Infostates across countries and over time: Conceptualization, modeling, and measurements of the digital divide

✍ Scribed by George Sciadas

• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 282 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0268-1102
• DOI: 10.1002/itdj.20018

✦ Synopsis

The unequal access to and utilization of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) has emerged as one of the predominant issues of our times. There is a widely held belief, increasingly combined with evidence, that the diffusion and appropriate utilization of ICTs present enormous opportunities for economic and social development, whereas their absence seriously threatens to accentuate already existing and sizeable gaps between haves and have-nots. Thus, the Digital Divide represents the newest addition to the enormous chasms in the stage of development across countries.

The issue of the Digital Divide is rooted at the heart of the Information Society and occupies the area of overlap between economic, social, and cultural matters. Unquestionably, it was the principal driving force behind the twin World Summits on the Information Society (WSIS; Geneva, 2003; and Tunis, 2005). From early on, it became evident that our understanding and potential policy responses were in dire need of quantification. Many voices were raised and pleas were heard for the reliable measurement and analysis of the Digital Divide.

Clearly, the issue is multifaceted and applicable wherever masses of people live. It attracted early attention in connection with internal country divides, where research in the U.S.