ICT access: Testing for convergence across countries

Our objectives for this article are twofold: first, to examine the convergence of nations with regard to ICT access; and second, to see whether countries in the same continental region (South and East Asia, West and Middle East Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania) or having same initial ICT access have coalesced into groups. We constructed an ICT access index using three indicators (mobile phone, Internet, and broadband use per 100 population) for a sample of 198 nations for the 16-year period from 2000 to 2015. Results show that digital divide has declined in relative terms, but not in absolute terms. The countries, starting at lower ICT levels, are not adopting ICT faster than the leaders. Continental region-wise analysis also shows that the catch-up is maximum for already developed countries, and minimum for countries in African and Oceania continental regions.     

Different statistical measures create different perceptions of the digital divide

Simultaneous two-dimensional comparisons of time series data—vertically (static difference) and horizontally (Sicherl-time-distance)—for numerous ITU and Eurostat datasets show that estimates of the magnitude of digital divide can differ substantially between conventional static measures and Sicherl-time-distance, a dynamic measure of disparity. Comparing digital divide indicators with other indicators of social inequality (life expectancy, infant mortality), the analysis shows that high ICT growth rate improved well-being in developing countries and reduced some world inequalities. This methodology enables researchers, policy makers, and business managers how to draw new insights from existing data, including monitoring the attainment of targets.     

Information Societies or “ICT Equipment Societies?” Measuring the Digital Information-Processing Capacity of a Society in Bits and Bytes

The digital divide is conventionally measured in terms of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment diffusion, which comes down to counting the number of computers or phones, among other devices. This article fine-tunes these approximations by estimating the amount of digital information that is stored, communicated, and computed by these devices. The installed stock of ICT equipment in the consumer segment is multiplied with its corresponding technological performance, resulting in the “installed technological capacity” for storage (in bits), bandwidth (in bits per second), and computational power (in computations per second). This leads to new insights. Despite the rapidly decreasing digital equipment divide, there is an increasing gap in terms of information-processing capacity. It is shown that in 1996 the average inhabitant of the industrialized countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had a capacity of 49 kibps more than its counterpart from Latin America and the Caribbean. Ten years later, this gap widened to 577 kibps per inhabitant. This innovative approach toward the quantification of the digital divide leads to numerous new challenges for the research agenda.     

数字不平等的本质及对策研究

本文以数字鸿沟的研究成果为基础,对数字不平等的概念和本质进行了界定,认为数字不平等是指在数字时代处于不同社会经济水平和知识、技术水平的主体(国家、地区、行业、企业、人群)之间在接触信息通信技术(ICT)和使用互联网进行各种活动的过程中产生的不平等。它是社会不平等的一种外延,其本质上表现为技术、经济、知识和社会4个层面构成的综合性的不平等。继而根据数字不平等的本质表现,探索缩小数字不平等的路径。     

全球数字鸿沟现状分析

信息技术在全球得到广泛应用的同时，也在全球产生了数字鸿沟。本文分析了各个区域之间和各个国家或地区之间的数字鸿沟，指出不同区域、不同国家或地区之间存在明显的数字鸿沟。     

Capabilities in, capabilities out: overcoming digital divides by promoting corporate citizenship and fair ICT

This conceptual article discusses strategies of corporations in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector and their role in the conflict over access to knowledge in the digital environment. Its main hypothesis is that ICT corporations are very capable actors when it comes to bridging digital divides in both developed and developing countries??maybe even the most capable actors. Therefore, it is argued that ICT corporations could use their capabilities to help citizens gain sustainable access to knowledge in order to enable them to lead self-sufficient lives. In a nutshell, capabilities are presented as both the input (capabilities of ICT corporations) as well as the output (capability building for empowering citizens) of corporate strategy-making focusing on fair ICT. Corporate citizenship is put forth as the theoretical concept bridging corporate strategies and access to knowledge: If ICT corporations act in accordance with their self-understanding of being ??good corporate citizens??, they could be crucial partners in lessening digital divides and helping citizens gain access to knowledge. From the perspective of ??integrative economic ethics?? (Ulrich 2008), it is argued that ICT corporations have good reason to actively empower citizens in both developed and developing countries by pursuing ??inclusive?? strategies in many fields, such as open-source software development. That way, ICT corporations could enable, support and provide citizens with capabilities enabling them to help themselves. In order to make inclusive business models work, the rules and regulations companies find themselves in today must enable them to act responsibly without getting penalized by more ruthless competitors. This article explores several cases from the ICT field to illustrate the interplay between a responsible business model and the rules and regulations of the industry. From a capabilities perspective, the most desirable mix of corporate strategies and industry regulation is one that results in the highest level of generativity (Zittrain 2008). Thus, ICT should not be closed systems only driven by the company behind them. Instead, they need to be open for the highest possible level of third-party innovation.     

Closing the Digital Divide: The Role of Services and Infrastructure in Bhutan 1

Abstract

Considerable attention has been devoted in recent years to the digital divides that exist between and within countries. Within developing countries, information and communication infrastructures are often limited. This paper focuses on the digital divide within Bhutan. More specifically, the paper identifies two related dimensions of the digital divide in Bhutan—access and skills—and argues that the interaction between geography, resources and services will shape how the divide is tackled.     

