Digital Inequality Research Articles

The Digital Divide, Wealth, and Inequality: An Examination of Socio-Economic Determinants of Collaborative Environmental Governance in Thailand through Provincial-Level Panel Data Analysis

Collaborative environmental governance (CEG) is a tripartite process that engages the government, private sector, and general public in decision-making related to environmental challenges, focusing on fostering more sustainable and efficient solutions. Understanding the specific factors influencing the degree of CEG presents a significant challenge, particularly in developing countries. This study aims to identify and assess the socio-economic determinants affecting the degree of CEG in Thailand, a representative developing country. Utilizing robust panel data models, which are well-suited to handle the complex variability of socio-economic factors, we analyzed provincial-level data from 2017 and 2019. Our findings revealed the associations between the degree of CEG and variables such as the internet access divide, economic activities, income inequality, and budget allocations for environmental activities. This research fills critical gaps in our understanding of how these determinants shape collaborative governance efforts, offering novel insights that challenge existing paradigms and providing actionable recommendations for policymakers striving to enhance environmental governance in developing regions.

Emerging digital inequality in early life: Parenting and differential usage of digital devices among urban preschoolers in China

AbstractObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the following questions: (1) how Chinese preschoolers’ usage of digital devices differ by their family socioeconomic status (SES), and (2) how socioeconomic differences in children's usage of digital devices can be accounted for by parents’ digital parenting attitudes and behaviors.BackgroundScholars in social stratification and inequality have warned about “Digital Inequality” and argued that the fact that people from different socioeconomic backgrounds differ in their access to digital equipment and their knowledge of how to use digital devices effectively would eventually contribute to social inequality. Unfortunately, most of the current studies on digital inequality focus on the population of adults or adolescents; whether and how digital inequality emerges in early life remains heavily understudied.MethodsWe use data from Early Childhood Study‐The Great Bay Area (ECS‐GB), a regional representative survey conducted in 2018 and designed to assess preschool children's social‐emotional and cognitive development in Guangdong, a coastal province in South China. Our analytical sample consists of 11,445 preschool children aged from 3 to 6 with urban hukou.ResultsOur results show that compared with children from lower‐SES families, preschoolers from higher‐SES families spend less time on digital devices daily, are less likely to use digital devices for prolonged time, and spend significantly less time on non‐education purposed and leisure activities. These socioeconomic differences in children's digital usage in terms of time and types of activities are attributable to the fact that parents of higher SES families impose more restrictions, provide more guidance to their children's digital activities, and are more conscious about their children's digital usage in daily life.ConclusionIn contemporary China, digital inequality emerges in early life and such inequality is closely related to family's digital parenting practices.

Digital inequalities and their impact on distance education: The case of Ibn Zohr university students – Morocco

The period of quarantine, which was due to the global health crisis caused by the Covid 19 virus, constituted a laboratory to form, strengthen, and deepen the degree of digital inequality. This situation dictated the need to move from adopting the face-to-face education pattern to ‘‘digital education’’. For this purpose, we proceeded by asking the following question: Do digital inequalities affect the degree of benefit from distance education? In this context, we assume that the level of digital inequalities affects the benefits of digital education that will be obtained by university students. We start from a sample of Ibn Zohr university students (59). In short, the research findings allow us to conclude that the degree of benefit from distance education (distance lectures) is affected positively by four main variables. The results indicate that the place of residence of students is affected by the degree of Internet access, and subsequently the degree of access to distance education. Furthermore, the availability of scholarship has an impact on the degree of access to distance education. Also, The Internet weakness often causes technical problems, which affects the degree of benefit from distance education.

Who says what? Social networks and digital inequalities in online political expression and content creation

Political expression has flourished online, especially on social media platforms, but there are also participation gaps associated with long-standing social and digital inequalities including socio-demographics, political capital, and internet practices. In this study, we examine how network characteristics such as size and diversity contribute to gaps in online political expression and content creation, as well as whether they mediate the stratificational effects of antecedent factors. We test these possibilities using data from a two-wave panel survey of adult internet users in the United States collected just before and after the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. Our findings show relatively wide participation gaps associated with network diversity, which also mediates the influence of political interest and digital news use. We argue that more attention should be paid to network inequalities in online participation, particularly whether they arise from fundamentally unfair social conditions.

