The digital divide shifts to differences in usage

Deursen, Alexander Johannes Aloysius Maria van; Dijk, Johannes A.G.M. van

doi:10.1177/1461444813487959

Cited by 968 publications

(700 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(52 reference statements)

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“…The concept of Digital Divide strives to translate social inequalities into digital discriminations. People with different socioeconomic status tend to depict differencing attitudes towards the usage of technology (Van Deursen & Van Dijk, 2014;Sui, Goodchild, & Elwood, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Relationship Between Internet Usage, Socioeconomic Status, Subjective Health and Social Status

Khan¹,

Rahman²,

Qazi³

2016

BER

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, several conceptualizations of digital divide have been presented in the literature (Van Deursen & Van Dijk, 2014;Sui, Goodchild, & Elwood, 2013). Through these conceptualizations the literature indentifies four main areas of discussion including attitudes, access, skills and type of usage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Between Internet Usage, Socioeconomic Status, Subjective Health and Social Status

Khan¹,

Rahman²,

Qazi³

2016

BER

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“…However, the results regarding content-related skills are different. Here people of medium age and seniors do better on the condition that they have adequate medium-related skills (Van Deursen, 2010). In none of the series of performance tests done so far have any gender differences been observed (e.g., Hargittai & Shafer, 2006;Van Deursen, 2010) despite the fact that in pretest questionnaires men rated their skills higher than women did.…”

Section: Skills Accessmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…However, these surveys measured the actual level of digital skills possessed via questions asking respondents to estimate their own level of digital skills. This kind of measurement has obvious problems of validity (Hargittai, 2002;Van Deursen, 2010). The more valid approach, to actually observe or test performance of skills in experimental conditions, is very labor intensive (Van Deursen, 2010).…”

Section: Skills Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New Media and the Digital Divide

Deursen

Dijk

2015

International Encyclopedia of the Social &Amp; Behavioral Sciences

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Access to digital media is defined as the full process of appropriation of technology by users. It starts with motivation and attitudes and moves on to the process of finding physical access. Then, having learned sufficient digital skills, users will realize a particular frequency and diversity of usage of digital media. In all these phases significant divides are observed. After the year 2000 the importance of digital divides shifted from physical access to skills and usage. However, the main media effects of all these divides are unequal benefits and unequal participation in society.Key words: digital media; diversity; information and communication technology; media literacy; public participation; the conceptThe concept digital divide is usually defined as the gap between people who do and do not have access to forms of information and communication technology. These forms are primarily computers and the Internet. Sometimes cellphones, particularly smart phones and other digital hardware and software, are also included. The concept figures in discourses about social and information inequality. Inclusion and exclusion in particular social units are common concepts in this respect.The term originated in the mid-1990s in the United States. It first appeared in an official publication by the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (1999). Unfortunately, the term digital divide has caused much confusion. In fact it is a metaphor that has inspired at least four misunderstandings. First, the metaphor suggests a simple distinction between two divided groups with a yawning gap between them. Second, it suggests that this gap is difficult to bridge. Third, it can imply absolute inequalities between those who are included and those who are excluded, whereas inequalities are of a more relative kind. Finally, the digital divide is not a static and permanent condition. These misunderstandings will be clarified in the following sections. Research historyDigital divide research is an interdisciplinary activity that started around the year 2000 and primarily figures in communication science, sociology, psychology, economics, and education science. Communication science focuses on access to and usage of digital media. Sociology emphasizes social inequality in terms of resources, all kinds of capital, and participation in society. Psychology deals with attitudes and motivations to use digital media and investigates phenomena such as computer anxiety and technophobia. Economics highlights the diffusion of the innovations concerned. Finally, education science stresses information or digital literacy. In the first years of digital divide research (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002), the investigation of the concept concentrated on a narrow meaning of access. This was in fact physical access: obtaining the hardware and software of digital media and a connection to the Internet. Physical access was correlated with general demographics such as income, level of education, age, gender, and race. The fr...

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