Information Science Reference

Table of Contents:

TENTATIVE

Section I: The Digital Divide as a Social Problem

Division I: Overview of The Digital Divide

Chapter I: Beyond Digital Divide: Towards an Agenda for Change

This chapter discusses how digital exclusion continues to present a serious and significant threat to the successful establishment of developed and developing countries as ‘information societies’. Based on a review of recent research and theoretical work, the chapter considers a number of different reasons why digital exclusion remains a complex and entrenched social problem - highlighting the need to recognise the mediating role of economic, cultural and social forms of capital in shaping individuals’ engagements with ICT. From this basis, the chapter proposes a hierarchical framework of digital exclusion based around conceptual ‘stages’ of ICT use. Using this framework, the argument is made that policy makers, technologists and other information society stakeholders face a considerable challenge to match the social affordances of ICTs with the everyday needs, interests and desires of individuals. In this sense digital exclusion continues to demand a complex set of policy responses which go far beyond simply increasing levels of hardware provision and support, and then assuming any ‘gaps’ to have been ‘bridged’. The chapter concludes by highlighting a number of possible directions for future action.

Chapter II: The Digital Divide, Framing and Mapping The Phenomenon

Andrea Calderaro, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

This chapter explores the global dimension of the Digital Divide. It frames the concept and maps the status and the causes of the phenomenon today. The first part investigates how the Digital Divide can be measured, framing the question and some of the trends foreseen by scholars on the phenomenon. The second part provides the current status of the Digital Divide, mapping the distribution of the usage of the Internet worldwide with some national indicators and measuring how economic factors cause some of the digital inequalities. The chapter then maps the worldwide unequal distribution of some of the infrastructure of the Internet. By comparing the different measures of the Digital Divide, the chapter finally provides some conclusions on the expectations regarding the trend of the phenomenon.

Chapter III: Policy As a Bridge Across the Global Digital Divide

This chapter assesses how public policy can be used to bridge the global digital divide, especially in developing nations. First, the chapter characterizes the Internet technologies encompassed within the digital divide according to dimensions of individual socioeconomic characteristics and service provider infrastructure characteristics. Then, the chapter develops a set of technology policy dimensions as they affect those two dimensions, using case vignettes from India to illustrate policy actions. Finally, the chapter makes policy action recommendations to bridge the digital divide, including investments in education and literacy, e-governance, intermediary services, infrastructure and regulation.

DIVISION II: REGIONAL AND COUNTRY CASES

Chapter IV: The Evolution of The Digital Divide Across Developing Countries: Theoretical Issues and Empirical Investigation

This paper aims at investigating the evolution of the digital divide within a set of developing countries between the years 2000 and 2005. In doing so, it moves away from the traditional analysis of the digital divide, which compares developed countries and developing countries, and examines the existing gap within a relatively homogeneous group of countries. On the basis of the theoretical and empirical contributions from scholars in different disciplines, we select a series of socio-economic and technological indicators and provide an empirical assessment of the digitalization patterns in a set of 51 low income and lower-middle income countries. By means of cluster analysis techniques, we identify three emerging patterns of the digital divide and derive a series of policy implications, related to the implementation of an effective strategy to reduce digital backwardness. The characteristics of each pattern of digitalization can be also usefully employed to understand whether past interventions, especially in the area of competition policy, have been successful in addressing country-specific issues.

Chapter V: Digital Divide in Turkey: a General Assessment

Mete Yildiz, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

This chapter examines the nature of digital divide in Turkey. To this end, after a brief summary of the literature, first, the dimensions of digital divide in the country are explained. Then, various initiatives by the government, private firms, NGOs and international organizations to combat digital divide are presented. Next, in the discussion section, issues for further discussion regarding digital divide in Turkey are listed. The chapter ends with the examination of the issues regarding the future prospects for overcoming digital divide in Turkey and developing countries elsewhere.

Chapter VI: Bridging The Digital Divide in Australia: The Potential Implications for The Mental Health of Young People Experiencing Marginalisation

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 marginalised young people. Results are presented from an Australian study, Bridging the Digital Divide which investigated technology access and utilisation by young people experiencing marginalisation. 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.

