Toward People’s Community Control of Technology: Race, Access, and Education

This field review explores how the benefits of access to computing for racialized and minoritized communities has become an accepted fact in policy and research, despite decades of evidence that technical fixes do not solve the kinds of complex social problems that disproportionately affect these communities. I use the digital divide framework—a 1990s policy diagnosis that argues that the growth and success of the internet would bifurcate the public into digital “haves” and “have-nots”—as a lens to look at why access to computing frequently appears as a means to achieve economic, political, and social equality for racialized and minoritized communities. First, I present a brief cultural history of computer-assisted instruction to show that widely-held assumptions about the educational utility of computing emerged from utopian narratives about scientific progress and innovation—narratives that also traded on raced and gendered assumptions about users of computers. Next, I use the advent of the digital divide framework and its eventual transformation into digital inequality research to show how those raced and gendered norms about computing and computer users continue to inform research on information and communication technologies (ICTs) used in educational contexts. This is important because the norms implicated in digital divide research are also present in other sites where technology and civic life intersect, including democratic participation, public health, and immigration, among others. I conclude by arguing that naïve or cynical deployments of computing technology can actually harm or exploit the very same racialized and minoritized communities that access is supposed to benefit. In short, access to computing in education—or in any other domain—can only meaningfully contribute to equality when minoritized and racialized communities are allowed to pursue their own collective goals.

COVID-19 and online education: Digital inequality and other dilemmas of rural students in accessing online education during the pandemic

It is widely assumed among academicians that the COVID-19 pandemic has negative implications for the education of school students. However, institutions tried to balance that limitation by using online education, and there exist some inequalities among students. Most of the studies conducted during COVID-19 on online education focused on urban school students and their access to online education. In particular, rural school students and their online education remain an open question. Twenty in-depth interviews with rural student respondents determine the fundamental problems and challenge the rural school students’ face in online education during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The study identifies six major problems of rural students: inadequate technology, unacquainted academic atmosphere, digital disconnect, physical well-being, the distractions inherent with the medium, and digital illiteracy. The identified constraints draw inferences to a critical concept in online learning that is digital inequality. Digital inequality refers to the disparity in the access, distribution of technology, information because of various socio-economic and cultural factors. The study also discusses the suggestions of rural students regarding the betterment of online education. The recommendations from the rural students include providing appropriate technological infrastructure, facilitating technical assistance and providing a convenient academic atmosphere. The suggestions are pointing towards the idea of digital inclusion that is vital in online education. Digital inclusion is defined as the ability of individuals or groups of people to access and use information and communication technologies. It is not only about access in a broader sense the opportunities of using innovative hardware and software technology, content and services, getting proper digital literacy pieces of training and the effective use of these services. The findings of the study will help to bridge the disparities in online education. These findings will help the academic community to identify the needs of rural children. It will help build infrastructure for online learning and give extensive support to the school children of rural communities. These findings are also vital for the communication scholars as the disparity in the distribution of information and knowledge is a prime concern for them.

Determinants of Intention to Use Digital Technology for Older Adults by Environmental Dimensions

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is common to hear news of older adults being socially isolated due to difficulties in purchasing or accessing online services and in interacting with family or friends through video calling apps. Despite an increasing ease of access to digital devices, such access far from universal. Thus, digital inequality has become a serious problem for older adults. To understand why digital inequality issues are so relevant for older adults, we must understand older adults' entire life contexts and the potential of digital technologies in their lives. With these understandings, the purpose of this study was to explore the technology acceptance process and identify key precursors to acceptance of digital technology using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) 3 as a framework. This study used data from the 2018 Digital Divide Survey of the Ministry of Science and ICT. A total of 1,662 older adults (aged 55+) were analyzed using structural equation modeling with bootstrap sampling. Model fit indices (CFI = .928; SRMR = .074; RMSEA = .044) suggested an acceptable fit. Results indicated that two environmental dimensions, personal environment (self-efficacy and value recognition) and social environment (social norms and social support systems), had a significant impact on the intention to use technology both directly and indirectly. Furthermore, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use mediated between environmental domains and the intention. This study indicates that providing appropriate digital support for older adults is important to achieve greater digital inclusion.

