Redefining the digital divide: attitudes do matter!
(2007) Redefining the digital divide: attitudes do matter!. In Grove, Andrew, Eds. Proceedings 70th American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, Joining Research and Practice: Social Computing and Information Science 44, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
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Abstract
For the majority of current day internet researchers they key issue is not "who" is connected to the internet but "what" are people doing when they are connected. In particular there is a growing interest in social computing, and especially technology such as blogs, wikis, myspace, and the like. But have we abandoned the issue of "who" for "what" too soon? This paper will present a research project that explores the psychological barriers that prevent people within community from integrating information and communication technology into their lives. The research will use the Social Cognitive Theory by Bandura to examine the psychology of the digital divide. Participants in the study are members of the San Jose community. Self administered surveys are used for data collection. The research influences our understanding of the digital divide by providing evidence that the characteristics or make up of the digital divide is more complex than the current understanding of the phenomenon. Existing digital divide studies have taken primarily a socio-economic perspective, and portray the digital divide as a relatively simple premise: the digital divide is a dichotomous concept - you either have access to ICT or you don’t. And this access is determined by factors such as income, employment and education. This research illustrates that psychology does matter; and that the digital divide involves both more members of the population and different members of the population then current research has shown to date. As such the current research has brought to light elements of the digital divide which have not being considered in contemporary discourse about the phenomenon.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Keywords: | digital divide; information society; haves; havenots; internet; USA; self efficacy; pyschology; digital inequality |
| Subjects: | 370000 Studies in Human Society > 370100 Sociology > 370107 Social Change 280000 Information, Computing and Communication Sciences > 280100 Information Systems > 280199 Information Systems not elsewhere classified 380000 Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences > 380100 Psychology > 380105 Social and Community Psychology |
| ID Code: | 11231 |
| Deposited By: | Partridge, Helen |
| Deposited On: | 17 December 2007 |
| Alternative Locations: | http://www.asis.org/ |
| Copyright Owner: | Copyright 2007 (please consult author) |