Chapter VII: The Digital Divide in the U.S. in the 21st Century

Barney Warf, Dept. of Geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA

The United States has the world’s largest national population of Internet users, roughly 170 million people, or 70% of the adult population. However, the deep class and racial inequalities within the U.S. are mirrored in access to cyberspace. This chapter examines the nature of the U.S. digital divide, differentiating between Internet access and usage, using data from 1995 to 2005. Although Internet usage has grown among all socio-demographic groups, substantial differences by income and ethnicity persist. The chapter also examines discrepancies in access to broadband technologies.

Section II: Digital Divides and Inequalities

Division I: Digital Divides and Disabilities

Chapter VIII: Beyond the Digital Divide: Closing the Generation and Disability Gaps?

An essential, and rapidly-developing, aspect of electronic government is the growing use of online resources for government activities such as e-rulemaking, citizen participation, and the provision of information, referral, and assistance for users with needs for service delivery. Major developments in the use of electronic government resources for services needed by the elder and disability populations are the primary focus of this chapter. We focus here on the results of a large-scale statewide survey of residents of the state of Iowa, and on the findings from evaluations of aging and disability resource Websites in the United States and in other countries. Current and future trends in service delivery that may help to bridge digital divides for the elder and disability populations are discussed.

Chapter IX: Teleworking and the “Disability Divide”.

Much of the discourse on the digital divide focuses on issues of information disparity and accessibility, frequently in socioeconomic terms. This perspective overlooks an important aspect of the digital divide, the lack of access and missed opportunities faced by persons with disabilities, referred to here as the “disability divide.” Barriers to access and knowledgeable use of information and communication technology (ICT) represent more than simple exclusion from information to encompass social segregation and devaluation. At its most insidious, barriers to ICTs limit full community engagement in employment activities. This chapter examines the ramification of the impact of digital divide on the nature of employment and participation in the workplace, using ICT to conduct telework, and explores challenges to social policy with respect to ‘reasonable’ accommodations. In the absence of practices, structures, and policies targeting the distributive work environment, telework is much less likely to close the digital divide for persons with a disability. This suggests the need to explore and develop potential policy options to close the disability divide.

Chapter X: The Digital Divide and the Emerging Virtual Therapeutic System

As the Internet becomes increasingly more and more ingrained in our society, the gap between those who have adequate web access and those who do not will continue to widen. In the health, mental health, and disability sectors of society, technology helps provide access to previously unavailable information, communication, and services, allowing for greater independence, as well as 24/7 access to collaboration and support. The digital divide might prevent the people who will benefit the most from virtual services from accessing them. This paper will explore systems of on-line health and mental health care, both formal and informal, the dependence on advanced networking technologies for these systems to be effective, and the impact of the digital divide on individuals’ access to on-line health and mental health care. We will discuss the implications for both policy and practice.

Division II: Digital Divides, Education, Gender, and Ethnicity

Chapter XI: Generation, Education, Gender and Ethnicity in American Digital Divides

Susan C. Losh, Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University, USA

Through increasing access to knowledge and facilitating widespread discourse, information and communication technology (ICT) is believed to hold the potential to level many societal barriers. Using national probability samples of United States adults from 1983 to 2006, I examine how gender, ethnicity, and education interacted with generation to influence computer ownership and Internet use. Narrower digital divides in more recent generations can mean greater future digital equality through cohort replacement. However, although gender is now of far less consequence than previously in ICT access and use, significant divides, especially in PC ownership and selected Internet uses have widened by ethnicity and education over five birth cohorts. On the other hand, results from earlier research interpreted as “aging effects” are most likely generational influences instead. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Chapter XII: The Digital Divides in the US: Access, Broadband, and Nature of Internet Use

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the digital divides in the U.S. in terms of access, broadband connectivity, intensity of Internet use and nature of Internet use. These divides hold true for both adults and youth and have far-reaching implications for both groups, as well as for society as a whole. For the most part the digital divides center around race, income and, to a lesser extent, gender. Because the digital divides are complex and multifaceted any approach to reduce or eliminate them must also be complex and multifaceted. We suggest ways that educational, community, government and corporate resources can be brought to bear on eliminating the digital divides.

Chapter XIII: Does the Digital Divide Extend to Minority- and Women-Owned Small Businesses?