The digital transformation of agriculture in the context of the digital inequality

The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the digital development of the agricultural industry and to identify significant factors restraining its development. To achieve this goal, a comparative analysis of the impact of the level of accessibility availability and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) tools by agricultural entrepreneurs on sectoral performance indicators was carried out in the study. The paradox of performance in the context of digital inequality is revealed. The author’s position is formulated, the essence of which is to build digital platforms - ecosystems to support the industry’s growth mechanisms. The results obtained in this study can act as a driving force in agricultural production and sale systems.

Planning to maintain the status quo? A comparative study of digital equity plans of four large US cities

The term digital equity is at the forefront of municipal government planning to mitigate digital equity. Digital equity signifies a desired future to be achieved, yet its meaning is not well-established. As such, planning for digital equity offers an opportunity for new discursive construction. This study examines how municipal governments have constructed the concept of digital equity through textual evidence, the digital equity plans of Kansas City, MO, Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA. Adopting an approach from critical discourse studies, comparative analysis of the texts demonstrates how digital equity plans conceive of digital equity, characterize current problematic circumstances, and prescribe actions to make change. The plans have strikingly little to say about why digital inequality has emerged, yet they prescribe actions that indicate a more complex understanding of the problem than they articulate. The dynamics of policy diffusion suggest that the work of early adopters will influence other municipalities to create similar plans. Thus, the current moment is ripe for scholars to influence municipal planning for digital equity and participate in its discursive construction in both academic research and policymaking circles.

Covid-19: La brecha (digital) educativa a través de la prensa

La situación socio-sanitaria ocasionada por la COVID-19 ha implicado la clausura de los centros educativos forzando a la población escolar a continuar su proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de forma virtual. Esta situación ha puesto en evidencia la brecha digital existente entre los escolares, una realidad que ha aflorado en toda su magnitud para convertirse en objeto y tema de debate en el ámbito periodístico. Este trabajo tiene por objetivo describir el alcance de la brecha digital en el ámbito educativo y sus consecuencias, así como las posibles soluciones a corto y largo plazo. La metodología elegida es de carácter cualitativo apoyada en el análisis de contenido, en la que se exploran y revisan publicaciones de prensa generalista española en el primer mes de confinamiento, tanto de ámbito nacional como autonómico. Los resultados muestran que la prensa aborda el desequilibrio y desigualdad social respecto al acceso a la información y las dificultades consecuentes para acceder a la modalidad online, se observa un claro interés por la brecha digital, principalmente de acceso a internet, como una más de las dificultades en entornos socio-económicos vulnerables para acceder a la educación en igualdad de condiciones. Como conclusión cabe destacar que la pandemia, a través de la prensa generalista, ha incrementado la visibilidad de una situación ya existente: la desigualdad digital. Una desigualdad que favorece la exclusión en una sociedad que se muestra eminentemente tecnológica. The socio-sanitary situation caused by COVID-19 has implied the closure of educational centers, forcing the school population to continue their teaching-learning process virtually. This situation has highlighted the existing digital divide between schoolchildren, a reality that has emerged in all its magnitude to become an object and topic of debate in the journalistic field. This work aims to describe the scope of the digital divide in education and its consequences, as well as possible solutions in the short and long term. The chosen methodology is of a qualitative nature supported by content analysis, in which general Spanish press publications are explored and reviewed in the first month of confinement, both nationally and regionally. The results show that the press addresses the social imbalance and inequality regarding access to information and the consequent difficulties in accessing the online modality, there is a clear interest in the digital divide, mainly internet access, as one more of the Difficulties in vulnerable socio-economic environments to access education under equal conditions. In conclusion, it should be noted that the pandemic, through the generalist press, has increased the visibility of an already existing situation: digital inequality, which favors exclusion in a society that is eminently technological