Modern development of the digital economy, opportunities and threats: An analysis of China's experience

Subject. This article explores the role of digital technologies in ensuring economic growth and improving the quality of life. Objectives. The article aims to assess China's achievements and prospects in the development of the digital economy, and analyze and discuss cybersecurity issues. Methods. For the study, I used the general scientific research methods. Results. The article finds that China's success in the field of digitalization can be explained by a systematic approach to the development of information technologies, and the development of strategies for creating a new economy. Artificial intelligence has a positive and significant impact on economic growth. Conclusions. The development of the modern economy requires solving the problems of digital inequality and information protection.

Концепция развития местного самоуправления в условиях цифровой трансформации управления

State processes are currently regulated by conceptual strategizing, which means they rely on concepts of systematic, integrated, and consistent development in social and state spheres, e.g., municipal public administration. This research used theoretical generalizations, as well as constitutional and legal practice, to rationalize the need for a developmental concept of local government in the context of digital transformation. Acts of state strategic planning were classified according to subject and concept. Digitalization of management and local governance was described from the perspective of hierarchical subordination and strategic planning acts. The list of prospective goals and directions in the digital development of local government included: digitalizing the domestic agro-industrial complex; leveling the existing digital inequality; improving the financing of small and medium municipalities using digital systems and innovative technologies. The authors reviewed best foreign practices and modern approaches to standardization in the sphere of sustainable development concepts, which direct the regulation of local government development in the digital environment. They revealed some problematic issues of modern digital transformation of municipal government and prospective trajectories for local digital platforms.

Digital Inequalities and Student Engagement in Higher Education

During the COVID-19 pandemic, education systems worldwide were forced to shut down and transition to online learning. While distance learning and digital technology offer a practical solution to mitigate the negative effects of university closure, there is also a risk of exacerbating the pre-existing digital disparities by reducing opportunities for those from less privileged backgrounds. China, as one of the first education systems to experience system-wide closure during the COVID-19 crisis, adopted emergency online learning, following a policy entitled Suspending Classes Without Stopping Learning. In the past three years, we have witnessed a growing number of studies on students’ online learning experiences. However, most of these studies have focused on a behavioural perspective which centres on student behaviour and effective institutional practices, thereby neglecting the exploration of broader sociocultural contexts that may influence student experiences. Moreover, the majority of empirical studies have laid particular emphasis on quantitative measures of student engagement through large-scale surveys, while very limited studies have explored in-depth factors that influence student engagement. This short paper offers a brief overview of an ongoing research project that focuses on exploring the day-to-day digital practice of students in two different types of universities in China. Adopting a digital ethnographic approach including visual methods, online observations, semi-structured interviews and comparative ethnographic analysis, this study aims to provide a detailed qualitative understanding of student experiences working with digital technologies in both research-oriented universities and teaching-oriented universities. Throughout the theoretical discussion of different approaches to digital inequalities, this paper hopes to stimulate thinking about the forms of the digital divide that might exist in higher education and ultimately contribute to both academic and policy debates on the subject. By exploring the different meanings of student engagement, this paper exhibits some of the challenges and issues relating to conceptualising and measuring student engagement in the digital age. It is hoped that this paper will bring insights into reframing and conceptualising student engagement from a socio-material perspective that moves away from the dominance of behavioural and quantitative studies. The finding of this study will contribute to providing a nuanced understanding of the relationship between initial socioeconomic inequalities, differences in student engagement and resulting inequalities in post-higher education, which will potentially inform future educational practitioners and scholars alike in developing effective strategies to enhance student learning experiences in the digital sphere.

Differences in access to privacy information can partly explain digital inequalities in privacy literacy and self-efficacy

ABSTRACT Users of digital technologies are still held legally responsible for managing their personal data. However, not all users have the same opportunities for privacy management as researchers find systematic sociodemographic differences in, for example, users’ privacy literacy and self-efficacy – two important predictors of privacy management. The present study argues that one reason for such digital inequalities is how easily people have access to privacy information in their everyday lives (e.g. through their profession or social contacts). Analysing data of a representative sample of German internet users (N = 3978) by means of a Bayesian structural equation model, we find that men and more educated persons report easier access to privacy information which, in turn, positively relates to both privacy literacy and self-efficacy. Older persons feel less confident about privacy protection while men and more highly educated persons have higher privacy literacy levels. In conclusion, the present study reveals that casual access to privacy information can be important in learning and being confident about privacy management, but it cannot fully explain digital inequalities in online privacy self-efficacy and literacy.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND MODERN TECHNOLOGIES: ETHICAL ASPECTS