This chapter examines whether the digital divide in the United States extends to computer use in small businesses. The analysis is based on a 2003 telephone survey of 1,123 firms with fewer than 50 employees and at least one computer, and in-depth interviews with 45 business owners. The analysis provides no evidence of a business digital divide across racial, ethnic, and gender groups. In fact, firms owned by African-American males show more intensive computer use than white male-owned firms, even after controlling for firm and owner characteristics. We do, however, find links between the intensity of computer use and firm and owner characteristics, such as firm size, market reach, intensity of computer use in the relevant industry, and age of owner. Finally, the in-depth interviews suggest that businesses with effective computer use depend upon the technical expertise of the business owners or people in their social networks.

Chapter XIV: The African Diaspora, Black Identity and the Evolving Discourse of the Digital Divide

In this chapter, we examine how people of African descent are using an online discussion forum as a site for interrogating the existential question of “who am I?”. Contrary to the typical formulations of the digital divide as a measure of disparity in access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), we make a case for how and why ICTs are being effectively used to enable and advance the interests of people who have historically been marginalized and silenced. The contributions of this research extend the digital divide discourse to affirm the cultural realities of diverse Internet users.

Division III: Digital Divides and Digital Literacy

Chapter XV: Inequalities of Digital Skills and How to Overcome Them

This chapter focuses on the differential possession of digital skills. Here, four types of Internet skills are distinguished: operational, formal, information and strategic skills. These types are measured in a number of experimental performance tests among a cross-section of the Dutch population. The tests focus on the use of online government information. The main result of the experimental test is that the average Dutch population performs fairly well in operational and formal Internet skills but much worse in information and strategic skills. However, there are significant differences between people with different age and educational background; no gender differences have been observed. The final sections of this chapter deal with ways to overcome these differences of skill. Two main strategies are discussed: improving the information provision of government websites and improving the digital skills of citizens or users by all kinds of educational means.

Chapter XVI: Late on the Curve; Causes and Consequences of Differences in Digital Skills

Jos De Haan, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands Institute for Social Research/ SCP, Netherlands

Differences in digital skills lie at the heart of social inequality in advanced knowledge societies. The Internet access ‘markets’ in these societies are close to reaching saturation point, giving almost everyone access to the Net. By contrast, differences in digital skills appear to be widening over time. This chapter focuses on the Netherlands, where above all the elderly, people with a lower education level, people who are economically inactive and members of ethnic minorities lag behind. It addresses the mechanisms that underlie differences in digital skills between population groups. A lack of financial and cognitive resources seems to be of particular importance. Based on a diffusion of innovations framework the paper goes beyond the largely descriptive research on the digital divide and considers the consequences of differences in digital skills. These differences influence the labour market performance of those at a digital disadvantage and also has an impact on their personal lives.

Chapter XVII: The Digital Divide among the Incarcerated in the United States: A Case Study from New Jersey

A computer-based learning (CBL) program in the New Jersey women’s prison system is helping to bridge the digital divide among the incarcerated. The hallmark of this program is a computer-based learning process that begins in the prison environment and follows an inmate through the corrections system and into the community. The program provides access to computers through computer labs, use of computers in coursework, and computer ownership upon release into the community. Access to information technology helps to develop skills that will be useful for offender’s chances of employment upon reentry and may even help to reduce recidivism rates.

Chapter XVIII: Information Literacy and the Digital Divide: Challenging e-Exclusion in the Global South

Hopeton Dunn, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica

With the increasing spread of information and communications technologies (ICTs) globally, there is heightened debate about the continuing disparities of access and usage. The dialogue has proceeded in many respects oblivious of the centrality of information literacies in capacity building measures to redress the digital divide. This chapter examines both the concepts of the digital divide and information literacies and regards them as highly compatible in their application to the global south following a detailed analysis of issues such as orality and literacy, globalization from below and effective access to technology networks. The chapter concludes with a range of recommendations relating to reforms in strategic thinking and policy planning. The call for heightened emphasis on education including information literacies forms the centerpiece of an analysis grounded in both theory and empirical research.

