Bridging the Digital Divide in Australia

The rapid uptake of technology offers potentially innovative approaches to promoting mental health amongst young people, addressing a significant public health challenge. The advent of Web 2.0 has seen a shift from text heavy content to the development of communities that foster connectivity. This area of research, its potential to engage young people at risk of isolation, and the mental health benefits it may have, has received little attention. This chapter considers evidence regarding technology’s role in mental health promotion, particularly for marginalized young people. Results are presented from an Australian study, “Bridging the Digital Divide,” which investigated technology access and utilization by young people experiencing marginalization. Finally, Australian policy regarding the digital divide and Internet safety is reviewed. The authors conclude that policy responses should move beyond just access and safety and explore innovative ways of ensuring safe and supportive online communities accessible for all young people.

Conceptualizing a Contextual Measurement for Digital Divide/s

Measurements for the digital divide/s have often engaged in simplified, single factor measurements that present partial and static conceptualization and, therefore, measurements of the digital divide/s. The following chapter encourages policy makers to choose appropriate tools and programs to measure digital divide/s according to three dimensions: (1) the purpose of the tool; (2) levels of observation; and (3) methods of approaching the data. Then it describes an integrated contextual iterative (ICI) approach suggested by the authors as an effective way to assess digital divide/s including perspectives of different stakeholders. The approach is illustrated with examples from a research project studying public access venues in 25 countries around the world.

A Human Factors View of the Digital Divide

This chapter addresses a problem that centers on the persistent disparities in computer use and access among citizens of varying cultural backgrounds. The chapter begins with discussion about the digital divide among ethnic minorities, particularly African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans (Latinos), in the United States. This chapter defines “access” as having a computer interface that facilitates user learning. One proposed human factors intervention for this problem of access is in recognizing and accounting for culture’s influence on cognition. This discussion is grounded in the development and employment of computer interface metaphor designs that are culturally valid for target user groups. We also provide examples of challenges that users may encounter when inappropriate interface metaphor are built into a computer interface design. Finally, the chapter highlights various human factors interventions and considerations that will provide a pathway to achieving greater levels of e-inclusivity and for providing citizens with equitable access to information.

Online Participation and Digital Divide

This chapter examines whether government officials’ deployment of resources to broaden Internet access and participation is influenced by officials’ communication preferences and socioeconomic factors. The concern that the Internet explosion has alienated and marginalized some citizens from the democratic process and civic life has generated intellectual debate and led governments and other sectors to take measures to bridge the gap created by the digital divide. Although several studies have been conducted on the subject, few are yet to be done on the influence of government officials’ communication preferences and socioeconomic factors on resource deployment to broaden access and participation. Drawing on the theories of technological diffusion and determinism, as well as developmental and democratic theories, we argue that officials’ communication preferences and socioeconomic factors will be important in broadening Internet access and participation. Survey data, local government Web site contents and census data were analyzed. Results reveal that officials are not eager to commit resources to activities that broaden access and participation because they generally prefer to communicate with citizens via traditional channels. In addition, the sizes of the elderly and Black population, as well as the relative affluence of cities, do influence the presence of deliberative features on city Web sites.

The Influence of Time on Transactional Use of the Internet

The major objective of this chapter was to test the effect of online time and adoption time on the frequency of transactional use of the Internet. Transactional use of the Internet includes activities such as buying products, banking, and investing online. Findings support the hypothesis that online time and adoption time positively and significantly influence the frequency of transactional use of the Internet. Theoretical and strategic implications and recommendations for future research are presented.

Accountability and Information Technology Enactment

This chapter focuses on the use of information technology (IT) in government and its possible impacton governance, particularly in terms of addressing the equity concerns of meeting the basic needs of regional subpopulations. In Building the Virtual State, Jane Fountain develops her theory of technology enactment (in essence, a variety of bureaucratic behaviors reacting to IT) and then applies that framework in three case studies in the book. This inquiry examines government IT enactment in various global settings to assess (1) where and how enactment occurs and (2) what, if any, effect enactment has upon governance in particular settings. The first section traces relationships between a nation’s IT development policy and that technology’s potential to promote equity in that society. The next two sections report (respectively) on the study and observations that emerge. A brief case study about the Gyandoot, an intranet system in rural India, examines the reality of e-government as a means to promote social equality. A concluding discussion reviews those observations as they relate to the human initiative in efforts to harness information technology to achieve public goals, especially those intended to improve social wellbeing in poor societies.

Bridging the Gap between Citizens and Decision-Makers

Over the past few years the concepts of government and governance have been dramatically transformed. Not only is this due to increasing pressures and expectations that the way we are governed should reflect modern methods of efficiency and effectiveness, but also that government should be more open to democratic accountability. The following chapter will introduce the social impact dimension of e-democracy while proposing concrete directions and incentives that should be provided for engagement through electronic means. The intention is to highlight the fact that technology is the result of a combination of tools, social practices, social organizations, and cultural meanings. It not only represents social arrangements, but also has the potential to facilitate and / or limit different types of interaction.

Beyond the Online Transaction

Among North American state and provincial governments, there are only a handful of chief executives who make the most of the Internet as a tool for gaining citizen input on policy questions and disseminating a clear and well-crafted agenda. Dalton McGuinty, the Premier of Ontario since 2003, was the first to push the Web beyond conventional e-government functions such as tax or fee payment, the filing applications for programs, and report dissemination, into a realm of interactive facilitation of democratic governance. This chapter describes the context of Ontario politics and establishment of common e-government techniques before McGuinty became his government’s leader, the responsive digital strategies that he adopted to treat Ontario’s situation as he came to office, and an assessment of these strategies five years into his leadership of this diverse province.

Solving the Paradoxes of the Information Technology Revolution

The research on the digital divide usually analyzes the differences between those who have access to information technology and those who have not. This approach typically considers information technology a homogeneous set of technologies. In this chapter, we will break this assumption establishing different subsets of information technologies according to their impact on the task productivity and the firm’s demand for high skilled labour. This new focus reveals that depending on the information technology used by the firm to perform a given task, the demand for high skilled and low skilled workers may vary and consequently their wages and income, producing in some cases a new and till now unobserved digital divide

Digital Divide and Rural Communities

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”).