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.

The social implications of digital transformation in Ghana and other parts of Africa have not drawn much research attention despite the potential risks of digital change. This study assessed the state of digital transformation, the nature of digital inequality and the effects of digitization on digital inequality in Ghana. The study was carried out using the sequential explanatory mixed methodology. The researcher surveyed three thousand, one hundred and sixty-two (3162) people randomly selected from nine (9) administrative districts in Ghana's Savannah and Greater Accra regions. In addition, the researcher conducted in-depth personal interviews with six (6) purposively sampled key informants. This study revealed that Ghana is at the beginning stages of being digitally transformed. Mobile phones are widely available throughout the country, but computers are not as common. The available technologies are unevenly distributed. Digital transformation in Ghana is beginning to manifest in the structure of the Ghanaian economy, society, and government. However, there are persistent gender and geographic disparities in digital access, digital skills, and usages. Gendered digital inequalities are steeper than geographic disparities, and women in the Savannah region suffer the most digital disadvantages due to the interaction between gender and geography. Also, as the Internet becomes more widely available in Ghana, digital access gaps are closing but the digital skills and usage gaps are emerging, consistent with the tenets Resources and Appropriation theory. This study concludes that Ghana’s digital rapid transformation could exacerbate exiting social divides, especially gender inequalities if it is not operationalised and implemented more tactfully.:DEDICATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABBREVIATIONS iii ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENT vi LIST OF TABLES xiv LIST OF FIGURES xvi CHAPTER ONE 1 GENNERAL INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Chapter Overview 1 1.2 Background to the study 1 1.2 Research Problem 4 1.3 Purpose of the study 6 1.4 Objectives of the Study 6 1.5 Research Questions 7 1.6 Significance of the study 7 1.7 Organization of the Study 8 CHAPTER TWO 9 DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS 9 2.1 Chapter overview 9 2.2 Digitization 9 2.3 Digitalization 11 2.4 Digital Transformation 13 2.5 The Digital Divide 16 2.6 Evolution of the Digital Divide 19 2.7 From Digital Divide to Digital Inequality 22 2.8 Chapter Summary 24 CHAPTER THREE 25 DIGITAL INEQUALITY 25 3.1 Chapter overview 25 3.2 Digital Inequality 25 3.3 Forms of Digital Inequality 28 3.3.1 Inequality in technical means (access) 28 3.3.2 Inequality in Autonomy (control) 28 3.3.3 Inequality in Skills (Usage) 29 3.3.4 Inequality in Social support (Network) 30 3.3.5 Inequality in purpose of use (outcome) 30 3.4 Determinants of Digital Inequalities 31 3.4.1 Demographic determinants 32 3.4.2 Economic Determinants 34 3.4.3 Social Determinants 35 3.4.4 Cultural Determinants 36 3.4.5 Personal Determinants 37 3.4.6 Material Determinants 38 3.4.7 Motivational Determinants 38 3.4.8 Urban-rural dimension 39 3.5 Chapter Summary 40 CHAPTER FOUR 41 THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE STUDY 41 4.1 Chapter overview 41 4.2 The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) 41 4.2.1 Evolution and Development of SCOT 41 4.2.2 Elements of SCOT 43 4.2.2.2 Interpretative flexibility 44 4.2.2.3 Stabilization and Closure 45 4.2.2.4 Technological Frame 46 4.2.2.5 Wider social context 47 4.2.3 Dichotomy between technology constructionism and determinism 48 4.2.4 Limitations of SCOT 49 4.2.5 SCOT Research 50 4.3 Resources and Appropriation Theory 52 4.3.1 Origins and development of Resources and Appropriation theory (RAT) 52 4.3.2 Central arguments and concepts of RAT 53 4.3.3 Technology Appropriation 55 4.3.4 Research on Technology Appropriation 59 4.3.5 Limitations of Resources and Appropriation theory 60 4.4 RAT and SCOT 61 4.5 Hypotheses Development 62 4.6 Chapter Summary 63 CHAPTER FIVE 64 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND DIGITAL INEQUALITY IN AFRICA 64 5.1 Introduction 64 5.2 Digital Evolution in Sub-Saharan Africa 