

Quality Education ◽

The Internet ◽

Access To Information ◽

Reading Habits ◽

Source Of Information

The Internet has become increasingly an important source of information for pupils in learning, entertainment, sharing and exchanging experiences with other peers, meeting with adults and learning about other cultures. The Internet is a major force in the lives of school children and is no doubt having a tremendous influence on their reading habits and information seeking behaviour. With increased Internet connectivity however, concerns are being raised about the widening imbalances of access to ICTs between north information haves and the information have nots countries. This imbalance known as the digital divide has implications in terms of equity access to quality education in an electronic age. In Africa there are limited programmes that address in particular how schools can be equipped to benefit from the digital age and at the same time be used as an important instrument to bridge the digital divide. The concept digital divide was coined to describe the imbalance in access to information and communication technologies by different communities of people between different countries of the world. This phenomenon is today known to exist within individual countries, cities and even communities. Today schools are being seen as one of the most salient infrastructure that can be used to bridge the digital divide in our midst. This paper looks at developments in Africa aimed at bridging the digital divide through schools.

Cultural Aspects and Digital Divide in Europe

MedienJournal ◽

10.24989/medienjournal.v26i3.419 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 14-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ursula Maier-Rabler

Keyword(s):

Digital Divide ◽

Social Economic ◽

Innovation Process ◽

Individual Member ◽

Policy Practice ◽

Cultural Aspects ◽

Policy Strategies

This paper aims to make a contribution toward an improvement of European e-policy practice. lt is inspired by the conviction that successfuJ e-policy strategies can lead to balanced chances for all members in certain societies to aquire the absolutely indispensable capabilities for decision-making in the context of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Following the path of the development of e-policy papers it has to be stated that many goals have not yet been achieved. The techno-deterministic concepts 'access' and 'usage' seem not to reach far enough to get people really involved andinformed. Many more aspects have tobe considered in order to create a clirnate for innovation where different choices made by different individuals according to their different social, economic or cuJtural backgrounds do not lead automatically to the well known either or not, connected or not-connected, haves or have-nots, but to a variety of patterns of involvement. In this paper, we argue for different e-policy strategies according to cultural aspects in certain societies. And hereby we will focus on the cultural aspects of information itself, on the notion of information in different information cultures. lt also seems important to mention at this stage that we believe that getting all members of society involved in the ICT-innovation process in order to provide the basis for informed decisions by each individual member is the most important task of e-policy.

MEASURING DIGITAL DIVIDE IN KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY

Problems of Management in the 21st Century ◽

10.33225/pmc/12.03.08 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 8-19

Author(s):

Iqbal S. Alsaleh ◽

Shaymaa M. Rashad

Keyword(s):

Digital Divide ◽

Information And Communications Technology ◽

Small Scale ◽

Order Effects ◽

Diffusion Of Technology ◽

King Abdulaziz University ◽

The University

Due to the undesirable effects of the gap between citizens to access and use information and communication technologies (ICT), most researchers have been paying much attention to the threat of a digital divide. Unfortunately an amazingly large number of people do not have the abilities to use the ICTs in a proper way and, therefore, cannot draw advantages from its usage. As a result, digital divide is commonly regarded as a potential barrier for participation in the information society. This study measure the digital divide in Saudi Arabia by analyzing the results of a small-scale study conducted at the University KAU, regarding students’ and university members’ perceptions toward the usage of ICT. This analysis measure the digital divide concerning some factors like gender, educational level using a questionnaire. The analysis shows that KAU has no digital divide. Key words: digital divide, information and communications technology, ICT, diffusion of technology, second order effects.

DIGITAL DIVIDE ASSOCIATED WITH ADOPTION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS) IN SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS (SMBS)

ICERI2016 Proceedings ◽

10.21125/iceri.2016.2124 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Xavier Oña Serrano ◽

Juan Ibujés Villacís ◽

Odette Pantoja Díaz

Keyword(s):

Digital Divide ◽

Small And Medium Business

E-Innovation for Sustainable Development of Rural Resources During Global Economic Crisis - Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability ◽

ICT

10.4018/978-1-4666-4550-9.ch003 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 22-34

Author(s):

Julián Briz ◽

José María Duran ◽

Isabel Felipe ◽

Teresa Briz

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Future Research ◽

Rural And Urban Areas ◽

Rural And Urban ◽

Future Research Directions ◽

The University

Agriculture is facing new challenges in rural and urban areas, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) may play a significant role. In this chapter, there is a background description of the ICT sector in the interface of urban and rural communities within the framework of agriculture. It describes some case analyses focused in agronomy and social sciences. In agronomy, the focuses are environment, food production, and pollution. In socioeconomics, there is a brief identification of ICT applications such as the collaboration between the university and firms. Considering the heterogeneousness of the analysis, the future research directions include different methods of studies for ICT programs (house of quality, structural organization, and others).

Requirements Engineering in the ICT4D Domain

Computer Engineering ◽

10.4018/978-1-61350-456-7.ch201 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 187-200

Author(s):

Kristina Pitula ◽

Daniel Sinnig ◽

Thiruvengadam Radhakrishnan

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Software Development ◽

Requirements Engineering ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Local Population ◽

Social Contexts ◽

The People ◽

Information And Communication

Requirements engineering is an important stage in any software development. It is more so in the case of software development for social development projects in rural areas of the developing countries. ICT4D which stands for “Information and Communication Technologies for Development” is gaining more and more attention as computing is more widely affordable. This article is concerned with requirements engineering in the ICT4D domain. In many developing counties, a significant effort is being put into providing people in rural areas with access to digital content and services by using Information and Communication Technologies. Unfortunately most ICT4D projects pursue a top-down development model which is driven by the technology available and not by the very needs and social problems of the people living in rural communities (Frohlich et al., 2009). Existing technologies are often applied in a non-inclusive manner with respect to the local population, without sufficient adaptation or re-invention, and often without regard for user’s needs and their social contexts.

Assessing Robustness of Asian Countries Ranking

Wealth Creation and Poverty Reduction ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-1207-4.ch008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 139-153

Author(s):

Nilanjana Chakrabarty ◽

Dibyojyoti Bhattacharjee

Keyword(s):

Digital Divide ◽

Principal Component ◽

Asian Countries ◽

Unobserved Component ◽

Linear Aggregation ◽

Unobserved Component Model ◽

Use Of Internet

The term ‘digital divide' refers to the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas with regard to both their opportunities to access Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and to their use of Internet. Composite indicators are regularly used for measuring the divide and in benchmarking the country's performance. But often it creates controversies regarding the subjectivity that is connected with their construction methodology more specifically the weighting and aggregation issues. The paper attempts to assess the robustness of the ranks generated by the composite digital divide index using different weighting and aggregation schemes in case of Asian countries. Here four weighting techniques Iyengar-Sudarshan Method, Benefit of Doubt Method, Principal Component Analysis and Unobserved Component Model and three techniques of aggregation viz. Linear Aggregation, Geometric Aggregation and Weighted Displaced Ideal Method are used for mutual comparison.