Local Geographies of Digital Inequality

Abstract

Combining data from a sample survey, the 2013 Oxford Internet Survey, with the 2011 UK Census, we employ small area estimation to estimate Internet use in small geographies in Britain. This is the first attempt to estimate Internet use at any small-scale level. Doing so allows us to understand the local geographies of British Internet use, showing that the area with least use is in the North East, followed by central Wales. The highest Internet use is in London and southeastern England. The most interesting finding is that after controlling for demographic variables, geographic differences become nonsignificant. The apparent geographic differences appear to be due to differences in demographic characteristics. We conclude by considering the policy implications of this fact. Keywords small area estimation (SAE), Internet use, geographical inequality, digital divide, Great BritainThe Internet has fundamentally reorganized economic, social, and political actions and relationships around the world. It has sparked what has been dubbed as an "information revolution" and given rise to an "information economy" and "information society." An unimaginable amount of content can now be accessed from almost anywhere on the planet: content that ultimately shapes our understandings of the world and the ways in which we interact with our surroundings. Social life is increasingly mediated, influenced, and augmented by online interactions that take place through the Internet (Graham, Zook, & Boulton, 2013).Yet despite the importance of the Internet in everyday life, we know surprisingly little about the geography of Internet use and participation at subnational scales. It is unclear whether citizens of Aberdeen, Manchester, Cardiff, or London are significantly more likely to be able to access our global network. This is important because, as we discuss below, there are widespread geographic differences in online activity. Because the differences may indicate digital inequalities on a geographic level, it is important to investigate further. As a result, this article proposes a novel method to calculate the local geographies of Internet usage. In this article, we employ Britain as a case study but, in future work, hope to be able to replicate the method in other parts of the world.

How Social Media Can Foster Social Innovation in Disadvantaged Rural Communities

“…This indicates that the digital divide between rural and urban areas cannot be solved by establishing infrastructure alone. This is consistent with Blank, Graham, and Calvino [15], who indicated that demographic factors have more of an impact on the digital divide than connectivity. While SNSs have become a fundamental tool for organizational or regional communication and promotion, more penetration of SNSs might escalate the second-level digital divide between disadvantaged rural areas and urban areas [9][10][11][12]44].…”

“…Previous academic literature regarding ICT use for rural development has used case studies or analyzed national data. However, national data in terms of ICT use at the (joint) community level are not available in Japan as in other countries like the UK [15]. Thus, I needed to identify all rural (joint) communities that run (joint) community-based Facebook pages in Japan.…”

“…In many relevant studies, the digital divide and digital inequality are considered individual-level issues since ICT is expected to contribute to a better everyday life for individuals (i.e., people use ICT for a variety of purposes, both at work and at home) [13]. The digital divide and digital inequality at the enterprise level [14] or regional level [15] have also been examined in the rural setting, but studies focusing on this issue at the rural community level have been scarce. Since social innovation takes place as a co-evolutionary learning process occurring in networks [16], the innovation process cannot begin if external actors cannot recognize communities' situations due to a lack of proactively shared community information.…”

“…On the other hand, the community-level digital divide is linked to the individual level since a lack of individuals motivated to promote community revitalization or community information-sharing would delay the community's plan and success of going online. In addition, disadvantaged rural communities located in remote or peripheral areas, including in Japan, have a higher proportion of older people and lower Internet adoption and literacy rates, which can make it difficult for these communities to voluntarily start using ICT for community information-sharing [15,18]. As such, two key questions should be asked to promote rural online access, as follows: (1) Who can take on the responsibility of information-sharing in a disadvantaged rural community?…”

Social Interaction of Indonesian Rural Youths in the Internet Age

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