This article examines the key ethical aspects related to the development and application of modern technologies in the context of human rights. The author explores how digitalization, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other innovations affect basic human rights and freedoms, such as the right to privacy, freedom of speech, access to information and equality. Particular attention is paid to the problems of data privacy, digital inequality and issues of responsibility for decision-making based on algorithms. The article analyzes the legislative and regulatory framework aimed at protecting human rights in conditions of rapid technological progress. The article also examines examples from various countries and industries, demonstrating both the positive and negative effects of the introduction of new technologies. The author concludes that in order to ensure respect for human rights, it is necessary to develop an integrated approach, including interdisciplinary cooperation, strengthening public control and transparency of technological processes. They emphasize the importance of ethical education for technology developers and users, as well as the need for international cooperation in the field of regulation and standardization. The article is intended for researchers, lawyers, politicians and anyone interested in the impact of modern technologies on human rights and ethical issues related to their application.

21st-Century Digital Literacy: Using Information Technology to Empower People

Abstract: A vital skill set for people to survive and prosper in an increasingly digital environment, digital literacy has arisen in the quickly changing 21st century. This abstract examines the value of digital literacy by looking at information technology (IT) and how it has affected modern society. It explores the complexity of digital literacy, including not just the technical know-how to utilize digital tools and technology but also the social, ethical, and intellectual aspects that are essential for productive digital participation. The elements of digital literacy, such as media literacy, information literacy, communication skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities, are examined in this abstract, which draws on theoretical frameworks and actual studies. In addition to giving people access to a wealth of materials, communication channels, and chances for learning and cooperation, it also examines how information technology might be used as a facilitator to improve digital literacy. This abstract also discusses the difficulties and obstacles that hinder the adoption of digital literacy, including the digital gap, unequal access to technology, and concerns of digital inequality. It highlights how crucial it is for everyone to have equal access to digital resources and how important it is for governments, schools, and community groups to work together to promote digital inclusion and close the digital gap. Furthermore, the revolutionary power of digital literacy is highlighted in this abstract across a number of fields, such as political participation, job placement, schooling, and medical services. In order to promote lifelong learning and empowerment, it addresses cutting-edge strategies and best practices for incorporating digital literacy into seminars and workshops, community initiatives, and school curriculum. As a conclusion, this abstract emphasizes how critical digital literacy is in the twenty-first century and how it shapes people's ability to prosper in a society that is becoming more technologically advanced and linked. The statement highlights the need of coordinating endeavors to advance digital literacy programs and provide fair access to digital assets, ultimately enabling people to engage completely in the digital community.

Labouring and Smiling: Re-Imagining Digital Colonialism in Africa, Silicon Valley Big Techs, and the Politics of Prosumer Capitalism in Nigeria

Does Africa suffer from the paucity of epistemic inquiry on digital capitalism, mostly, spearheaded by social media platforms within the confines of the global digital economy? The growing corpus of literature points to digital colonialism and prosumer capitalism as critical components in understanding the global digital economy. Yet, postcolonial Africa lags in the negotiation of power within the political economy dynamics of digital capitalism. Thus, in an age of big data, platformisation and extraction of human life, is there a reincarnation and excavation of colonialism of old in the form of digital prosumer capitalism in the continent? Using Nigeria as a geo-economic prism, the paper reimagines digital colonialism from a critical perspective. It seeks to discharge the underlying appropriation of economic power through digital colonialism; and show how prosumer capitalism grounds its practices in Nigeria, thereby, recentring the debate on digital economic inequalities given the global digital capitalism paradigm.

