Digital Divide - Australia (Archive)

Archived articles and resources about trends and issues relating to the digital divide in Australia.

Digital divide - Canada

Articles and resources about trends and issues relating to the digital divide in Canada.

Digital divide - United Kingdom - Archive

Articles and resources about trends and issues relating to the digital divide in the United Kingdom.

Digital divide: A-T - Archive

Resources about the digital divide.

Digital divide: U-Z - Archive

Resources about the digital divide.

Digital Inclusion Panel Report, United Kingdom - Archive

This report identifies social groups most at risk of digital exclusion and actions to encourage them to take up Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Digital Strategy, United Kingdom - Archive

Articles and reports about "Connecting the UK: a digital strategy", a report published by the government in April 2005 in order to tackle the persistent digital divide and low uptake of e-government services by citizens.

eGovernment - Connecting communities, United Kingdom - Archive

Articles about a study commissioned by the Greater London Authority, which examines the value of being on-line for socially excluded Londoners.

eGovernment - Connecting the countryside, United Kingdom - Archive

Articles about a report published in 2002 which evaluates the success of Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) funded UK online centres in rural areas.

Inner West Families Find Way Across Digital Divide

Primary school students in Melbourne's inner west are conquering the digital divide thanks to the combined support of the Bracks Government, corporate donors and philanthropic groups. Minister for Victorian Communities Peter Batchelor today launched a pilot project that will provide refurbished, internet-connected computers to 400 disadvantaged families for use in their homes.

Internet Training Connecting Communities across the State

A state-wide travelling classroom will help more than 1400 Victorians learn how to use the Internet and get online, the Minister for Community Development, Peter Batchelor, announced today.

One Laptop Per Child Australia scores $11.7m in federal budget

OLPC will use funding to deploy laptops to 50,000 students, by Rohan Pearce (Techworld Australia). Computerworld, 9 May, 2012. "One Laptop Per Child Australia received a one-off boost in the federal budget, scoring $11.7 million of funding. In addition, budget measures mean that donations to OLPC Australia will be tax deductible from 1 July. The funding will be used to purchase Linux-based XO laptops for 50,000 students..."

Bridging the Digital Divide: How Marketers, Agencies and Publishers Can Evolve From Channel Specialists to Consumer Specialists - in pdf format (3048)

(This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). A PulsePoint Intelligence Report, Spring 2012. "Bridging the Digital Divide examines the digital marketing capabilities, along with the top challenges and priorities of senior decision makers at brand, agency and publishing firms. This landmark study, which was completed by close to 400 senior marketers, agency executives and publishers from February 20-March 11, 2012, is a result of collaboration between PulsePoint, a global digital technology firm, The CMO Club, a CMO peer-to-peer network with over 800 members, and Digiday, a leading publisher with survey access to more than 22,000 publishing and agency decision makers... It is abundantly clear that there is a massive 'digital divide' between consumers engaging in real-time across channels, versus the digital marketing industry that is still largely siloed and not executing in real-time. It appears that this digital divide is due, in large part, to two key challenges observed in this research, namely: - Overwhelming Complexity; - Lack of Unified Measurement; - Real-Time Intelligence and Unified Automation..."

Bridging The Digital Divide – From Consumer Data To Consumer Engagement

by Karl W. Lendenmann, Ph.D. Marketing Land, May 8, 2012. "... results from just-completed research makes it abundantly clear that there is currently a massive 'digital divide' between consumers engaging in real-time across channels, versus the digital marketing industry that is still largely siloed and not executing in real-time. This landmark study, Bridging the Digital Divide, employed a three-tiered digital marketing framework designed to assess and benchmark current execution capabilities, as well as key challenges and priorities of senior decision makers at brand, agency and publishing firms..."

Digital Exclusion For Older People Will Continue, Academic Warns

E-Access Bulletin Live, April 18, 2012. "Today's technologically-skilled young people are likely to face significant web accessibility problems as they grow older, similar to those faced by elderly computer users today, a professor of computing has said..."

Digital differences - Report

by Kathryn Zickuhr, Aaron Smith. Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 13, 2012. "When the Pew Internet Project first began writing about the role of the internet in American life in 2000, there were stark differences between those who were using the internet and those who were not. Today, differences in internet access still exist among different demographic groups, especially when it comes to access to high-speed broadband at home. Among the main findings about the state of digital access: One in five American adults does not use the internet. Senior citizens, those who prefer to take our interviews in Spanish rather than English, adults with less than a high school education, and those living in households earning less than $30,000 per year are the least likely adults to have internet access. Among adults who do not use the internet, almost half have told us that the main reason they don’t go online is because they don't think the internet is relevant to them..."

