Title
Internet skills and the digital divide.
Abstract
Because of the growing amount of information on the internet and people's increasing dependence on information, internet skills should be considered as a vital resource in contemporary society. This article focuses on the differential possession of internet skills among the Dutch population. In two studies, an in-depth range of internet skills are measured by charging subjects assignments to be accomplished on the internet. Subjects were recruited by applying a random stratified sampling method over gender, age, and education. While the level of operational and formal internet skills appeared quite high, the level of information and strategic internet skills is questionable. Whereas education appeared an important contributor to all skill levels, age only appeared a significant contributor to operational and formal skills. The results strengthen the findings that the original digital divide of physical internet access has evolved into a divide that includes differences in skills to use the internet.
Year
DOI
Venue
2011
10.1177/1461444810386774
NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY
Keywords
Field
DocType
digital divide,inequality,information,internet,internet skills,literacy,online
Sociology of the Internet,Social science,Literacy,Physical Internet,Digital divide,Sociology,Possession (law),Stratified sampling,Internet research,The Internet
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
13
6
1461-4448
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
66
3.14
15
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Alexander van Deursen132923.35
Jan van Dijk235227.66