Navigating the peer-to-peer workflow in non-formal education through an innovative e-learning platform: a case study of the KIDS4ALLL educational project in Hungary and Italy

The digital revolution is affecting all aspects of life, radically transforming everyday tasks and routines. The ability to cope with new challenges in life, including new forms of learning are key skills in the 21st-century, however, education systems often struggle with tackling digital inequalities. A digital learning platform developed by the KIDS4ALLL educational project, implemented in face-to-face student interactions, aims to mitigate the divide and the resulting social disadvantages among children with and without migration/ethnic minority background. Analyzing data collected during the pilot phase of the project in two of the participating countries, Italy and Hungary, this paper examines how students and teaching staff adapt to a newly introduced digital learning tool based on peer-to-peer workflows. Firstly, it examines the role of educators' interpersonal competences in navigating the innovative learning activities and delves into how they use them and how they manage resources. Secondly, the study explores what attitudes and behaviors are observed among students engaged in the proposed peer-led activities, in particular in terms of their ability to cope with uncertainty and complexity. The analytical framework of the paper is based on two cultural dimensions offered by Hofstede, the index of uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and power distance (PDI), and it utilizes the personal, social and learning-to-learn competence of the eight LLL Key Competences as defined by the European Commission to conceptualize the skills of educators and students. Interpreting data from Italy and Hungary in their respective social and educational contexts, the study finds that the most important features that proved to be effective and useful during the pilot phase were the democratic power-relations between students and educators, the peer-to-peer scheme and its further development to the peer-for-peer approach. The child-friendly and real-life-related new curriculum and its appealing digital learning platform, embedded into a flexible, playful and child-centered pedagogical approach, were also successful. These are all complementing the traditional, formal school environment and pedagogy which, despite all developments in formal education in the past decades, can be characterized as teacher-centered and frontal.

Addressing youths’ digital agency with internet technologies: discourses and practices that produce inequalities

ABSTRACT This study approached the issue of youths’ digital agency by analyzing the ways in which youths talk about their use of Internet technologies for recreational purposes outside of school. Using interview data from young people (n = 28) born in 2005 and 2006, this paper approaches youths’ speech as culturally embedded discourses that express their strategies for making their digital practices understandable and acceptable to adults. By doing so, the paper addresses the need for ongoing research that explores youths’ digital engagement with Internet technologies within a wider social context that positions them as ‘digital natives’. The study results were organized into 11 discourses under four themes: benefits, harms and risks, person-based networking, and Internet skills. The identified discourses reflect the ways in which young people articulate and negotiate their digital agency with social norms, assumptions and expectations of them as tech-savvy youths. By focusing on youths’ speech and discourses, this study advances current research on digital inequalities among young people. It also highlights the need for young people to be supported and empowered in developing skills that enable critical and safe engagements with Internet technologies.

Dunaway, Johanna & Searles, Kathleen (2023). News and Democratic Citizens in the Mobile Era. Oxford University Press

The work under analysis is doubly indispensable in view of its disruptive component, but also as a relevant update to the debate around the social and political impact of DMs in contemporary societies. We categorise it as disruptive in that it uses data analysis methods from psychology, such as measuring skin conductance when paying attention to the news, which are still a minority in the field of communication sciences, as well as sociology. We also categorise the work as a powerful contribution to updating the debate around new and emerging forms of digital inequality, with widespread implications in the socio-economic and political spheres, conditioning access to political participation.

Digital inequality in education: Features of manifestation and types of discrimination during COVID-19 pandemic

Digital inequality in education: Features of manifestation and types of discrimination during COVID-19 pandemic

DIGITAL SOCIAL CAPITAL IN RUSSIAN REGIONS: THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND PRACTICAL ISSUES

Digitalization is one of the strategic directions of the regional agenda in Russia, while the problem of digital inequality in various regions of the Russian Federation remains relevant, which affects the economic and social opportunities of the population of these regions. The relevance of the study is determined by the scientific and practical significance of studying the factors that determine the scale and pace of development of digital technologies for the expansion of various fields of activity in the regions of Russia and, in particular, shaping the social capital of the regions in the digital environment. The purpose of the article is to consider theoretical approaches to understanding digital capital, including the relationship between digital and human capital, as well as to analyze the practice of forming digital capital in the regions of Russia. The empirical basis of the study was made up of Rosstat data, presented using tables with subsequent description and analysis. The results show the absence of significant digital inequality in the regions, while for the period 2018-2022. There is a progressive increase in digitalization in all regions of the Russian Federation. The development of the digital capital of the region is determined not only by the formation of the digital environment, but also by the creation of conditions for increasing the digital capital of the population in terms of the relevant needs, skills and competence of the citizens living there. It should be noted, that special attention should be paid to elderly people and people with disabilities.

