Digital divide

ALTERNATIVE LABELS
Digital inequality
Global digital divide


Report

Technology and Inequality Roundtable Series: summary of discussions

In November 2022, the British Academy convened three roundtable events, as part of its project on Technology and Inequality for the UK Government Office for Science. This document summarises the key insights that emerged during these three roundtable events.
Report

The digital CBD roadmap: a vision for Melbourne as a leading digital city

Other authors
Annette Markham, Max Parasol, Alexia Maddox, Tharuka Rupasinghe, Ahmad Salehi Shahrak, Banya Barua, Son Tran, Laki Kondylas, Michael Fairbairn, Tulley Kearney, Sally Piper, Darcy Allen, Indigo Holcombe-James, Jacinthe Flore, Julian Waters-Lynch, Konrad Peszynski, Nataliya Ilyushina, Trent MacDonald, Todd Denham, Amarens Breteler, Kelsie Nabben
This report outlines a vision for Melbourne to start moving towards a globally influential digital city by as soon as 2023 - if funding is prioritised. This would allow for a more efficient and effective economy, while creating a city that is secure, connected and...
Report

Understanding digital poverty and inequality in the UK

In 2022, the British Academy commissioned six projects that examined different aspects of digital poverty in the United Kingdom. This report highlights the central themes and findings that emerge across the evidence base of outputs produced by the commissioned projects, and uses these findings to...
Report

Bridging Queensland’s digital divide

This report explores the state of digital inclusion in Queensland, showing the state falls behind a number of other Australian jurisdictions on aggregate measures of digital inclusion.
Report

Digital nation Australia 2021

The digital divide is a significant issue in modern Australia, particularly with the rapid pace of digitisation brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic. This report brings together the latest research and insights from government, community and academia to help build understanding of the digital inclusion...
Report

Closing the digital divide for good

The challenge of digital exclusion is not a new one. This joint report, from Carnegie UK Trust and the UK Committee for UNICEF, sets out why and how the UK government should continue its work to close the digital divide.
Working paper

Bridging the global digital divide

This paper outlines an initiative that would allow the United States, along with a range of public and private partners, to seize the opportunity to reduce the digital divide between nations and people in a way that benefits inclusive economic advancement in low- and middle-income...
Report

COVID-19 and e-commerce: a global review

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformations. Digital solutions are increasingly needed to continue some of the economic and social activities remotely. This study explores inequalities in e-trade readiness that currently prevail around the world.
Policy report

Learning from lockdown: 12 steps to eliminate digital exclusion

While digital exclusion is a long-standing problem, it has often struggled for attention and resources in recent years in a crowded public policy landscape. This report is a response to this challenge, setting out a series of 12 recommendations calling for ambitious action from policy...
Report

Addressing rangatahi education: challenges after COVID-19

This report provides compelling evidence of disparities in digital education during the COVID-19 response. It shows the positive effects of addressing these digital divides on the outlook of both rangatahi and their parents about their futures.
Guide

Accelerating digital inclusion in the new normal

This guide offers a framework for a multiyear, cross-industry programme to shape policymaking and accelerate action in the new normal. It presents three innovative strategies for public and private sector leaders to enable greater digital inclusion for the world's economies and societies.
Survey

United Nations e-government survey 2020

As a development tool, the e-government survey examines countries’ strengths, challenges and opportunities, and informs policies and strategies. The 2020 edition found that progress has been made across all regions, even in the least developed countries.
Briefing paper

COVID-19, digital inclusion and online education: APO Digital Inclusion Collection Brief April 2020

During the current period of home-based self-isolation, those without the ability to effectively and affordably access and use digital technologies will find it immediately and increasingly difficult to participate in contemporary economic, social, cultural and civic life.
Article

School closures will increase inequality unless urgent action closes the digital divide

While slowing the pace of the Covid-19 Pandemic is critical, reducing the growth of inequality – including in education – will be an equally important and complex challenge.
Article

Working from home and digital literacy – what can we assume?

This article asks whether Australian school students are sufficiently digitally literate and confident to effectively transition to online learning and whether teachers have demonstrated the capacity to use digital technologies in their teaching and learning practice to facilitate this transition.
Article

Americans turn to technology during COVID-19 outbreak, say an outage would be a problem

This survey, administered between 19 and 24 March 2020 to more than 11,0000 Americans, included a set of questions on their use of digital technologies.
Survey

American Trends Panel survey methodology and COVID-19 Questions

The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by Pew Research Center, is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Panelists participate via self-administered web surveys. The panel wave conducted March 19 to March 24, 2020 drew 11,537 responses out of 15,433 who were sampled...
Conference paper

Socio-spatial patterns of the NBN rollout: it is worse than what you think

The purpose of this paper is to leverage basic data mining techniques, combined with census-based socio-spatial data (SEIFA), to uncover the geographic intricacies of the NBN at the metropolitan regions of Sydney and Melbourne. The findings in terms of the dominance of some of the...
Report

Measuring Australia’s digital divide: the Australian digital inclusion index 2019

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index measures three vital dimensions of digital inclusion: access, affordability, and digital ability. It shows how these dimensions change over time, according to people’s social and economic circumstances, as well as across geographic locations. This 2019 ADII report incorporates data collected...
Policy report

Connectivity and digital inclusion in Far North Queensland’s agricultural communities: policy-focused report

This policy-focused report is the culmination of a qualitative study of digital connectivity and telecommunications in rural Far North Queensland. In particular, the research investigated the lived experience of digital inclusion - a combination of internet access, affordability of technology, and digital ability - in...
Conference paper

Digital literacy: myths and realities

Digital literacy, under a wide variety of names, is routinely classified as a 21st-century skill and is frequently reported as an area of high priority in school education systems internationally.
Briefing paper

APO Digital Inclusion Collection brief: May 2019

This month's Digital Inclusion snapshot examines three recent reports. Two of these survey digital transformation strategies and initiatives of Australia’s federal, state and territory governments, and the third is a recent New Zealand Government blueprint making a more explicit connection between digital transformation and digital...
Strategy

The digital inclusion blueprint

The Digital Inclusion Blueprint lays out the government's vision for digital inclusion in New Zealand, the role it will play and steps it will take toward realising this vision.
Report

Switched on: exploring the challenge of adequate digital access for all children and young people

This report brings together research and evidence about key issues related to digital inclusion with a particular focus on children and young people, emphasising that adequate digital access is still far from universal.
Report

Smartphone ownership is growing rapidly around the world, but not always equally

In emerging economies, technology use is still much more common among young people and the well-educated.