Digital Divide Among the Tribals of Kerala
In the present society, the real apartheid is not between the racial or ethnic groups but between the ability to access and use the new modes and forms of information and communication technology. The gap between the ready availability of technology and those who do not have access to the computers and internet is called the digital divide. The society with high digital divide has social, financial, and political instability. The role of libraries as community information centers in rural and tribal regions will help to reduce the digital divide. The study identifies capacity building of rural people to make use of ICTs is crucial to solve the problem. This chapter focuses on the digital divide in the two tribal regions in Kerala, namely Kannavam and Thavainjal Panchayath, India. The quantitative comparative data of the factors affecting the digital divide, barriers for ICT access, the role of social media usage in reducing the digital divide in both the villages are quantitatively compared in this chapter.