Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

“The digital divide” terminology is often used in policy discourse to refer simply to access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). It is a misnomer in at least two ways. First, it suggests that there is something new and different about the particular information and communication inequalities that surround digital technologies, whereas it is just the most recent case of inequality spawned by the advent of new ICTs (→ Information and Communication Technology, Development of ). Hence, we should include a historical perspective in our examination of communication technologies and inequality (see, e.g., Marvin 1988 ). Second, it is the definite article the in “the digital divide” that falsely suggests a single dimension dividing people into haves and have-nots when it comes to ICTs. Digital divides are better conceived as occurring at multiple levels of analysis and as a multidimensional phenomenon ( Norris 2001 ). One of the first things that researchers do when a new technology emerges is to track its diffusion through the population to note differences between the people who have early access and those who do not. The idea of a divide comes with the belief that access privileges people in some way; for example, people with access can communicate farther, more quickly, more easily, and less expensively than people without access (→ Access to the Media ). With ... log in or subscribe to read full text