64 5.3 Africa’s Digital Agenda 66 5.4 Digital Transformation of Africa 71 5.5 The State of digital inequalities in Africa 75 5.6 Causes and Drivers of Digital Inequality in Africa 79 5.6.1 High incidence of poverty 79 5.6.2 Legacy inequalities 80 5.6.3 The dearth of basic ICT Infrastructure like electricity 81 5.6.4 Misguided ICT policies and weak regulation 83 5.6.5 Adverse digital incorporation 85 5.6.6 Covid-19 pandemic factor 87 5.6.7 Urbanism 88 5.7 Chapter Summary 89 CHAPTER SIX 90 COUNTRY CONTEXT: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN GHANA 90 6.1 Chapter Overview 90 6.2 Why Ghana: Justifying the focus on Ghana 90 6.3 About Ghana: A Brief Country Profile 93 6.4 Ghana’s Digital Profile 95 6.5 Digital Transformation in Ghana 98 6.5.1 Digital transformation of businesses in Ghana 101 6.5.2 Digital transformation of society in Ghana 104 6.5.3 Digital Transformation of Government 107 6.6 Challenges and barriers to digital transformation in Ghana 110 6.7 Chapter Conclusion 115 CHAPTER SEVEN 117 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 117 7.1 Introduction 117 7.2 Research Approach 117 7.3 Research Design 119 7.4 Measures 121 7.4.1 Construction of Indices 121 6.4.2 Major independent variables 124 7.5 Study Area 125 7.5.1 Study Area: Greater Accra Region 125 6.5.2 Study Area: Savanna Region 126 6.6 Study Population 128 6.7 Sampling Methods 129 6.7.1 Quantitative phase 129 7.7.2 Qualitative Phase 131 7.8 Data collection 132 7.8.1 Quantitative Phase: Questionnaire construction structure and content 133 7.8.2 Validity and Reliability 134 7.8.3 Questionnaire administration 135 7.8.4 Semi-structured in-depth interviews 136 7.9 Data Analysis 137 7.10 Research Ethics 138 7.11 Data Collection Challenges 140 7.12 Chapter Summary 141 CHAPTER EIGHT 142 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS 142 8.1 Chapter Overview 142 8.2 Geographical Distribution 142 8.3 Sex Distribution of Respondents 144 8.4 Age Distribution 144 8.5 Educational Status of Respondents 146 8.6 Employment Status of Respondents 146 8.7 Ethnicity 148 8.8 Chapter Summary 149 CHAPTER NINE 150 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: STATE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN GHANA 150 9.1 Chapter Overview 150 9.2 Digital Infrastructure 151 9.3 Digital Economy 153 9.4 Digital Government 155 9.5 Digital Society 157 9.6 Discussion of Findings 164 CHAPTER TEN 171 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: STATE OF DIGITAL INEQUALITY IN GHANA 171 10.1 Chapter Overview 171 10.2 Digital Access Divide (First level digital divide) 171 10.3 Digital Skills Divide (Second level digital divide) 182 10.4 Third-Level Digital Divide: Disparities in ICT usage 189 10.4.1 Frequency of internet use in the Greater Accra and Savannah Regions 190 10.4.2 Disparities in ICT Use in the Greater Accra and the Savannah Region 191 10.4.3 Frequency of internet use among females and males 194 10.4.4 Gender-based disparities in internet use 195 10.5 The Interaction of Gender, Geography and Digital inequality 198 10.6 Discussion of Findings 202 10.7 Chapter Summary 211 CHAPTER ELEVEN 212 FINDINGS & ANALYSIS: EFFECTS OF DIGITIZATION ON DIGITAL INEQUALITY IN GHANA 212 11.1 Chapter Overview 212 11.2 Effects of Internet availability on the digital access divide 212 11.3 Effects of Internet Availability on the Digital Skills divide 218 11.4 Effects of Internet availability on the digital usage 223 11.5 Chapter Summary 230 CHAPTER TWELVE 231 FINDINGS & ANALYSIS: IMPEDIMENTS TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 231 12.1 Chapter Overview 231 12.2 Infrastructural Challenges 232 12.3 Operationalization and implementation of digitalization policies 234 12.4 High Cost of ICTs 237 12.5 Socio-cultural challenges 240 12.6 Digital Inequality 243 12.7 Cyber-security and privacy concerns 245 12.8 Low awareness and low patronage of government applications 248 12.9 Non-inclusion of vulnerable persons and groups 250 12.11 Chapter Summary 253 CHAPTER THIRTEEN 254 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 254 13.1 Chapter overview 254 13.2 Summary of the study 254 13.3 Conclusion 258 13.4 Recommendations: Towards a digital transformation strategy for Ghana 261 APPENDIXES 292

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.