Division IV: Digital Divides and Broadband Access

Chapter XIX: Connection Disparities: The Importance of Broadband Connections in Understanding Today’s Digital Divide

In assessing the integration of the Internet into society, scholars have documented that certain sectors of the population are disadvantaged by their lack of physical access to computer resources. The disadvantaged have traditionally included the less educated, nonwhites, females, the elderly, lower income people and third world citizens. Scholars are now beginning to go beyond basic issues of access to address differences in Internet experiences among Internet users. However, few digital divide researchers focus on the importance and impacts of the various types of connections people use to log onto the Internet. Among U.S. Internet users, we examine which is more important in determining Internet use, the traditional digital divide factors or type of connection. This study examines a wide range of online activities that provide vital information and services for Internet users. We find that connection disparities explain more variance in time spent online engaged in essential tasks, than most other long-established digital divide measures.

Chapter XX: Broadband in America: a Policy of Neglect is Not Benign

Mark Cooper, Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, USA

Under the Bush Administration the U.S. failed to close the digital divide and fell behind on broadband. In 2001, 54 percent of households did not have the Internet. In late 2007, 49 percent of households did not have broadband. About 25 percent of households with incomes below $25,000 per year had broadband in 2007; whereas over 80 percent of households with incomes above $75,000 did.

In 2001 the U.S. ranked third in the world in the penetration of broadband, but had fallen to 15th by 2007. A variety of measures of performance and econometric models that control for economic and social factors show a dozen nations are ahead of the U.S. The laissez faire policy pursued by the Bush administration let a duopoly of cable and telephone companies dribble out broadband at slow speed and high prices. In contrast, the nations that passed the U.S. implemented much more aggressive policies to promote broadband and instead of relying on weak intermodal competition, they required the dominant networks to be open to competition in Internet services. This kept the price down and stimulated adoption and innovation.

Chapter XXI: Digital Divide and Rural Communities. Practical Solutions and Policies

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 socio-economic 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 in 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”).

Chapter XXII: Public Policies for Broadband Development in The European Union: New Trends for Universalisation of Services

The European Lisbon strategy considers that the generalised availability of broadband accesses is one of the European Union’s greatest challenges. In this context, the EU member states have launched information society development programmes which dedicate major sections to fighting against the digital exclusion and plan the geographical extension of broadband accesses. In all of them, it is acknowledged the role of public policies in complementing the effective operation of the market, addressing both the supply and demand sides.

The aim of this paper is to review how the objective of generalised broadband deployment can be achieved, and what instruments the public administrations are using to pursue it. The paper includes, in particular, a comparison of practical implementations of broadband development policies, their relationships with universal service obligations, and, finally, the implications of using this segmented approach.

Section III: Digital Divides, Competitiveness, and Development

Chapter XXIII: Solving the Paradoxes of the Information Technology Revolution: Productivity and Inequality

Francesco Sandulli, Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

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.

Chapter XXIV: Shifting Focus from Access to Impact: Can Computers Alleviate Poverty?

Mona Dahms, Department of development and planning, Aalborg University, Denmark

This chapter contains two main messages: Firstly, the concept of the 'digital divide' should be seen as part of the problem rather than as part of the solution. Therefore, the sooner this concept - and with it the binary categories and the 'one size fits all' simplified model of 'development' - is discarded the better. Secondly, the main recommendation for strategies to be adopted in ICT4D projects is that focus should be on the information and communication needs of poor people rather than on technologies; beneficiaries should be actively involved in identification of their needs, in decision making about ways and means to satisfy the identified needs, about purchase of equipment and inputs and about implementation of solutions. Only by actively pursuing participatory design and participatory 'development' can the goal of achieving a free, fair and equal 'Information Society', benefitting poor and rich people alike, be reached.

Chapter XXV: Mobiles for Development: The Case of M-Banking

Judith Mariscal, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico

This chapter offers a survey of recent literature on access gaps that focuses on pro-poor market solutions provided by mobile applications. The emerging literature on mobile uses in developing countries has focused on the benefits of voice and text messaging. However, there is little academic research on mobile applications such as m-banking. While a large number of low income people have access to mobile phones; these groups are excluded from the financial market. M-banking offers the opportunity to diminish this financial exclusion by offering access to credit and to savings which are key tools capable of transforming the livelihoods of the poor and the efficiency of the market. Accessibility is the major barrier for the expansion of mobile adoption by the poor. There is an important role for regulators to play in enabling an appropriate environment for the increase in the mobile penetration as well as business models for m-banking.

