Connected but Still Excluded? Digital Exclusion beyond Internet Access

Abstract

Digital government has digitized numerous public services, automated decision-making, and improved the openness of the public administration. Nevertheless, for senior citizens, undeserved communities, individuals with low literacy and limited digital skills, the shift to governmental portals, online payments, and smartphone applications are considerable obstacles in their daily interactions with public authorities. This chapter argues that digital inequality denies vulnerable citizens their rights twice: first, their ethnicity and socioeconomic status may be conducive to a 'negative' ranking or score (e.g., higher risk of welfare fraud); and second, they are also excluded because they do not have adequate access to technology, are not well informed, and do not have the time and skills required to interact with digital government. This chapter explores one of the paradoxes of the digital society: connected citizens in developed countries are also affected by the digital divide and are increasingly being excluded by the generalized digitalization of public services. Drawing on a review of interdisciplinary literature, this chapter contributes to the legal literature with an account of the underlying causes of digital exclusion and a discussion of its most relevant legal implications through the lenses of fundamental rights (e.g., due process, equal treatment) and the principles of good administration. This chapter reflects on potential solutions for more inclusive digital government policies.

Digital citizenship and disability in the covid era

“…The covid-19 pandemic, and its associated deepening and broadening of digitalization, was preceded by decades of intellectual reflection on the distinct character of online forms of sociality, governance and political participation, including work on the concept of digital citizenship (Isin and Ruppert, 2020;Mossberger et al, 2008;Ranchordás, 2020Ranchordás, , 2021Schou and Hjelholt, 2019). The various strands of this literature coalesce around the idea that the rights, entitlements and obligations of citizenship are increasingly exercised through and mediated by digital technologies.…”

“…In these more optimistic assessments of technology's transformative potential, scholars 'see the intersection of labouring selfhood, entrepreneurial subjectivity, and active citizenship in digital economic participation by people with disabilities' (Yu et al, 2019: 468). Dominant models of digital citizenship have been subject to telling criticism, including in critical disability studies (Darcy et al, 2019;Emejulu and McGregor, 2019;Fisher et al, 2021;Goggin, 2016;Ranchordás, 2021;Hjelholt, 2018, 2019;Vivienne et al, 2016;Watermeyer and Goggin, 2019). These contributions are part of a broader 'critical turn' in digital citizenship studies, the shared premise of which is that rather than being an isolated abstraction conditioned principally by technological processes, the digital citizen must be understood as part of a larger ensemble of political, economic, legal and discursive developments (Hintz et al, 2019;Schou and Hjelholt, 2018: 508).…”

Enhancing Access to Digital Culture for Vulnerable Groups: The Role of Public Authorities in Breaking Down Barriers

“…On the other hand, digitization has widened the well-known digital divide, i.e., ‘the indisputable fact that many people are still excluded from the use of digital tools, mostly because they are poor – and more poor people are now emerging – or feel uncomfortable with this technology’ [ 23 , p. 36; see also 67], and at times has made culture difficult to access. Ranchordás [ 69 ], and other scholars, have highlighted how digital inequality affects vulnerable citizens who do not have adequate access to technology and are not well informed. This in turn also hampers their access to the digital administration.…”

Understanding Digital Economy Dilemmas

“…While these changes were largely inevitable, a lack of understanding of the digital economy's complex and systemic dilemmas and how to address them exacerbated social exclusion. Digital economy artifacts have fuelled digital exclusion, new forms of the digital divide, loss of trust, and discrimination (Harvey et al, 2021;Marshall et al, 2020;Ranchordás, 2020;Vartanova & Gladkova, 2019). The extensive list of failed digital transformation initiatives demonstrates how unprepared decision makers are for 'more recent' digital economy challenges (see Bucy et al, 2016).…”