For foreign spouses faced with cultural differences, low autonomy, and low local language proficiency, the internet provides them with means to breaking insulation. Via the internet, foreign spouses can obtain help and increase autonomy. This research aims to discuss 4 perspectives: (1) foreign spouses¡¦ Chinese proficiency, (2) digital divide, (3) digital inequality, and (4) the processes of their digital empowerment. The research points out that many foreign spouses cannot write Chinese characters well. Neither can they understand Chinese phonetic symbols. Therefore, foreign spouses have difficulty keying in long Chinese paragraphs; they mostly read Chinese articles on the Internet. Besides, foreign spouses sacrifice their time, place, and functions of internet use because they put priority on becoming a ¡§good wife, good mother, and good daughter-in-law.¡¨ Due to that awareness, they sacrifice digital access for their family. Most important of all, the digital divide and inequality leads to digital downward spiral. Because they lack computer and internet equipment, they cannot develop the skills needed to use computer. Because digital inequality, their skills deteriorated so that they think they have no need to buy related equipment. Foreign spouses, however, know that if they can use computer and the internet, their autonomy can be increased so that they do not have to count on their husbands for everything. Besides, the importance of the internet for the foreign spouses also influences the decision whether they buy and use the internet. If they think the internet cannot benefit them in their daily life, they would not purchase the Internet.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities outlines the right of persons with disabilities to equal access to information. This paper builds on previous research on the international and national level and examines whether persons with disabilities have equal access to information online on the municipal level of government in Sweden. Also assessing the perception of municipality official’s view on the concept of accessibility, this thesis uses both qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings indicate that clear differences are present among municipalities and that article nine of the CRPD is not fully implemented on the municipal level in this aspect, but that no clear relationship between party control and web accessibility can be found. This paper concludes that further efforts needs to be put towards education and information towards the issue of online accessibility.

Digital inequality, or the disparity in the access and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), is one of the most critical issues in the knowledge economy. This inequality prevents under-privileged people from exploring digital opportunities to enhance their life quality. Governments, business, and the public have devoted tremendous resources to address this issue, but the results are inconclusive. Theoretical understanding, complemented with theory-based empirical assessment of the phenomenon, is essential to inform effective policy-making and interventions. This dissertation explored the key factors that lead to the inequality in the access and use of ICT, particularly the high-speed Internet, between the privileged and under-privileged. I applied a belief-based perspective to understand how distinctive beliefs concerning ICT acceptance differentially influence under-privileged and privileged people¡¦s innovation decision and behavior at different stages of the implementation process. A theoretical model that drew upon the Theory of Planned Behavior, Motivation Theory, Social Learning Theory, Diffusion of Innovation, and Trust was developed to explain how cognitive, social, behavioral, and institutional factors inform digital inequality as a whole. The conceptual model and forwarded hypotheses in the dissertation were empirically tested using data collected from a large-scale field survey. The survey investigated the adoption and usage behavior of residents in the city of LaGrange, Georgia where the city government, aiming to address digital inequality, provided high-speed Internet connection and devices to residents at no cost. A complementary case study was subsequently conducted to examine a multi-stage process model in which various barriers and facilitators may prevent or promote the progress of individuals¡¦ ICT innovation. The results of this research reveal valuable insights into the differential patterns of ICT access and usage, and the key factors that cause them, for under-privileged and privileged people. The findings, in turn, suggest a segmentation and stepwise technology implementation strategy for people with different backgrounds and at different stages of their innovation processes. This dissertation makes several notable contributions for both researchers and practitioners. First, the dissertation contributes a holistic and theoretically grounded perspective that extends beyond the technology-centered view in most digital inequality studies. It also highlights the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon. As such, this research meets the challenge set forward by notable researchers to develop theoretical models capable of revealing the complexity embedded in this issue. Second, the dissertation presents a unifying theory reflected upon adoption and diffusion of innovation. Testing theories in the context of digital inequality extends and complements our existing knowledge about these related fields. Most importantly, the empirical findings derived from the rich data set identity powerful leverage points for stimulating the adoption and use of ICT among the under-privileged. With such insights, practitioners, particularly policy-makers and service providers, can formulate effective interventions to address the problem of digital inequality.