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Digital Inequalities in the Global South

Massimo Ragnedda, Anna Gladkova (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2020), xvii, 372 pp.

"This book discusses how digital inequalities today may lead to other types of inequalities in the Global South. Contributions to this collection move past discussing an access problem - a binary division between 'haves and have-nots' - to analyse complex inequalities in the internet use, benefits, ... more

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The Last-mile Internet Connectivity Solutions Guide: Sustainable Connectivity Options for Unconnected Sites

John Garrity, Aminata Amadou Garba

Geneva: ITU (2020), xviii, 137 pp.

"There are several overarching reasons why billions of people remain offline, ranging from a lack of network infrastructure availability and affordable Internet services to gaps in skills and ability, the availability and cost of personal devices, and a perceived lack of relevancy. For example, over ... 750 million people (approximately 10 per cent of the global population) are not covered by mobile broadband (3G or higher).2 This lack of coverage is particularly concentrated in rural and remote areas. In addition to the coverage gap, usage gaps exist in places with broadband coverage. For example, while up to 31 per cent of individuals in Africa do not have mobile broadband coverage, around 45 per cent do not use mobile Internet even though they live in places with mobile coverage. Estimates also suggest that there are at least 88 countries worldwide where average prices for entry-level mobile broadband service are considered unaffordable (above 2 per cent of average monthly GNI per capita). The Last-Mile Connectivity Internet Solutions Guide was developed to support the design and development of programmes and interventions that address two of these main issues: the lack of Internet infrastructure availability in certain areas; high Internet service prices that make Internet connectivity unaffordable for local populations. The Solutions Guide presents a methodology for introducing sustainable, affordable connectivity solutions in unconnected and underserved geographies. Although the other challenges (e.g. digital literacy, personal devices and locally relevant content) are as important, they are not the focus here, as they are addressed in depth in other resources listed in the Annex 2. This Solutions Guide was developed to help accelerate actions by Member States to address last-mile Internet connectivity issues in situations that include a lack of network infrastructure and with a view to encouraging more affordable service delivery. It has been written from the perspective of localities and users in geographies without Internet access: the last-mile connectivity communities. The tools, service interventions and policy solutions therefore reflect how best to extend Internet access to those localities, taking into account their unique characteristics." (Executive summary) more

Google Scholar (75)

WorldCat (66)

The Digital Divide

Jan van Dijk

Cambridge: Polity Press (2020), vi, 184 pp.

"Contrary to optimistic visions of a free internet for all, the problem of the 'digital divide' - the disparity between those with access to internet technology and those without - has persisted for close to twenty-five years. In this textbook, Jan van Dijk considers the state of digital inequality ... more

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Affordability Report 2020

Washington, DC: Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) (2020), 51 pp.

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Internet y pandemia en las Américas: Primera crisis sanitaria en la era digital

Elaine Ford, Winfried Weck (eds.)

Ciudad de Panama: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS); Democracia Digital (2020), 286 pp.

"[...] se identificaron rápidamente las principales temáticas a incluir en el libro. Estas son: acceso a Internet y derechos humanos online, populismo y desinformación, privacidad, ciberseguridad, big data y datos abiertos, teleeducación, teletrabajo, cooperación digital y transformación digit ... more

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How Many Children and Young People Have Internet Access at Home? Estimating Digital Connectivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

New York: UNICEF (2020), 13 pp.

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Rural Broadband Policy Framework: Connecting the Unconnected. A Rural Broadband Policy Framework providing guidance to address the 'Digital Divide'

Washington, DC: Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI); World Wide Web Foundation; Association for Progressive Communications (APC); CIPESA (2020), 15 pp.

"The internet has revolutionised the way that many of us live our lives, enabling new forms of communication, fostering online communities, fuelling economic growth, and facilitating all manner of entertainment. Yet about half of the world’s population remains offline, and only about 19% of the Le ... more

External Link (81)

Limited Internet Access in Zimbabwe a Major Hurdle for Remote Learning During Pandemic

Simangele Moyo-Nyede, Stephen Ndoma

Afrobarometer (2020), 13 pp.

"The government of Zimbabwe is encouraging the use of digital platforms to provide remote learning services during the COVID-19 pandemic, but data showing that most households lack Internet access and reliable electricity suggest that many students will find it difficult or impossible to participate ... more

External Link (66)

Africa’s Digital Divide and the Promise of E-Learning
Deep Insights

Matthias Krönke

Afrobarometer (2020), 18 pp.

"On average across 34 countries, one in five adults (20%) have access to both a smartphone and a computer, while 43% only have access to a basic cell phone. In 15 out of 34 countries, at least half of adults have access to a smartphone or a computer or both. About three in 10 respondents (31%) use t ... more

External Link (71)

Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures 2019

Geneva: ITU (2019), ii, 11 pp.

"Welcome to the first of ITU’s Measuring Digital Development series of statistical and analytical publications that replace the annual Measuring the Information Society Report. Facts and figures 2019 offers a snapshot of the most important ICT indicators, including estimates for the current year. ... more

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Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies: A Rights, Openness, Access, and Multi-Stakeholder Perspective

Xianhong Hu, Bhanu Neupane, Lucia Flores Echaiz, Prateek Sibal, Macarena Rivera Lam

Paris: UNESCO (2019), 197 pp.

"This report recognizes artificial intelligence (AI) as an opportunity to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through its contribution to building inclusive knowledge societies. Based on UNESCO’s Internet Universality ROAM framework agreed by UNESCO’s Member States i ... more

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Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership
Deep Insights

Araba Sey, Nancy Hafkin (eds.)

United Nations University (UNU); Equals Global Partnership (2019), 338 pp.

