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Digital Inclusion

An International Comparative Analysis

Edited by Massimo Ragnedda and Bruce Mutsvairo - Afterword by Gerard Goggin - Contributions by Hamid Abdollahyan; Mahin Sheikh Ansari; Orit Ben-Harush; Anfan Chen; Lorenzo Dalvit; Christiana Hammond; Jianbin Jin; Hanna Kreitem; Kehbuma Langmia; Andrea Limberto; Sue Malta; Fanxin Meng; Bruce Mutsvairo; Massimo Ragnedda; Bianca C. Reisdorf; Colin Rhinesmith; Amit M. Schejter; Lin Shi; Noam Tirosh; Norbert Wildermuth and Raelene Wilding

The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink ways to avoid forms of digital exclusion or digital discrimination. This edited collection comprises of chapters written by respected scholars from a variety of countries, and brings together new scholarship addressing what the process of digital inclusion means for individuals and places in the countries analyzed. Each country has its own strategy to guarantee that people can access and enjoy the benefits of the information society. While this book does not presume to map all the countries in the world, it does shed light into these strategies, underlining what each country is doing in order to reduce digital inequalities and to guarantee that socially disadvantaged people (in terms of disabilities, availability of resources, age, geographic location, lack of education, or ethnicity) are digitally included.

Lexington Books

Pages: 244 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-4985-6212-6 • Hardback • August 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

Series: Communication, Globalization, and Cultural Identity

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Language Arts & Disciplines / International Communication, Social Science / Sociology / General

Digital Inclusion

An International Comparative Analysis

Hardback

Summary

The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink ways to avoid forms of digital exclusion or digital discrimination. This edited collection comprises of chapters written by respected scholars from a variety of countries, and brings together new scholarship addressing what the process of digital inclusion means for individuals and places in the countries analyzed. Each country has its own strategy to guarantee that people can access and enjoy the benefits of the information society. While this book does not presume to map all the countries in the world, it does shed light into these strategies, underlining what each country is doing in order to reduce digital inequalities and to guarantee that socially disadvantaged people (in terms of disabilities, availability of resources, age, geographic location, lack of education, or ethnicity) are digitally included.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 244 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-4985-6212-6 • Hardback • August 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

Series: Communication, Globalization, and Cultural Identity

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Language Arts & Disciplines / International Communication, Social Science / Sociology / General

Author

Massimo Ragnedda is senior lecturer of mass communication at Northumbria University.

Bruce Mutsvairo is associate professor in the School of Communication of the University of Technology Sydney.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Digital Inclusion: Empowering People through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Massimo Ragnedda and Bruce Mutsvairo
Part I: Digital Inclusion in Advanced Countries
Chapter 1: Reducing and Preventing Digital Discrimination: Digital Inclusion Strategies in Europe, Massimo Ragnedda
Chapter 2: Not So Ubiquitous: Digital Inclusion and Older Adults in Australia, Sue Malta and Raelene Wilding
Chapter 3: Digital Inclusion in International Perspective: An Asset-Based Approach to Digital Inclusion Research in the US Context, Bianca C. Reisdorf and Colin Rhinesmith
Part II: Digital Inclusion in BRICS Countries
Chapter 4: From Access to Proficiency: Reconceptualising Digital Inclusion in a Rural Area in South Africa, Lorenzo Dalvit
Chapter 5: Mapping the Evolutive Trajectories of China's Digital Divide: A Longitudinal Observation, Jianbin Jin, Fanxin Meng, Anfan Chen, Lin Shi, and Tao Wang
Chapter 6: Changes in Knowledge Acquisition According to the Proximity with Digital Media Networks, Andrea Limberto
Part III: Digital Inclusion in the Middle East
Chapter 7: Digital Inclusion in Jordan: Opportunities and Hurdles, Hanna Kreitem
Chapter 8: An Explanatory Analysis of Facebook’s Effect on Social Cohesion in Iran, Hamid Abdollahyan and Mahin Sheikh Ansari
Chapter 9: “Nothing Is Ever Truly New": The Persisting Digital Exclusion in Israel, 2002–2013, Amit M. Schejter, Orit Ben-Harush, and Noam Tirosh
Part IV: Digital Inclusion in Africa
Chapter 10: ICT and Development: Narrowing the Digital Divide and the Knowledge Gap of ICT Users in Cameroon and Ghana, Kehbuma Langmia and Christiana Hammond
Chapter 11: Kenya's Digital Divide: Challenged, Evolving, and Persistent, Norbert Wildermuth
Afterword, Why Digital Inclusion Now? Gerard Goggin

Reviews

Massimo Ragnedda and Bruce Mutsvairo provide a long overdue account of digital exclusion from a global perspective. The contributors to this edited volume go beyond Western Europe, the Untied States, and Australia to consider the BRICS countries, the Middle East, and Africa and consider digital access empirically and theoretically. The essays in this volume highlight the costs of exclusion, but also the potential and opportunities that may result from greater inclusion.
— James C. Witte, George Mason University

Digital Inclusion

An International Comparative Analysis

Digital Inclusion

An International Comparative Analysis

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