What are the Consequences of Being Disconnected in a Broadband-Connected World

Bibliographic Data

ID9685104
AuthorsJohn B Horrigan (National Australia Bank, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume140
Issue4
Pages17-31
Publication date2011-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDaedalus (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-5266 • E-ISSN: 1548-6192
PublisherMIT Press - Journals (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1162/daed_a_00112
OpenAlexW1990072574
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited4

The evolution of the Internet in the past decade — from a slow, stationary, and primarily communications-based technology to a mobile, fast technology that supports a range of communication, participatory, and transactional applications — has made access more valuable, and disconnection more consequential, for individuals. This evolution means that stakeholders should embrace a different framing of the digital divide, focusing on the costs of digital exclusion. These costs can fall on an individual, if the Internet is the only way to carry out some tasks, and on society, if expensive and less-efficient legacy systems must be maintained to serve a shrinking minority without access. Whereas the digital divide debate concerns technology scarcity for certain population segments, addressing the costs of digital exclusion is about developing people's capacity to manage today's abundance of digital resources. This essay offers suggestions on a framework to develop tools that will enable individuals to take advantage of the affordances of broadband

Affordance · Broadband · Business · Citizen journalism · Digital divide · Disconnection · Economics · Internet access · Internet privacy · Political science · Population · Scarcity · Sociology · Telecommunications · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · ICT Impact and Policies · Media and Digital Communication · Social Media and Politics

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access