Paper Info
Title
The first-level digital divide shifts from inequalities in physical access to inequalities in material access.
Abstract
For a long time, a common opinion among policy-makers was that the digital divide problem would be solved when a country's Internet connection rate reaches saturation. However, scholars of the second-level digital divide have concluded that the divides in Internet skills and type of use continue to expand even after physical access is universal. This study-based on an online survey among a representative sample of the Dutch population-indicates that the first-level digital divide remains a problem in one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world. By extending basic physical access combined with material access, the study finds that a diversity in access to devices and peripherals, device-related opportunities, and the ongoing expenses required to maintain the hardware, software, and subscriptions affect existing inequalities related to Internet skills, uses, and outcomes.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1177/1461444818797082
NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY
Keywords
Field
DocType
Device diversity,devices,digital divide,digital inequality,first-level digital divide,Internet access,Internet outcomes,Internet skills,material access,peripherals
Social science,Telecommunications,Digital divide,Sociology,Software,Inequality,Physical access,Internet access,The Internet
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
21.0
2
1461-4448
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
2
0.48
18
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Alexander van Deursen132923.35
Jan van Dijk235227.66