Bridging the Digital Divide: Technology, Community, and Public Policy
Bridging the Digital Divide: Technology, Community, and Public Policy
The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society
The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society
Digital Divide?: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide
Digital Divide?: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide
Digital divides and the adoption of information and communication technologies in the UK farm sector
International Journal of Information Technology and Management
Profiling the non-user: Rethinking policy initiatives stimulating ICT acceptance
Telecommunications Policy
User motivation for broadband: A rural Danish study
Telecommunications Policy
Development and performance evaluation of a new RSS tool for a Web-based system: RSS_PROYECT
Journal of Network and Computer Applications
Mobile banking in a developing economy: A customer-centric model for policy formulation
Telecommunications Policy
Sustainability of e-participation through mobile technologies
Proceedings of the South African Institute for Computer Scientists and Information Technologists Conference
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The Internet confers benefits on its users in a variety of ways, ranging from simple information acquisition and purchasing goods and services, to interacting with a range of individuals and groups in the wider processes of governance. Rural citizens stand to gain more than most, relatively, since the use of the Internet reduces, if not removes, former barriers (particularly that of distance) to such interaction. To that extent, the shrinking of the 'digital divide' (and particularly the increased availability of broadband Internet in the countryside) is very welcome. However, there is a danger that non-users of the Internet are disenfranchised by such developments, and these include some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable sectors of rural populations. There is thus a risk that, as the Internet increasingly becomes regarded as the default communication medium, a minority becomes progressively disadvantaged, first in relative and then in absolute terms. This paper explores the links between digital exclusion and social exclusion in a rural context, to identify the likely consequences of this 'digital vicious cycle', and to consider the options for ameliorating these consequences.