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / The purpose of this study is to investigate the new media ecologies of urban, low-income youth and youth of color, and how they develop literacies and competencies around technology in the particular spaces of Community Technology Centers (CTCs), while placing them within their broader technological experiences and raced, classed, and gendered identities. This study builds on the concept of youth as experiencing a "new media ecology" in which youth engagement with technology is understood as a phenomenon which connects all spheres of experience. Through this work, I refine the understanding of how marginalized young people engage with technology in order to expand our understanding of digital inequality and its effects, as well as how digital inequality and inclusion interact with young people's identities and social worlds more broadly. Young people, marginalized by their raced, classes, and gendered identities, are both accused of being wasteful in their technology engagement, and are welcomed into these non-traditional learning spaces in order to cultivate their uses of technology into more meaningful and productive outcomes. There is a growing proliferation of informal and creative digital learning programs, and corresponding research and interrogation of the activities within these spaces. However, we lack a full and holistic understanding of who these young people are as technological citizens and consumers, an understanding that is necessary to inform effective interventions around digital inequality. Through qualitative research within two Boston-area Community Technology Centers, including participant observation and interviews, this study presents an analysis of how young people as agentic individuals interact with the contexts they enter into to produce new forms of agency and disempowerment. Rather than focusing on one area of the digital learning environment or youth technological experience, as other researchers have done, I delineate a more complete and dialogic view of less-advantaged young people and their technological engagement. My findings build on the need for supportive informal technology learning environments for marginalized youth, both in terms of providing stable environments with rich resources for technological exploration and skill-building, as well as providing learning environments which valorize and encourage youth agency and identity work. It is also necessary to recognize and allow for differences among youth in these spaces, who vary not only in terms of race, class, and gender, but also skills, abilities, interests, and motivations. I also call attention to the ways in which structural inequalities enter into these informal learning environments, resulting in their reproduction. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

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The rapid inclusion of new technologies into educational curriculum has left some educators feeling ill prepared and anxious towards changes in teaching styles and curriculum necessary to put these innovations to use in their classrooms. It is imperative that we address this reluctance in order to provide inclusion of both faculty and students in the information revolution that began with the Internet and that continues to sweep the globe. Existing research takes primarily an external perspective to lack of technology usage in education; few studies have considered the psychological barriers that may contribute to technological and digital inequality within a University community. Real progress can be made in motivating technology resistant faculty by teaching them to differentiate between the characteristics of experts and novices, by providing them with the tools necessary to improve their self-efficacy to utilize new teaching technologies, and by providing the infrastructural support necessary to succeed. / text

This paper aims to identify and bring light to librarians different educational practices in their work to fight digital inequality in society. The study uses methods such as observations and interviews to identify which practices the librarians most commonly use when providing digital aid and how these can be understood, how the librarians themselves reflect on these practices, and what differs in their reflections and their actions. After collecting our empirical data we conducted a qualitative content analysis using concepts from Säljös theory of sociocultural perspective on learning, where we identified concepts such as  awareness, tools, and communication as the most central aspects of these educational practices. By doing this we identified three different sub-practices which together make up what we define as an educational practice. These  were approaching practices, conveying practices and outreach practices. These practices were heavily influenced by the concepts of awareness and communication, and as such we could also see how the librarians showed a great deal of awareness concerning the different existing inequalities in society, and thus emphasised the democratic importance of their work. We also found that there were no greater differences in the way they reflected about their practices, and the way in which they actually conducted their work. However, we did find that the main differences instead were in regard to the amount of reflection that they did. Finally we could also see how the librarians mostly had to make do with what they had in terms of their own competencies due to this educational role being relatively new to the librarian. It is therefore our hope that this essay can help inspire future research and endeavours in this field to help develop these practices, and strengthen the role of librarians to better combat digital inequality.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-06-05T12:08:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Gabriel Borges dos Santos_.pdf: 1144849 bytes, checksum: 9ceadf5bee6e92001de8a63a3fe6a135 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-05T12:08:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gabriel Borges dos Santos_.pdf: 1144849 bytes, checksum: 9ceadf5bee6e92001de8a63a3fe6a135 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-04 / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / Este trabalho buscar identificar as novas perspectivas relacionadas à internet através da interação dos usuários com os dispositivos, assim como investigar a interação criada pelas TICs e o surgimento da nova sociedade da informação. Tenta-se identificar a construção dos primeiros passos da tecnologia até os dias atuais, passando da domesticação dos animais até a criação da internet e suas inferências no cotidiano dos indivíduos, bem como trazer para discussão a desigualdade digital no Brasil, e, através de uma pesquisa in loco, estudar as emergências relacionadas ao acesso à internet através de rede pública no município de Alvorada (RS). Para tanto, procura-se refletir sobre a “nova sociedade” baseada na internet e a percepção do indivíduo sobre o acesso, a rede e sua manutenção / This theses aims to identify new perspectives related to the internet through the interaction of users with devices, as well as to investigate the social interactions created by ICTs and the emergence of the new information society. It also aims to identify the first steps of technology to the present day, from the animals' domestication to the creation of the internet and its inferences in the individuals' daily life, as well as to discuss the digital inequality in Brazil. Through a research in loco, the work investigates the emergencies related to the access to the internet through Wireless public municipal broadband networks in the city of Alvorada (RS). In order to do so, we analyze the "new society" based on the Internet and the individual's perception about the access and maintenance of municipal broadband.