地缩小数字鸿沟构建和谐信息社会

构建一个和谐的信息社会，是公共图书馆在和谐社会构建中担负的不可推卸的责任。数字鸿沟已成为建设和谐信息社会的重大障碍。本文剖析了数字鸿沟产生的原因，我国数字鸿沟的状况及对和谐信息社会的危害，提出公共图书馆缩小数字鸿沟构建和谐信息社会的措施。     

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Business Clusters: The Relation Between ICT Adoption and Benefits Derived From Cluster Membership

This study examines the relationships between information and communication technologies (ICT) usage, the benefits a company derives from membership in a rural business cluster, and the success of rural companies. Analysis of 333 rural businesses located in northern lower Michigan showed a strong relationship between (a) ICT adoption and benefits derived from the membership in business clusters, (b) ICT adoption and self-reported business success, and (c) benefits derived from business clusters and business success. Although analysis indicates that these relationships may be industry specific, results suggest that ICT adoption by rural enterprises may have advantages for the region's social capital and business success and may help reduce the digital divide experienced in rural communities.     

Senior citizens and the ethics of e-inclusion

The ageing society poses significant challenges to Europe’s economy and society. In coming to grips with these issues, we must be aware of their ethical dimensions. Values are the heart of the European Union, as Article 1a of the Lisbon Treaty makes clear: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity…”. The notion of Europe as a community of values has various important implications, including the development of inclusion policies. A special case of exclusion concerns the gap between those people with effective access to digital and information technology and those without access to it, the “digital divide”, which in Europe is chiefly age-related. Policies to overcome the digital divide and, more generally speaking, e-inclusion policies addressing the ageing population raise some ethical problems. Among younger senior citizens, say those between 65 and 80 years old, the main issues are likely to be universal access to ICT and e-participation. Among the older senior citizens, say those more than 80 years old, the main issues are mental and physical deterioration and assistive technology. An approach geared towards the protection of human rights could match the different needs of senior citizens and provide concrete guidance to evaluate information technologies for them.     

Incorporating affordability,efficiency, and quality in the ICT development index: Implications for index building and ICT policymaking

Abstract

International Telecommunication Union’s ICT Development Index and related measures of a country’s ICT development maturity suffer from several limitations, including subjective estimation of the weights of individual indicators and sub-indices, use of inappropriate quantitative models, specification bias arising from the exclusion of potential predictors from the estimation models, and a failure to capture the disparities among different groups of countries. To overcome these problems and provide a more reliable measure of ICT development, this study develops the Modified ICT Maturity Level Index using the 2015 data of 166 countries. This index adds affordability, efficiency, and quality to the existing sub-indices of access, use, and skills. Sub-index and indicator weights are determined in an outcome-orientated way using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. We find that affordability, quality, and efficiency significantly explain the variation in the level of maturity of ICT development in addition to the previously used dimensions of International Telecommunication Union’s ICT Development Index and modified ICT Development Index (mIDI) developed by Gerpott and Ahmadi, and that their explanatory power differ by a country’s level of economic development. The new index produces significantly different country rankings. This has important implications for ICT policy priorities and provides a measure of ICT development maturity less prone to the innocent or intentional distortion of such policy priorities.     

ICT Inclusion and Gender: Tensions in Narratives of Network Engineer Training

Government, major information and communications technology (ICT) companies, and educational institutions in the United Kingdom currently claim that ICT skills training offers inclusion into the new economy. We focus on a private-public training initiative and its impact on the socially excluded, specifically lone women parents. Narrative data from four United Kingdom educational sites participating in this computer network engineer training program highlight a systemic paradox: that ICT skills development initiatives designed to support lone women parents are simultaneously working in opposition to broader policy goals such as work-life balance and ironically serve to reproduce the participants' classification as socially excluded. The assumptions underpinning the model of social inclusion driving the ICT skills training course are analyzed critically using the concepts of community of practice, classificatory systems, and marginalization. Our findings suggest that ICT training courses and initiatives should be accompanied by changes in pedagogic practice that accommodate the more wide-ranging needs of those targeted for inclusion, as well as changes in employment settings. We conclude by exploring the implications of this for government policy formation, business vendor qualifications, the design of ICT skills training initiatives, and our understanding of the role of ICT skills in overcoming the digital divide.     

Determinants of ICT Usage among Low-Income Groups in Colombia,Mexico, and Peru

The authors examine the determinants of information and communications technology (ICT) usage among low-income people in three developing countries: Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Using two composite indicators, they focus on cross-country differences and similarities in ICT usage across gender, age, education, and income levels. The authors’ analysis indicates that the single most important factor limiting the digitalization of low-income people in all three countries was lack of education. The impact of income itself was low although positive. Their findings also suggest that comprehensive measures that mix standard ICTs with very advanced ones can be misleading.     