Chapter XXVI: The Influence of Time on Transactional Use of the Internet: Buying, Banking, and Investing Online

Syed H. Akhter, Department of Marketing, College of Business, Marquette University, USA

The major objective of this paper 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.

Section IV: Digital Divides, E-Government, and E-Democracy

Chapter XXVII: Beyond the On-line Transaction: Enhancement of Citizen Participation via the Web in Ontario Provincial Government

Brendan Burke, Suffolk University, USA

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.

Chapter XXVIII: Accountability and Information Technology Enactment: Implications for Social Empowerment

Richard Ghere, The University of Dayton, USA

This chapter focuses on the use of information technology (IT) in government and its possible impact on 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

Chapter XXIX: From Inclusive Spaces to Inclusionary Texts: How E-Participation Can Help Overcome Social Exclusion

Simon Smith, Centre for Digital Citizenship, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, UK

This account explores the use of ICT to overcome social exclusion by means of eParticipation initiatives in two spheres - health promotion and local democratic participation. They offer a contrast in terms of how we think about inclusion because the intended outcomes of their e-enablement may differ. Their construction as private or public goods affects the scope for intermediaries to act as agents of digital inclusion. In eHealth, digital inclusion is often a recruitment issue, since online discussion serves as a meeting-place where people provide mutual support to others who are co-present, whereas in local eDemocracy, inclusion is a representation issue, since online discussion is a narrative, reflecting on the political life of a territorial community. As a textual Internet is more amenable to intermediation than a spatial Internet, the possibilities for deploying ICT for social inclusion were enhanced when members of the eHealth virtual community began to 'publicise' the discursive goods they produced, which became translatable into community health benefits via intermediation and channel integration.

Chapter XXX: Online Participation and Digital Divide: An Empirical Evaluation of U.S. Midwestern Municipalities

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 website 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 websites.

Chapter XXXI: Bridging The Gap Between Citizens and Decision-Makers: Are Icts The Appropriate Means for Reconfiguring Traditional Notions of Citizenship and Participation in Public Affairs?

Evika Karamagioli, Gov2u, Greece

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 eDemocracy 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.

Section V: Approaches to Study Digital Divides

Chapter XXXII: From The Digital Divide to Multiple Divides. Technology, Society, and New Media Skills

Francesca Comunello, Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Scienze della Comunicazione, Italy

It is widely acknowledged that the label “digital divide” can be partially misleading, because it emphasizes a binary dichotomy (“haves vs have nots”) and a mere technological dimension (in terms of physical availability of devices or conduits). Behind the dichotomous model, however, lie different use and adoption strategies. People cannot be described as being either in or out. Evaluating the complex relationships between technological, social, and human factors raises a number of questions, mainly related to the role of technology in social development. Moreover, we should also reconsider what is commonly meant by Information and Communication Technology. In this chapter, I will try to introduce a multilevel model for analyzing the digital divide, focusing on effective access and new media literacy. The focus will be shifted from technology to humans. In every ICT for development project, local context and local needs should be regarded as the key factors.

Chapter XXXIII: 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.

Chapter XXXIV: Conceptualizing a Contextual Measurement for Digital Divide/s: Using an Integrated Narrative

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.

Chapter XXXV: The Empirics of the Digital Divide: Can Duration Analysis Help?

Accurate measurement of digital divides is important for policy purposes. Empirical studies of broadband subscription gaps have largely used cross-sectional data, which cannot speak to the timing of technological adoption. Yet, the dynamics of a digital divide are important and deserve study. With the goal of improving our under¬standing of appropriate techniques for analyzing digital divides, we review econometric methodology and propose the use of duration analysis. We compare the performance of alternative estimation methods using a large dataset on DSL subscription in the U.S., paying particular attention to whether women, blacks, and Hispanics catch up to others in the broadband adoption race. We conclude that duration analysis best captures the dynamics of the broadband gaps and is a useful addition to the analytic tool box of digital divide researchers. Our results support the official collection of broadband statistics in panel form, where the same households are followed over time.