Digital Divide Lecture 2

Theoretical Frameworks (INTENSE)

What is the “Big picture” behind the relation of digital divide and consumer inequality?

• Macro: structural roots (institutions, markets, policies set the conditions for digital access)

• Meso: mechanisms of inequality (processes that create/reproduce unequal digital outcomes)

• Micro: individual vulnerabilities (behaviours/circumstances that shape a person’s digital experience)

What is the main question behind the four models of future inequalities in digital societies?

As technology evolves, what happens to the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged?

Explain the normalisation and the stratification models!

• Normalisation: optimistic, only minimal difference

• Stratification: both disadvantaged and disadvantaged benefitted from the technologies. same gap but more socio-digital resources

Explain the leap-frogging and the amplification models!

• Leap-frogging: disadvantaged benefitted (had a leapway, leg up), higher resources than advantaged

• Amplification: least ideal, gap is becoming wider and wider (people who don’t use smartphones also won’t use AI at all)