Emancipation in cross-cultural IS research: The fine line between relativism and dictatorship of the intellectual

Critical research is becoming increasingly accepted as a valid approach to research in information systems. It is deemed to be particularly suitable for situations where researchers want to address conspicuous injustice, such as in areas of development or the digital divide. Critical research in information systems (CRIS), I will argue, is a possible approach to some of the ethical problems arising in the context of information and communication technology (ICT). It can be sensitive to the question of culture and therefore suitable for researching cross-cultural ethical questions in ICT. It is often unclear, however, what exactly critical research stands for and to what extent critical approaches are applicable across cultural boundaries. This paper will address these problems by proposing a definition of critical research as focused on changing the status quo and aiming for emancipation. It will then look at the question whether different cultures are compatible and comparable and what the role of culture in research on information systems is. The paper will then return to the question whether the critical intention to emancipate and empower humans is an expression of cultural imperialism or whether there are valid ways of promoting emancipation across cultural divides.     

数字鸿沟的本质解析

随着社会信息化的推进,数字鸿沟问题日益凸显,严重影响了和谐社会的构建,要想从根本上弥合数字鸿沟就必须剖析其本质。数字鸿沟本质上是由技术、经济、知识和社会4个层面构成的综合性的差距。在技术层面上,它反映了不同主体在接入新兴信息技术方面存在的差距,是新兴信息技术普及过程中出现的＂技术鸿沟＂;在经济层面上,它反映了国际国内经济不平等和贫富差距在信息时代的延续,是信息时代经济发展进程中出现的＂经济鸿沟＂;在知识层面上,它反映了不同群体使用新兴信息技术获取和利用信息资源方面的差距,是信息主体获取和利用信息资源过程中出现的＂知识鸿沟＂;在社会层面上,它反映了信息社会的阶层分化和社会分化现象,是信息社会不平等导致的＂社会鸿沟＂。

Abstract：

With the development of social informatization,the digital divide problem figures increasingly prominently and affects the construction of the harmonious society seriously.In order to close the digital divide fundamentally,it＇s necessary to anatomize its essence.Digital divide is essentially a comprehensive gap which consists of factors in the technical,economic,knowledge and social aspects.In technical aspect,it reflects the differences among different agents to get access to new information technologies,and it＇s the ＂technological gap＂ which appears in the popularization process of new information technologies.In economic aspect,it reflects the international and domestic economic inequality and the continuation of polarization of poor and rich in the information age,and it＇s the ＂economic gap＂ which appears in the economic development process in the information age.In knowledge aspect,it reflects the differences among different groups to use new information technologies to obtain and utilize information resources,and is the ＂knowledge gap＂ which appears in the information resources acquisition and utilization process by information agents.In social aspect,it reflects the stratum differentiation and social differentiation in the information society,and is the ＂social gap＂ caused by the inequality of the information society.     

我国数字鸿沟的社会效应分析

数字技术在给我们带来诸多便利的同时,也带来了新的不平等和新的社会分化,这就是数字鸿沟.数字鸿沟对社会产生的影响即是数字鸿沟的社会效应.教育鸿沟、性别鸿沟、城乡鸿沟是其3个主要方面.直接影响着经济社会的和谐发展.     

An Econometric Analysis of the Sociodemographic Topology of the Digital Divide in Europe

Introducing an econometric approach to quantify the digital divide, this article presents a new method to facilitate crossnational and in-depth sectional analyses of the digital divide within a consistent framework. It examines the sociodemographic topology of the digital divide in an extensive crossnational analysis covering six sociodemographic factors and twenty-five countries. The findings contradict in part the conclusions of previous research. Although there are differences between the social groups, not all of the tested segmentation factors mark major fault lines of the digital divide. The notions of a gender gap, an income divide, and a divide between urban and rural areas are rejected because between-group disparity proves to be only minor in comparison to overall inequality. However, education, age, and main vocational activity do indeed mark digital boundaries in many of the observed countries.     

Taxonomy of e-readiness assessment measures

To benefit from the advantages of information society, on the one hand, and to be afraid of being left further behind by Global Society and the increase in the digital divide, on the other hand, stimulate countries to be part of Global Information Society. These issues have led policymakers to move towards such a society by identifying the objectives, goals and targets. Planning to achieve these objectives needs a real understanding of the current situation, which is obtained by e-readiness assessment measures. There has been a proliferation of e-readiness assessment measures in recent years that each one has a certain objective. This paper elaborates on and categorizes these measures that help scholars and policymakers to (1) select the measures that fit in with their objectives, (2) prevent the repetitive research, (3) identify the defects and flaws of previous measures and correct them in their own measures, and (4) use the experiences of previous measures to construct their own ones. Based on definitions, objectives, dimensions, methods and approaches, in this paper, the measures are categorized and finally, a measure for e-readiness assessment is presented. Since this measure is a convergence of e-readiness assessment measures, the experienced modelers have consensus on it and it is more suitable to measure e-readiness of countries. Also, it can be exploited as the basis and standard for internationally comparable information society statistics.     

国外二级鸿沟研究综述

目前,国外学界对二级鸿沟问题的研究十分关注,已取得不少研究成果.文章对国外围绕二级鸿沟展开的相关研究进行了总结,具体包括二级鸿沟的提出过程、二级鸿沟的含义,二级鸿沟的形成原因及解决措施等,并分析了二级鸿沟的研究意义.