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The Deepening Divide
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The Deepening Divide
Inequality in the Information Society



February 2005 | 248 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

During the mid 90's, around the time the Internet became popular, it became apparent that there was still one critical issue holding back limitless opportunities. Computer professionals had to find a way to close the gap between those who do not have computer or Internet access and those who do, also known as the digital divide. Suddenly, hundreds of conferences of computer professionals, social scientists, and government policy experts worldwide dedicated themselves to this concern. Then the Internet hype seemed to dissipate, and observers assumed the digital divide would fix itself.

The Deepening Divide: Inequality in the Information Society explains why the digital divide is still widening and, in advanced high-tech societies, deepening. Taken from an international perspective, the book offers full coverage of the literature and research and a theoretical framework from which to analyze and approach the issue. Where most books on the digital divide only describe and analyze the issue, Jan van Dijk presents 26 policy perspectives and instruments designed to close the divide itself.

Written in a simple, thorough, and multidisciplinary approach, The Deepening Divide offers insights to students, researchers, policymakers, and professionals in media and communication studies, sociology, educational policy, public policy, and computer education.

Jan A.G.M. van Dijk is an internationally recognized expert in the field of communication, with new media studies as his primary interest. The author of The Network Society: Social Aspects of the New Media (SAGE, 1999) and co-editor of Digital Democracy: Issues of Theory and Practice (SAGE, 2000), van Dijk is a professor of Communication Science at Twente University, the Netherlands, and serves as an advisor of the European Commission of the Information Society Forum.

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Introduction
 
A Framework to Understand the Digital Divide
 
Motivational Access
 
Material Access
 
Skills Access
 
Usage Access
 
Inequality in the Information Society
 
Inequality in the Network Society
 
The Stakes: Participation or Exclusion
 
Policy Perspective
 
Reference
 
Index

The book was used as a supplemental text for the course in Spring 13 & Spring 2014

Ms Darlene Loper
College Of Arts Sciences, Nyack College-Rockland
January 22, 2014

Especially relevent with the publication of the Digital Britain White paper

Mr NEILL COCKWILL
MEDIA, Edge Hill University
November 13, 2009
Key features
A simple, thorough, multidisciplinary approach makes information applicable to students, researchers, and policymakers in a wide range of study areas.

Summarizes the history of its subject matter, explores its status in the present day in unprecedented depth, and offers a road map for bridging the "digital divide" in the future. 

Sets the standard for theoretical analysis in its field, eschewing prior publications' over-reliance on statistics, and thus expanding its shelf life without sacrificing timeliness.  

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