Encyclopedia of New Media

Digital Divide

Contributors: Leslie Regan Shade

Editors: Steve Jones
Book Title: Encyclopedia of New Media
Chapter Title: "Digital Divide"
Pub. Date: 2003
Access Date: December 25, 2015
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.
City: Thousand Oaks
Print ISBN: 9780761923824
Online ISBN: 9781412950657
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412950657.n71
Print pages: 138-140
©2003 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412950657.n71
Digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to the Internet (the
“haves”) and those who do not have access (the “have-nots”). There are several
dimensions to the digital divide: the social divide, the gap between the information-rich
and information-poor within nations; the global divide, the gap between industrialized
and developing countries; and the democratic divide, the gap between those who use
the Internet for civic participation and those who are passive consumers of Internet
resources.

The term digital divide, which became widely popular in the mid-1990s, initially
had a fairly simplistic definition, with access defined solely as technical access—
access to computers and telecommunication services. Later, definitions of the digital
divide began to encompass more complex measures of access—not just access to
the technical infrastructure, but also access to the social infrastructure. The social
infrastructure includes access to education and content, the ability to produce as well
as consume information. A variety of socio-demographic characteristics were also
recognized as increasing or inhibiting access, including income, education, gender,
race, ethnicity, age, linguistic background, and location (e.g., rural vs. urban). In the
North American context, efforts to ameliorate the digital divide have concentrated on
setting up community access points for public spaces, such as schools and libraries.
International organizations are also making efforts to decrease the digital gap in
developing countries. Thus, the digital divide encompasses three main trajectories:
access to information and communication technologies, access to the appropriate
content, and geopolitical aspects.

Various studies, by governments, industry groups, and non-governmental

organizations (NGOs), have attempted to measure the digital divide. The U.S. National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) produced the first high-
profile study in 1995, with the release of Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the
“Have Nots” in Urban and Rural America. Measuring household telephone, computer,
and Internet penetration rates to determine who owned telephones and personal
computers and who accessed the Internet at home, the study revealed that access
was related to socioeconomic and geographic factors, with the information have-nots
disproportionately found in rural areas and central cities.

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The NTIA's 1999 version of Falling Through the Net, subtitled Defining the Digital
Divide, revealed that while more Americans are accessing the Internet, significant
discrepancies in access still existed, and in some instances had widened considerably.
Race is a factor, as blacks and Hispanics are less likely to be connected anywhere
compared to whites at home. Education is a factor, as those with a college degree
are more than 16 times more likely to have home Internet access as those with an
elementary school degree. Income is a factor, as high-income urban households
are more than 20 times as likely as rural, low-income households to have Internet
access. Marital status is also a factor, as children in dual-parent white households are
nearly twice as likely to have the Internet at home as children in white single-parent
households.

The NTIA's 2000 Falling Through the Net report, Toward Digital Inclusion, looked at
individual access, household access to high-speed services (such as digital subscriber
lines, or DSL), and access for people with disabilities. Overall, the NTIA concluded,
digital inclusion is advancing rapidly among most groups of Americans, regardless of
income, education, race/ethnicity, location, age, or gender. Furthermore, those who
were previously not connected are now making significant gains, particularly across
education and gender lines. However, even though computer ownership and Internet
access are rising rapidly for most groups, in some cases the digital divide remains the
same, or has expanded slightly. This is especially the case for people with disabilities,
single-parent households, and for blacks and Hispanics.

Although digital-divide studies were initially conducted in the North American context,
the international promotion of electronic commerce and a liberalized telecommunication
sector has led to the recognition that the digital divide also exists between and among
countries. So, although the 1990s witnessed a fantastic penetration rate of the Internet
in most regions of the world, other countries, such as Central and South America,
have lagged behind. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), Internet growth in Africa has been negligible, with 0.25 percent
of Internet hosts being located there, compared to 88 percent in North America and
Europe.

According to the OECD, the fundamental barrier in this case is access to basic
telecommunications services, and trade liberalization and increased market competition

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for telecommunications services are the mechanisms to overcome this digital divide.
Trade liberalization has increased the demand for communication services, and has
led to an increase in the growth of access lines (fixed and mobile), alternative access
technologies, and Internet access and use, as well as to lower bandwidth prices.

Bridging the global digital divide between industrialized and developing countries is
another trend. The Okinawa Charter on the Global Information Society was unveiled
with much fanfare at the annual G8 summit held in Japan in the summer of 2000. There,
the G8 leaders formed the Digital Opportunities Task (DOT) Force, and extended
the invitation to 32 members of organizations, private industry, and nonprofits to join
the DOT Force in an international effort to bridge the “international information and
knowledge divide.”

A variety of public-sector and non-profit policy initiatives have been generated to close
the digital divide, through technology acquisition, education, training, and lifelong
learning. In the United States, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to implement a funding mechanism—the E-rate—
to bring Internet technology to public schools and libraries. Canada has several funding
programs to create Internet access in public spaces, such as schools and libraries, and
community access points, particularly in rural and remote areas. Corporations (including
Microsoft, AT&T, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and AOL/Time-Warner) have established
foundations that help provide Internet access to local communities, typically through
donations of used equipment and training.

The question of whether or not these policy fixes will eliminate the digital divide will be
the basis of future research. Will the digital divide be transitory or persistent? Some
contend that as the cost of computers and online access decreases, and as more
schools and public institutions become wired, concerns about a digital divide will
become moot. After all, there will always be areas of social stratification that no amount
of public subsidy can fix. But others contend that if the assumption remains that basic
computer skills are essential for economic success, and if the Internet is essential for
participation in civic and cultural life, then we need to be concerned and diligent so that
the information-poor will not become further marginalized.

Leslie ReganShade

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Related Topics

• Access
• Gender and New Media
• Race and Ethnicity and New Media

Bibliography

Compaine, Benjamin M. The Digital Divide: Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth?

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.

Digital Opportunity Task Force . <http://www.dotforce.org/> (May 5, 2002).

Norris, Pippa. Digital Divide? Civic Engagement, Information Poverty and the Internet
Worldwide . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) . Understanding

the Digital Divide . 2001. <http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/prod/Digital_divide.pdf> (May 5,
2002).

U.S. Department of Commerce. “A NATION ONLINE: How Americans Are Expanding

Their Use of the Internet.” February 2002. <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/
index.html> (May 5, 2002).

Further Reading

Benton Foundation Digital Divide Resources . <http://www.benton.org/Divide/> (April 5,

2002).

Children's Partnership. “Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans:

Digital Divide's New Frontier.” <http://www.childrenspartnership.org/pub/low_income/>
(April 5, 2002).

Digital Divide Network . <http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/> (April 5, 2002).

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Hoffman, Donna L., Novak, Thomas P., Ann E.Schlosser “The Evolution of the Digital
Divide: How Gaps in Internet Access May Impact Electronic Commerce.” Journal of
Computer-Mediated Studies (JCMS) 53 (March 2000). <http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/
vol5/issue3/hoffman.html> (April 5, 2002).

Internet Society (ISOC) Divide Links . March 20, 2002. <http://www.isoc.org/internet/

issues/divide/> (April 5, 2002).

World Economic Forum—Global Digital Divide Initiative . <http://www.weforum.org/

digitaldivide> (April 5, 2002).

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