Marco AlbertiniMay 3
Investing in digitalization of public services (e.g. #NextGenEu) is important, but there is evidence that digital inequalities change rather than disappear #digitaldivide #digitalinequalities #e-governement direct.mit.edu/euso/article...

Digital citizens or digital ou...
Digital citizens or digital outcasts? On the evolving relation between social stratification and utilization of e-administration

Abstract. This study examines how digital inequalities evolve over time by analysing the diffusion of e-administration services in Spain between 2017 and 2023. Bridging technological innovation diffusion frameworks and social stratification approaches, we conceptualise the digital divide as a dynamic process in which the social bases of exclusion shift rather than simply diminish. Using nationally representative data from the ICT Household Survey, we apply pooled Heckman selection models with year interactions, Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, and distributional inequality measures to trace changes in digital engagement across education, income, and activity status. Rather than a monotonic decline, results reveal a cycle: inequality in predicted e-administration engagement widened during the pre-COVID period before compressing sharply from 2021 onward, in correspondence with pandemic-driven forced digitalisation and concurrent public investment in digital infrastructure. This convergence is driven by structural effects rather than compositional change and is particularly pronounced in the collapse of educational and income gradients. Overall, our findings suggest that investment in digital public infrastructure can reduce socially stratified patterns of e-administration usage. Yet equalisation remains incomplete: rather than eliminating digital inequalities, diffusion appears to reconfigure them, shifting the axis of exclusion from between-group categorical divides to within-group heterogeneity concentrated at the very bottom of the distribution.

MIT Press
Show threadMarie VC, PhDFeb 9, 2023
@garyhall #Mastodon works with ‘visible’ (expressive) traces, especially boosts. This is one use of social network sites, but not the only one. And who benefits from it? Who is there? Who is not? Who is visible? Who is not? #DigitalInequalities (7/7)
Show threadMarie VC, PhDFeb 9, 2023
@garyhall « Supporting Lareau, Clark argues that inequalities are exacerbated through digital practices, as social and educational systems are largely set up to recognize the value of the “expressive empowerment” that better-off families work toward, rather than lower-income families’ pursuit of “respectful connectedness.” » (Livingstone and Blum-Ross, 2020: 75) #DigitalInequalities (6/7)
Dr Becky FaithNov 13, 2022
Researcher at IDS, Digit Centre and Countering Backlash, University of Sussex UK, focussing on #digitalinequalities and #gender and tech. mum to a teenager. #allotments #nodig #noodlymusic #disco #drumandbass https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tVGim3UAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1
Becky Faith

Institute of Development Studies - Cited by 432 - Mobile communications - ICT4D - gender

phatcontrollerOct 28, 2022
So an #introduction seems like a good idea.
I Iive in Cornwall UK. I research #digitalrights #digitalcitizenship #digitalinequalities #disinformation #surveillancecapitalism at the Institute for Development Studies on the campus of University of Sussex in the UK where I convene the Africa Digital Rights Network. Previously Founding Director BOND, co-Founder Coda International. Founder Computer Aid International. #intro #introductions #technology #geek #politics #catvideos #birdpics #arsenal