Questo lavoro è un tentativo di precisare dimensioni e condizioni del digital divide, a partire dalla scelta di una specifica accezione del termine, che lo inserisce nella più ampia e articolata problematica della disuguaglianza sociale. Le Information and Communication Technologies sollevano il problema del significato attuale della cittadinanza e dell’inclusione sociale, che nei contesti socialmente ed economicamente più arretrati si traducono in lotta alla povertà, chiamando in causa la complessa relazione tra tecnologia e sviluppo umano. L’accesso significativo alle tecnologie corrisponde all’applicazione di capacità intellettuale e comprende alcuni elementi di fondamentale importanza, come la gestione e rielaborazione dell’informazione, la crescita di competenze utili a sfruttare i vantaggi della tecnologia. La penetrazione delle tecnologie nella società contemporanea pone alcune sfide al rinnovamento della scuola e rende indispensabile valutare che tipo di competenze sono necessarie, come poterle sviluppare e quali metodologie adottare nella didattica, affinché le nuove generazioni crescano con la capacità di partecipare attivamente al cambiamento della società. A tale scopo, il presente contributo propone una ricerca sul campo che mette a confronto l’implementazione del progetto One Laptop Per Child in due realtà agli antipodi dell’indice di sviluppo umano – l’Italia e l’Etiopia – con un’attenzione specifica al potenziale sviluppo di “competenze digitali” e all’evoluzione della metodologia di insegnamento, elementi che in linea teorica corrispondono ai primi ingredienti di una incentivazione dell’inclusione sociale. La ricerca è di tipo qualitativo, utilizza gli strumenti del focus group, dell’intervista, del questionario e dell’osservazione partecipante, prendendo in esame 13 classi e 18 insegnanti/coordinatori per ciascun campo. I risultati più importanti mostrano che una azione efficace in termini di inclusione digitale è condizionata da una organizzazione educativa programmatica, promozione di iniziative con un valore locale, interventi di formazione e di capacity building che non sconvolgano sistemi socio-culturali consolidati, ma che incidano sulla motivazione dei destinatari valorizzando il capitale umano e sociale. È questo che intendiamo con innovazione della scuola. / The term digital divide echoes a kind of technological determinism. It has often suggested that inequalities depend on physical access to Information and Communication Technologies and that simply achieving such access would solve problems of social exclusion. In this work the original literal sense of “access” will be replaced by a set of more concrete operational definitions. It extends the model of a gap between haves and have-nots to a concept of a broader digital inequality, depending on the so-called “digital skills”. It calls attention to information as a primary good in the contemporary society, to be considered as the main goal to achieve through a meaningful use of ICT. The emphasis is therefore placed on education, where the digital literacy can provide the ability to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information. Social opportunities of digital technology are underlined both in developed and developing countries. We argue in fact that, whenever integrated in school subjects, ICT might become a great opportunity to innovate learning and teaching, to accomplish a renovated citizenship in the Nord of the world and help to achieve better standards of development in the South. A comparative analysis of two opposite contexts investigate understandings of the digital inclusion by exploring best practices for sustainable projects. The field research focuses on the One Laptop Per Child worldwide project, comparing the use of the same technological tool in primary schools of Italy and Ethiopia. The data presented are based on observations, focus group and interviews with a sample of 13 classes and 18 teachers/coordinators for each field, conducted during the school year 2008-2009. Results indicate that often children capabilities are complementary to teachers’ ones, that ICT provide the flexibility to meet diverse learners’ needs, that training is essential to motivate and empower teachers to use ICT and revise traditional didactics, that social capital has a central role in the school. The concept of capacity building emerges from these concepts and suggests pathways to improve skills access in the long run and adapt school curricula to collaborative environments. This is what the present study calls innovation.