"1. While gender gaps are observable in most aspects of ICT access, skills and leadership, the picture is complex. There are large regional variations: some countries are close to parity or have even reversed the gender gap on some indicators, while others still have persistent gaps. Individual coun ... tries can have both large and small gaps, depending on the indicator being measured. Interpreting the gaps requires careful and contextualised analysis. 2. Barriers to gender digital equality are generally related to one or more of the following: 1) availability of infrastructure; 2) financial constraints; 3) ICT ability and aptitude; 4) interest and perceived relevance of ICTs; 5) safety and security; and 6) socio-cultural and institutional contexts. Most of these barriers cut across issues of access, skills, and leadership, although they may manifest in slightly different ways. While research has documented these barriers, the evidence from different sources is sometimes contradictory, even within the same country contexts. 3. There is no one conclusive strategy for eliminating gender digital inequalities. Recommendations generally call either for targeting specific contributing factors of gender digital inequality (such as affordability or recruiting practices), or for reshaping deeply ingrained social norms and practices (such as gender stereotypes) that are at the root of gender inequalities. As with the evidence on barriers, research results are sometimes contradictory or nuanced. 4. The dominant approaches to gender equality in ICT access, skills, and leadership mostly frame issues in binary (male/female) terms, thereby masking the relevance of other pertinent identities. Insufficient research has been done on the implications of ICTs for intersectional identities. Data collection should move from binary sexdisaggregation towards finer degrees of status disaggregation in order to recognise multiple and interacting identities (such as sexuality, poverty, class, education, age, disability, and occupation). 5. To ensure privacy and safety as well as full participation in the digital economy, women should have equal opportunities to develop adequate basic and advanced digital skills. Cyberstalking, online harassment, image manipulation, privacy violations, geotracking, and surveillance can compromise women’s and girls’ safety both online and offline. In addition, some evidence suggests the digital transformation of labour may be widening gender wage gaps. These outcomes can be averted with the right types of training combined with social and institutional change. 6. Developments in digital technologies open new pathways to gender diversity and inclusion; however, lack of attention to gender dynamics and differences hampers the potential for true progress. For example, evidence suggests that most women’s work in the digital economy, particularly in the Global South, reinforces existing social divisions. Moreover, artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, designed largely by men, tend to ignore the negative gender implications of their designs. Research, government policy and design principles should include gender awareness and analysis, for example by building in data and privacy protections and avoiding gender stereotypes." (Key findings, page 19-20) more

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Media Use in the Middle East: A Seven-Nation Survey

Everette E. Dennis, Justin D. Martin, Fouad Hassan

Qatar: Northwestern University in Qatar (2019), 104 pp.

"This 2019 report pays special attention to social media and social media influencers even as it focuses heavily on news media. As always, we look at media use by platform and content while also honing in both generally and in detail on the use of the internet. As a member of the World Internet Proj ... more

External Link (91)

Google Scholar (79)

WorldCat (90)

Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa: A Mediated Analysis

Bruce Mutsvairo, Massimo Ragnedda (eds.)

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2019), 278 pp.

"This is a timely and much-needed collection that fills an important gap in the literature. It offers excellent conceptual tools and a selection of case studies that provide a useful map of the digital divide across the African continent and between Africa and the rest of the world. I especially app ... more

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Smartphone Ownership is Growing Rapidly Around the World, But Not Always Equally: In Emerging Economies, Technology Use Still Much More Common Among Young People and the Well-Educated

Kyle Taylor, Laura Silver

Pew Research Center (2019), 46 pp.

"Mobile technology has spread rapidly around the globe. Today, it is estimated that more than 5 billion people have mobile devices, and over half of these connections are smartphones. But the growth in mobile technology to date has not been equal, either across nations or within them. People in adva ... more

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After Access 2018: A Demand-Side View of Mobile Internet from 10 African Countries

Cape Town: Research ICT Africa; International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (2019), vii, 38 pp.

"Of all 10 African countries surveyed, only in South Africa is more than half the population online. The Internet penetration rate in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria and Senegal is above the 20% threshold – but even this requires further investigation in a developing country context, where the unaf ... more

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Media Influence Matrix: Romania. Technology, Public Sphere and Journalism

Dumitrita Holdis, Marius Dragomir

Budapest: CEU School of Public Policy, Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 23 pp.

"Convergence of services usually affects the quality and price of services offered by providers. However, this has not been the case in Romania yet. People benefit from a very competitive market and enjoy fairly cheap services, but the implications of convergence on the content made available to con ... more

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Bottom-up Connectivity Strategies: Community-Led Small-Scale Telecommunication Infrastructure Networks in the Global South

Nicola J. Bidwell, Michael Jensen

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) (2019), 206 pp.

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UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Internet Development
Key Guides

David Souter, Anri van der Spuy

Paris: UNESCO (2019), 198 pp.

"The four principles identified as key to Internet Universality are summarised as the R-O-A-M principles, and are fundamental to the development of the Internet in ways that are conducive to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals with no one left behind. These principles are: R – that the int ... more

External Link (74)

"Free Internet" and the Costs to Media Pluralism: The Hazards of Zero-Rating the News

Daniel O'Maley, Amba Kak

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2018), 20 pp.

"In many countries, mobile operators have teamed up with social media platforms to offer free access to specific websites or internet services—including news websites. The most well-known of these offerings, Facebook’s Free Basics, has been explicitly pitched as a way to give citizens in develop ... more

Africa’s Digital Divide and the Promise of E-Learning Deep Insights

Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership Deep Insights

UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Internet Development Key Guides

Africa’s Digital Divide and the Promise of E-Learning
Deep Insights

Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership
Deep Insights

UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Internet Development
Key Guides