Bridging the global digital divide through digital inclusion: the role of ICT access and ICT use

Purpose In an increasingly digitalised society, digital participation is reliant on information communication technology (ICT) access and the ability to use technologies for everyday tasks. To this end, people risk being digitally excluded if they cannot access and use ICTs. The purpose of this paper is to examine globally the effects of ICT access and ICT use on digital inclusion on one hand and the mediating role of ICT usage on the linkage between ICT access and digital inclusion on the other. Design/methodology/approach The study used a hypothesized model based on structuration theory and secondary data drawn from multiple archival sources in 121 countries. The authors test the model using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings The results from the PLS analysis shows that while ICT usage significantly influences digital inclusion at the global level, ICT access does not. Furthermore, the mediating role of ICT usage was not supported. Originality/value This study to the best of the authors’ knowledge is one of the very few studies to examine the effects of ICT access and ICT use on digital inclusion at the global level. The study contributes to the discourse on digital inclusion in ICT4D research.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND THE ISSUES OF LEGAL ENSURING OF INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION SECURITY IN CONDITIONS OF INDUSTRY-4.0

The present article is devoted to analyzing the role and significance of international information securityand its legal regulation in a process of transition to sustainable development. Based on examining the acts of«soft» and «hard» international law and also on results of activity of international organizations and workinggroup, the author concludes that conceptual provisions of the global strategy of sustainable development arereflected in international law of information security incompletely. The study substantiates a convergenceof these subject areas by arguments that ICT are key factors of achieving the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals. Accordingly, transfer of ICT and dissemination thereof in, especially, developing countries can leadto reducing the global digital divide but under one condition. The latter is an ensuring the proper level ofinformation security. Much attention is paid to mean of information security for transition to Industry-4.0corresponding the SDG No 9.

E - GOVERNMENT ROLE IN IMPROVEMENT OF KAZAKHSTAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM

The term “good governance” is used to describe the concept of effective publicadministration. This article investigates the role of Kazakhstan e-governmentframework in public administration improvement and the country’s competitivegrowth through bureaucracy reduction and mitigation of corruption risks in thepermitting system. E-government, thanks to the transparency of electroniccommunications and increased accountability of public authorities, fundamentallychanges the nature of the relationship between citizens and the state, creating a newparadigm of public administration that contradicts the traditional bureaucraticparadigm. E-government, allowing citizens to directly contact the state via theInternet, excludes officials from the chain of relations between citizens and the state,and thereby reduces the licensing function of officials as an important resource ofadministrative corruption. Kazakhstan, according to the emerging term of the globaldigital divide - global digital divide, dividing the world into information developedand developing countries, has narrowed this gap. Kazakhstan, being one of theleaders in the CIS, in the international ranking on readiness for e-government (EGovernment Readiness Index) in 2018 took the 39th position.

Towards an activist research: Is Wikipedia the problem or the solution?

ABSTRACTIs the internet a tool for democracy or the manifestation of the global digital divide? Using the colonization of the internet as a starting point, this article outlines some current issues with knowledge equity, asking if democratic open access products like Wikipedia are the solution or another manifestation of the systemic bias of society. Whilst acknowledging librarianship has its own colonial legacies to address, the suggestion is made that critical librarianship can provide a response in the form of library–based edit-a-thons and Wikipedia workshops. These show how the power of Wikipedia can be used responsibly not just for enabling critical information literacy, but as an instrument for activism. In considering librarian interventions done so far at the University of the Arts, London, the article outlines future practical possibilities for decolonization, as well as looking more widely at how to democratize information in open access products and the Western publishing that sits behind them.

Conceptions of digital libraries: an African perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to explore African conceptions of digital libraries from the perspective of the historical literature. This paper argues that the concept of digital libraries is a western creation and that there was a need for developing societies to develop their own conceptions to guide their own digital library development agenda. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a literature review. The paper makes use of publicly-available literature on the theme of digital libraries from both the Western and African perspectives. The search terms used were “digital libraries”, “Africa digital libraries”, “electronic libraries”, “information communication technologies/libraries” and “institutional repositories”. A total of 89 publications were examined for this purpose. Findings The analysis revealed that most of the initial digital library initiatives in Africa emanated from the west with African countries benefiting from international initiatives to expand access to information resources to bridge the global digital divide. However, due to a number of contextual challenges such as lack of sustainable funding and inadequate capacity and strategy, the development of digital libraries was hampered. Thus, even though digital libraries enjoy considerable goodwill, there remain negative conceptions of digital libraries in Africa. Practical implications Information institutions in African countries must evolve a unified conception of digital libraries as this would largely drive the direction of digital library development towards achieving the developmental goals of the continent. Originality/value The study applies the attributes of innovation to explain contextual factors shaping African conceptions of digital libraries.

Macro-level Differences in Participation in Sharing Economy

Different countries embrace the sharing economy with differing enthusiasm and effects due to factors ranging from the development level to government policies and society’s cultural values. This research measures the participation of Asian countries in this phenomena through their contributions to a global sharing economy platform—Wikipedia. This study uses language as a proxy for each country, which allows for a macro-scale comparison of factors related to participation in sharing economy. The study finds that in addition to expected factors related to the global digital divide and the country’s development level, other factors such as country’s size, dominant language, and cultural factors also play a significant role. Lower development levels, multi-ethnic (multi-language) and smaller populations can be a severe impediment to the development of the sharing economy. Government policy (China) or unique Internet structure (South Korea) can create significant outliers. Contributing to the sharing economy is also more common in countries located near the self-expression and rational-secular ends of the Inglehart-Welzel model, and the uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation dimensions of the Hofstede model.

Digital Connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa

Higher digital connectivity is expected to bring opportunities to leapfrog development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Experience within the region demonstrates that if there is an adequate digital infrastructure and a supportive business environment, new forms of business spring up and create jobs for the educated as well as the less educated. The paper first confirms the global digital divide through the unsupervised machine learning clustering K-means algorithm. Next, it derives a composite digital connectivity index, in the spirit of De Muro-Mazziotta-Pareto, for about 190 economies. Descriptive analysis shows that majority of SSA countries lag in digital connectivity, specifically in infrastructure, internet usage, and knowledge. Finally, using fractional logit regressions we document that better business enabling and regulatory environment, financial access, and urbanization are associated with higher digital connectivity.