Digital Divides: The New Challenges and Opportunities of e-Inclusion (Public Administration and Public Policy Book 195)

The digital divide refers to the social and economic inequalities that arise among populations due to inclusion or exclusion in digital resources. In the United States, for example, one quarter of the population is still offline. As the digital age advances, public policy officials must determine where the gaps are, and how to maneuver closure of these gaps. Divided into sections ranging from defining the issues, geographic and multilevel trends, stakeholder perspectives, best practices, and future developments, this book explores how governments can bridge the digtial divide. Read more... Content: Front Cover; Contents; Foreword; Acknowledgments; Contributors; Introduction; Chapter 1: The Digital Divide and the Global Post-2015 Development Debate; Chapter 2: The Digital Broadband and Gender Divides; Chapter 3: Challenging the Digital Divide in a Developing Country: Ghana Case Study; Chapter 4: China's Digital Divides and Their Countermeasures; Chapter 5: Spatial and Social Aspects of the Digital Divide in Russia; Chapter 6: Broadband Policy and Rural and Cultural Divides in Australia; Chapter 7: Digital Skills in Europe: Research and Policy. Chapter 8: Digital Inclusion: The Singapore PerspectiveChapter 9: Leveraging Mobile Revolution for Turning Digital Divide into Digital Dividend: Examples from India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; Chapter 10: e-Inclusion in Education: Lessons from Five Countries; Chapter 11: e-Education at the Local Level: Challenges and Pitfalls of Public Policies in Rio de Janeiro; Chapter 12: Local + Digital + Scale: A Mass Movement for Digital Inclusion; Chapter 13: Beyond Failure: Rethinking Research and Evaluation in ICT4D; Chapter 14: In Conclusion: Tackling Future Digital Divides; Back Cover. Abstract: The digital divide refers to the social and economic inequalities that arise among populations due to inclusion or exclusion in digital resources. In the United States, for example, one quarter of the population is still offline. As the digital age advances, public policy officials must determine where the gaps are, and how to maneuver closure of these gaps. Divided into sections ranging from defining the issues, geographic and multilevel trends, stakeholder perspectives, best practices, and future developments, this book explores how governments can bridge the digtial divide The rapid development of the information society has accentuated the importance of digital divides, which refer to economic and social inequalities among populations due to differences in access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies (ICT). This book discusses the current state of digital divides, ranging from global challenges in universal access to new opportunities for greater digital inclusiveness (e-inclusion). The first part of the book illustrates current challenges and provides examples from emerging markets and developed countries alike. It covers digital divides facing a developing country like Ghana and the range of divides in large places like Australia, China, and Russia. It also discusses digital skill divides in Europe and the digital gender divide, which shows that there are more men online than women. The second part of the book focuses on e-inclusion and describes recent efforts to bridge digital divides through a number of initiatives. It explores the inclusion programs in Singapore, the efforts in India to leverage mobile devices, and how a UK nongovernmental organization attempts to bridge existing gaps there. It also assesses programs in several countries that provide computers to youth. The book concludes with a view toward the future, including challenges in determining outcomes in ICT for development (ICT4D) and anticipated new divides. It introduces the cyber dependency matrix to illustrate where countries are in their journey toward an information society and what happens as they reach higher levels. Emerging concerns include a global information divide, courtesy of cyber security and data policies publisher's website Front Cover 1 Contents 9 Foreword 11 Acknowledgments 13 Contributors 15 Introduction 23 Chapter 1: The Digital Divide and the Global Post-2015 Development Debate 33 Chapter 2: The Digital Broadband and Gender Divides 57 Chapter 3: Challenging the Digital Divide in a Developing Country: Ghana Case Study 77 Chapter 4: China’s Digital Divides and Their Countermeasures 95 Chapter 5: Spatial and Social Aspects of the Digital Divide in Russia 109 Chapter 6: Broadband Policy and Rural and Cultural Divides in Australia 137 Chapter 7: Digital Skills in Europe: Research and Policy 155 Chapter 8: Digital Inclusion: The Singapore Perspective 179 Chapter 9: Leveraging Mobile Revolution for Turning Digital Divide into Digital Dividend: Examples from India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka 193 Chapter 10: e-­Inclusion in Education: Lessons from Five Countries 211 Chapter 11: e-­Education at the Local Level: Challenges and Pitfalls of Public Policies in Rio de Janeiro 233 Chapter 12: Local + Digital + Scale: A Mass Movement for Digital Inclusion 247 Chapter 13: Beyond Failure: Rethinking Research and Evaluation in ICT4D 277 Chapter 14: In Conclusion: Tackling Future Digital Divides 295 Back Cover 311