A Digital Society for All? – Meanings, Practices and Policies for Digital Diversity

Abstract

The concept of digital divides has been on the agenda in research and policy making for at least the last 20 years. But it is still, a challenge to grasp this concept that is so elusive and transforming. Inclusion, access and equality are still key values for democratic governance and must be addressed in particular when forming and contributing to a digital government. This paper seeks to intervene in current debates on digital divides and digital inclusion by analyzing two cases of responses among street-level public administration in relation to e-government services in Sweden. The case studies are strategically chosen and conducted in national agencies and in local public libraries. Three lines of contributions are discussed, firstly the importance to care for equality secondly the need to see the non-users, and thirdly to discuss the potential of putting focus on digital diversity.

Technology Mediated Citizenship: What Can We Learn from Library Practices

“…This material was corroborated with our empirical findings from our previous library studies [13,39]. This interpretive analysis employed an abductive procedure and connected the concepts of 'citizenship acts', 'digital acts' and 'agency' to the empirical content, which was in its turn ground for assessing the theoretical concepts [44,45].…”

“…This study follows the path of 'library studies' and builds on our interest to follow the process of advancing digitalization of society and the implications for citizens' participation in democratic practices [12,39]. The public library as an institution is framed as a democracy arena that works for broad folk literacy and digital inclusions [40][41][42].…”

Context matters—different entrepreneurial approaches among street‐level bureaucrats enhancing digital inclusion

“…He identifies four stages to becoming digitally included (van Dijk, 2020): to be motivated to use the technology, to have material access, to have sufficient skills, and to use it frequently. Among the digitally active, there are still differences in use and capabilities to use digital technologies to empower oneself (Bernhard et al, 2019).…”

Addressing digital diversity: Care matters in vulnerable digital relations in a Swedish library context

“…Furthermore, while digital technologies are increasingly integrated in public services, opening up for new possibilities for previously excluded groups such as those who are visually impaired or have reading difficulties, at the same time they seem to generate a new diversity of needs for support in terms of information, services, technology or other literacies. Hence certain groups, for instance asylum seekers with no Swedish language proficiency and certain migrant groups with no or low general education or elderly people, face new difficulties under these circumstances (Bernhard et al, 2019).…”

“…Drawing models such as in Figure 1 is always tricky, since they necessarily involve simplifications in terms of including some issues while excluding others (Bowker & Star, 1999), and our purpose here is not to criticize the model, merely to point out some of that which is not included. The use of public services, apart from digital access and competence, often requires detailed knowledge of how these organizations and services are organized and interrelated, or so called 'governmental literacy' (Bernhard et al, 2019). In order for individuals to be able to use public and private services, there are needs for support that address every level of the model in different ways, individually and structurally, socially and technologically; the individual user's motivation, her physical and material access to various digital services, and her digital skills, in the hope that this will result in frequent, skilled and diversified usage for the benefit of the user (van Dijk, 2012in Macevičiūtė & Wilson, 2018.…”