Social media news deserts: Digital inequalities and incidental news exposure on social media platforms

Some people live in social media “news deserts,” while others are embedded in online networks that are rich in news content. These news deserts represent a new form of digital inequality—distinct from problems of access, resources, or civic skills—that could foreclose one of the ways social media are believed to contribute to informing citizens and engaging them in democratic processes: providing opportunities for incidental news exposure. This study investigates incidental exposure on social media platforms, drawing on an online survey administered just before the 2018 US Midterm Elections ( N = 1493). The study finds that even after controlling for key individual-level factors, characteristics of social media discussion networks play a role in explaining variation in incidental exposure. The results are discussed in light of prevailing theory about incidental exposure, public engagement, and digital inequalities.

Broadband Adoption and Ethnographic Approaches

Digital inequality scholarship has shifted toward an interest in the “tangible outcomes” of broadband adoption and the role individual attitudes may play in shaping digital engagement. However, much of this emerging research remains quantitative in nature and has not offered an extensive sociocultural explanation of why poor attitudes toward digital technology may endure in marginalized communities, or why broadband outcomes remain stratified by class and race. Ethnographic research is especially well-suited to fill this research gap. Critical ethnography offers a useful analytical toolbox: (a) providing a particularized portrait of everyday life; (b) rooting analysis within a social justice perspective; and (c) emphasizing building trust and “rapport” with marginalized communities, thus uncovering hidden practices or behaviors. In offering greater context to our understanding of digital attitudes and outcomes, ethnographic research can help digital inequality scholars further refine research questions, generate new categories of measurement, and better map complex sociotechnical relationships.

DIGITAL INEQUALITY AS A PREREQUISITE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DIFFERENTIATION OF SOCIETY

The aim of the article is to study the current state of digital inequality, factors of influence and trends in its transformation as a component of socio-economic differentiation of the population in the world and in Ukraine in order to to make optimal management decisions. The theoretical significance of the article is that it was generalized and systematized a prerequisite of socio-economic inequality — digitalization. Socio-economic factors of digital inequality are highlighted. The contradictory nature of digital wealth is shown. The interrelation between economic growth and key indicators of digital inequality is revealed. Based on statistical indicators, the problems of digital inequality and the degree of its relevance for Ukraine are highlighted. In the article digital inequality is seen as a dynamic threat that simultaneously extends to all spheres of society, broad sections of the population and has quantitative and qualitative characteristics. It is proved that the processes of digitalization, on which serious hopes were placed, do not lead to the equalization of economic potential and social structure, but are able to intensify the level of digital inequality. There are various direct and inverse interactions between digital inequality and the level of the socio-economic development in society. Not only the spread of information and communication technologies and socio-economic restrictions on access to them affect the economy and the labor market. In turn, the level of information and digital inequality affects all spheres of society and economic development of the country. The results of the study reveal the relationship between economic growth, key indicators and factors of digital inequality, allow for constant monitoring of the level of digital differentiation of Ukrainian society in order to identify and eliminate bottlenecks at different levels of governance. Keywords: information society, information, digital inequality, digital divide, digital inequality factors, information poverty, information wealth. JEL Classification A12, I31 Formulas: 0; fig.: 0; tabl.: 0; bibl.: 21.

Trends in development of higher education in modern Russia

Examined are the main development trends in the field of higher education, the originality of their manifestation in Russian society. The specificity of the continuity of learning is revealed, the directions of transformation of the educational process in the context of digitalization are determined. The topic of the effectiveness of the implementation of innovative methods in educational activities, such as case-method, tutoring, interactive training, was touched upon. The duality of the study is noted, since the introduction of innovative methods into the educational activities of Russian universities, on the one hand, has a positive effect on the state of the educational system, on the other hand, it gives rise to a tendency towards an increase in social and digital inequality in education and society as a whole, and also presupposes changes in requirements. to the teaching staff, which is now required first of all to be motivated and ready to master and use modern innovative methods in educational practice.