Factors Influencing Digital Inequality: A Scoping Review

Two decades have passed since seminal work on the dimensions of digital inequality (DI) appeared. Since that time, digital inequalities have grown and taken on different forms. However, the research on conceptualizing and measuring DI has not progressed significantly. Particularly, there is a lack of robust theories to tackle the growing societal problem of DI, which is closely linked to a complex set of individual and institutional factors. Along these lines, by following a five-stage scoping review process, the current landscape of DI is mapped in this work. In addition, the key factors influencing DI are identified. As a result, a robust base for the development of a conceptual framework for further DI research is provided. The proposed framework can be validated empirically and also used to investigate the DI phenomenon in various contexts and levels

Social Capital, Digital Inequality, and a "Glocal" Community Informatics Project in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Gansu Province

This article examines a “glocal” community informatics project that is transforming villages in Western China. Funded and initiated by the U.S.-based Evergreen Education Foundation (EEF)—an organization that makes public computing resources available to the digital poor and digital extremely poor communities—the project supports the establishment of public computing sites in primary and middle schools, thereby improving villagers’ digital consciousness and digital literacy. This study uses a digital inequality model—organized around a pyramid of five classes comprising the digital elite, the digital rich, the digital middle class, the digital poor, and the digital extremely poor—to assess the impact of this project. The authors found that, on the whole, the EEF’s training programs helped people move up the pyramid of digital inequality.published or submitted for publicatio

Perspectiva social del fenómeno de la inclusión digital: Una aproximación desde la Complejidad

La inclusión digital es un fenómeno cuyo objetivo es reducir la brecha digital existente en una región determinada; brecha entendida como la diferencia en el acceso, uso, adopción y apropiación de las herramientas tecnológicas. Se encuentra a partir de la revisión del estado del arte que; por un lado, los proyectos-programas que intentan promover este fenómeno, se gestionan de manera reducida; y por el otro, que es relevante definir y aproximarse a dicho fenómeno desde la complejidad, para una posterior representación desde las ciencias de la complejidad. En el presente documento se muestra el desarrollo de la tesis doctoral cuyo objetivo es conformar una propuesta desde el pensamiento complejo y las ciencias de la complejidad que permita relevar la perspectiva social en el fenómeno complejo de la Inclusión digital. Se resalta en este punto, como a pesar de realizar en la literatura menciones acerca de la necesidad de un abordaje más social a los procesos de inclusión digital, estos son tratados sólo de forma superficial, dejándolos de forma implícita a los aspectos cuantitativos de carácter demográfico que se usan tanto para formular como para evaluar los diferentes programas-proyectos para inclusión digital. Como conclusión general e inicial se menciona que en el ambiente académico y para la gestión de programas-proyectos, existe interés de abordar el fenómeno de la inclusión digital desde la complejidad y sus principios. Y que este fenómenos puede explicarse desde este enfoqu para analizar el comportamiento de los procesos de adopción y apropiación de TICAbstract: Digital inclusion is a phenomenon whose objective is to reduce the existing digital divide in a given region; gap understood as the difference in access, use, adoption and appropriation of technological tools. It is found from the review of the state of the art that; On the one hand, the projects-programs that try to promote this phenomenon, are managed in a reduced way; and on the other, that it is relevant to define and approach this phenomenon from complexity, for a later representation from the complexity sciences. The present document shows the development of the doctoral thesis whose objective is to conform a proposal from the complex thought and the complexity sciences that allows to relieve the social perspective in the complex phenomenon of the digital Inclusion. It is highlighted in this point, as despite making references in the literature about the need for a more social approach to digital inclusion processes, these are treated only superficially, leaving them implicitly to the quantitative aspects of a demographic nature which are used both to formulate and to evaluate the different program-projects for digital inclusion. As a general and initial conclusion, it is mentioned that in the academic environment and for the management of program-projects, there is interest in addressing the phenomenon of digital inclusion from complexity and its principles. And that this phenomenon can be explained from this approach to analyze the behavior of the processes of adoption and appropriation of ICTDoctorad