Author : Mark Cooper
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (137 download)
Book Synopsis The Socio-Economics of Digital Exclusion in America by : Mark Cooper
Download or read book The Socio-Economics of Digital Exclusion in America written by Mark Cooper and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the early deployment of broadband in the U.S. the debate over the digital divide was clouded by two uncertainties: (1) How important would the new technology be? (2) How would it spread? Some argued that the technology would follow a normal pattern where it spread from early adopters to the general public at a speed that was commensurate with its value. Others were concerned that stratification of haves and "have-nots" would persist as new generations of technology were introduced. A decade of broadband deployment and a Congressional mandate to the Federal Communications Commission to study broadband adoption and use have shed considerable light on underlying patterns and the answers to these two key questions. This paper argues that the digital technologies have followed a cumulative process (rather than a normalization or stratification process). Each successive wave of technology augments the barriers to adoption creating walls behind which the disconnected are trapped. Moreover, since there is strong evidence that broadband is a pervasive and dominant communications technology for a broad swath of economic, social and political activities. The lack of access to the technology compounds social inequality. The problem of digital exclusion reinforces social exclusion and has become severe. The paper relies primarily on the data from the National Telecommunications Information Administration and the Pew Internet and American life project to build complex, comprehensive models of broadband adoption and use. Pew provides a consistent set of data over the course of virtually the entire period of broadband deployment and adoption. While Pew's data is rich, its analysis tends to be very sparse, relying primarily on descriptive, bivariate analyses. The paper is divided into four sections. Section I frames the debate over the diffusion and adoption of digital technologies. Section II examines the patterns of usage of the Internet, contrasting them to physical space activities, to demonstrate that households that are disconnected are placed at a disadvantage. Section III demonstrates the accumulating hypothesis, examining the spread of the technology across income groups and nations over time. Section IV builds a multivariate approach to adoption and use that, unlike most prior analyses, combines socioeconomic characteristics and attitudinal factors. Age and rural residence are negatively related to adoption and use; income and education positively related; and possession of technologies is a strong predictor of broadband adopt and use. Controlling for socioeconomic and technology factors, we find that attitudinal factors such as perceptions of availability, affordability, interest and skill are statistically significant and quantitatively important predictors of broadband adoption, but less so for use. Consequently, efforts to promote digital inclusion will be challenged by the complex causes of exclusion.