Users of information and communication technologies in the context of digital inequalities and divides

The author notes, referring to the opinion of a number of well-known researchers, a significant level of interpenetration of physical and digital reality, as well as the intensity of their interaction. New forms of digital inequality are emerging, which coexist alongside and are interconnected with its traditional manifestations. The concepts of digital divides of the first, second and third levels are not replaced by the concepts of digital inequality, but continue to be used along with them, maintaining their attractiveness. The author believes that one of the most heuristic methodologies for studying digital inequality and digital divides is proposed in the approach of P. Bourdieu, who studied inequality through the prism of forms of capital and the concept of habitus. The empirical basis is grounded on the study Me and My Big Data1, which takes a multidimensional approach to digital inequality in constructing ideal-typical models of digital users. This study reveals the digital divide both through the unequal level of knowledge and skills of UK users, and through the social benefits they receive in social interaction.

Coding and Capability-Building in Nonprofit Digital-Native News Organizations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Latin America (LATAM)

Digital journalism scholars highlighted a gap in scholarly knowledge concerning data journalism in the Global South, emphasizing the importance of data literacy in newsrooms. This article investigates the coding capabilities within digital-native nonprofit news organizations amidst global digital inequalities, focusing on the MENA (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates) and LATAM (Argentina, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, and the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico) regions. We conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with 15 organizations and analyzed emerging themes to understand coding capabilities in the context of sustaining available resources and mitigating existing constraints. This study concludes that the significance of adopting coding for nonprofit digital-native news organizations in MENA and LATAM is likely to increase, given the persistence of the existing political and economic conditions. Moreover, this study recognizes that certain news innovation trends related to coding, originally from the Global North, such as innovation labs, are gaining traction in the Global South. However, it also highlights variations among regions within the Global South regarding the adoption of coding in news organizations.

Socioeconomic differences in digital inequality among Chinese older adults: Results from a nationally representative sample.

The current study seeks to investigate digital inequality among older adults in China, specifically examining two socially defined age groups: young-old adults (aged 60-74) and old-old adults (aged 75+). Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were used to examine the prevalence of and identify the factors associated with Internet access, usage (frequency and breadth containing 11 activities), skills, and social support. The study used data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Ageing Social Survey (CLASS) which consisted of 11,419 respondents aged 60 years and older. We found that 40.22% of older adults had access to the Internet, and 18.27% used it regularly. Socioeconomic factors played a crucial role in determining Internet access and usage, with young-old adults with higher education using the Internet more frequently, deliberately, and competently. Those with higher economic status had greater social support to use it, and the old-old adults with higher socioeconomic status were more likely to have Internet access. This study has implications for prioritizing targeted policies and interventions aimed at supporting socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults and ensuring equal opportunities for all to access and benefit from the digital world.

АНАЛІЗ СТАНУ СВІТОВОГО РИНКУ ПРАЦІ В УМОВАХ ГЛОБАЛЬНОЇ ДІДЖИТАЛІЗАЦІЇ

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a continuous transformation of processes in the labor market. Digitalization of society affects the structure of the employment sector, when some professions become obsolete due to automation of work processes. At the same time, there is a demand for new competencies aimed at working in an online environment. The purpose of this article is to analyze current global economic and technological trends affecting the transformation of the labor market and the formation of new socio-economic relations in the context of the formation of the digital economy. The author draws attention to changes in the nature of work and forms of work activity, requirements for professional skills and abilities. It shows how changes related to the digitalization of the economy directly affect the issues of training and retraining of the most popular specialists. The article systematizes the main global trends in the labor market caused by the digitalization of the economy and the widespread introduction of Information Computer Technologies. In the course of the research, the author revealed that digitalization of the economy has the opposite impact on labor markets, leading to multidirectional processes in the medium term, which is expressed in the reduction of low-skilled jobs, an increase in the level of robotization of production, differentiation of forms of Organization of production, revision of types of economic relations. As a result of digital transformation in industry, it became possible to produce products with higher quality, and the human factor became less significant in many production and technology sectors. The negative consequences of digitalization include the disappearance of a large number of professions, the release of workers, and an increase in unemployment. The author concludes that digital inequality in regional labor markets, with its further development, may negatively affect ensuring the country's economic sovereignty. At the same time, the results of the study suggest that no automation can completely replace a person, so forecasting total unemployment due to the robotization of production is temporary.