Policy lessons from a decade of eGovernment, eHealth & eInclusion

European Journal of ePractice no. 15, 14 March 2012. "Over the past decade, many Information Society strategies have emerged in Europe, such as eEurope (1999), i2010 (2005) and Digital Agenda for Europe (2010). eGovernment, eHealth and eInclusion are the three policy sub-domains comprising the societal public services pillar which is the backbone of all such strategic frameworks. Given the emphasis that the new overarching EU2020 Strategy places on tackling grand societal challenges and turning them into economic opportunities, the relevance of these three domains is greater today than in the past. This issue aims to find theoretical and interpretative frameworks that may help to comprehend the evidence already collected and to support new and innovative policy approaches. These new approaches will lead to the transformation of a public service delivery system, to inclusive growth and to the dissemination of sustainable eHealth practices, thus improving the efforts towards 2020. The articles published in this issue bring forward a number of concise lessons learned form eGovernment, eInclusion and eHealth practices during the past decades. Much discussion focuses around the ever more commonly cultivated perception that various terms like 'accessibility', 'participation' and 'inclusion' should not be seen anymore as something different than their electronic dimension (as indicated by the 'e' prefix)..."

Engaging With The Hard To Reach

by Bob Kamall. Government Digital Service, 6 March 2012. "GDS aims to create digital services that are world class and become the channel of choice for service users. But the demographic of those who remain offline reveals that these very citizens are some of the heaviest users and most reliant on access to public services. We recognise that if we are to succeed in driving channel shift to digital then services and transactions need to be developed with a relentless focus on users. We want to make use of the most innovative and versatile technology to deliver products that match industry leaders while ensuring that no-one is left behind..."

Digital Divide: From Computer Access to Online Activities - A Micro Data Analysis - in pdf format (2269kb)

(This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 189. by Pierre Montagnier, Albrecht Wirthmann. Working Party on Indicators for the Information Society, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 20 December 2011. "This study addresses issues of digital divide among households and individuals by using micro-data analysis of ICT usage patterns. The analysis includes data from 18 European countries, Korea and Canada. Inequalities in computer and Internet use are analysed in a two-step approach. First, the paper tries to better quantify and understand the factors that separate the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. Second, it tries to explain observed differences in the frequency and type of Internet use as a result of the socio-economic characteristics of households and individuals..."

Tackling the Digital Divide

by James Forrester. Government Digital Service, 2 December 2011. "It has been some time since we last blogged about our work relating to Assisted Digital. While we’ve been quiet, we have been busy working with our stakeholders to develop our thinking about the Assisted Digital (supporting access to Digital by Default services) and Digital Inclusion (tackling the issues that prevent everyone getting online) agendas. Of course, during this period, work has also continued on tackling the Digital Divide by encouraging people to get online..."

Digital Participation Charter

The Scottish Government, News Release, 7 November 2011. "The Scottish Government, leading private sector firms, academic institutions and charities have signed up to Scotland's Digital Participation Charter. The Charter, signed by founding partners including Microsoft, BT Scotland and Patient Opinion, involves making a commitment to share information and align resources and efforts to deliver shared digital participation outcomes over the lifetime of this Parliament. It was signed today on behalf of the Scottish Government by Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop at the UK's first national GovCamp event in Edinburgh..."

Bridging The Digital Divide Is Imperative To Moving Public Services Online

By Nicole France, Fujitsu UK & Ireland, Head of Regional and Local Government. egov monitor, Published Tuesday, 6 September, 2011. "This piece argues that online public services would not be effective or efficient without bridging the digital divide and recommends a plan of action to bring offline older generation to online services. The case for moving public services online is clear: higher-quality, more convenient, and cheaper service delivery. Indeed, Martha Lane Fox’s strategic review, 'Directgov 2010 and Beyond: Revolution Not Evolution,' noted that providing just 30% of services online could yield £1.3 billion of savings a year..."

Publicani: Broadband is not just a computer thing

Claims digital inclusion is the best use of digital technology to improve the lives and chances of all citizens, by Hafizah Osman (ARN). 18 August, 2011. "Broadband is no longer just a computer thing but rather, a means of furthering national policy objectives, according to the director of UK consultancy, Publicani, Dr Tim Williams. Dr Williams, author of the report, Connecting Communities, was speaking at a session on connecting communities in the digital economy at the National Digital Inclusion Summit..."

Older Australians and the internet

by Sandra Haukka, ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. Australian Policy Online, 3 August 2011. "What do older Australians who never or rarely use the Internet know about the types of online products and services available to them, and how they might use these products and services to improve their daily life?... This project found that participants' interest in using the Internet varied, with 53% of participants indicating their interest in the Internet was 'moderate' or above and 46% indicating their interest was 'nil' or 'low'. Similar to findings from the review of existing research, participants who lacked interest in the Internet stated reasons like 'too many other interesting activities”, 'I would rather speak to people in person or by the phone', and 'I like to have real friends in the real world'..."

Digital Enterprise Program - Draft program guidelines - in pdf format (307kb) (

(This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Draft - August 2011. "Funding to deliver training to small-to-medium enterprises, not-for-profit organisations and local cultural institutions to help them understand how they can improve their online presence and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the National Broadband Network - Draft program guidelines - round one..."

Digital Hubs Program - Draft program guidelines - in pdf format (208kb)

(This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Draft - August 2011. "Funding to establish a Digital Hub that provides training to narrow the gap between those Australians who engage online and those who do not. Digital Hubs will enable local residents to increase their online engagement and better understand the opportunities created by the National Broadband Network by demonstrating applications enabled by high speed broadband - draft program guidelines - round one..."