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Digital Divide, Data Trash, and the Commodification of Information: Discourses around the Digital Divide

Digital Divide, Data Trash, and the Commodification of Information: Discourses around the Digital Divide

Anusharani Sewchurran
Copyright: © 2017 |Pages: 23
ISBN13: 9781522518594|ISBN10: 1522518592|EISBN13: 9781522518600
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1859-4.ch005
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MLA

Sewchurran, Anusharani. "Digital Divide, Data Trash, and the Commodification of Information: Discourses around the Digital Divide." Impacts of the Media on African Socio-Economic Development, edited by Okorie Nelson, et al., IGI Global, 2017, pp. 67-89. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1859-4.ch005

APA

Sewchurran, A. (2017). Digital Divide, Data Trash, and the Commodification of Information: Discourses around the Digital Divide. In O. Nelson, B. Ojebuyi, & A. Salawu (Eds.), Impacts of the Media on African Socio-Economic Development (pp. 67-89). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1859-4.ch005

Chicago

Sewchurran, Anusharani. "Digital Divide, Data Trash, and the Commodification of Information: Discourses around the Digital Divide." In Impacts of the Media on African Socio-Economic Development, edited by Okorie Nelson, Babatunde Raphael Ojebuyi, and Abiodun Salawu, 67-89. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1859-4.ch005

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Abstract

In an attempt to build a theoretical framework for new media within the African context, this chapter considers terminology that routinely surface around ICTs. Terms such as knowledge economy, information poverty, the digital divide, information, knowledge and data though used interchangeably or roughly to mean similar things, they are laden with value, meaning and reflect power relations within a global and local context. Routinely used terms in a field create discourses which in turn reveal sociocultural, economic practices and power relations which reflect certain hegemonies. This chapter attempts to review some of the terms in the field of ICTs in order to make visible the sociocultural and economic power relations embedded in them. The digital divide offers a key entry point into ICT discourses and the opportunities and challenges presented by new media technology within the context of Africa. The theoretical concepts of the digital divide are reviewed within the larger context of global constructions of information wealth and information poverty.

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