A116. Pearce, K. E. &
Rice, R. E. (2014). The language divide--The persistence of
English proficiency as a gateway to the Internet:
The cases of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. International Journal of Communication, 8,
2834-2859. http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/2075
Understanding
sociodemographic barriers to adoption and use of the Internet continues
to be
an important research topic, especially considering the increased
importance of
access and use of information and communication technologies around the
world.
Extending a digital divide framework, this study analyzes the
influences on and
relations among awareness, adoption, and (frequent) use of the Internet
in the
developing countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Data from
nationally
representative samples fit a model predicting that age, economic
well-being,
education, urbanness, and English proficiency all influence each
Internet
digital divide. Age, education, and urbanness are the primary
determinants of
awareness of the Internet. Language proficiency is the second most
important
determinant of adoption and the most important influence on use.
Despite
growing Internet adoption, inequality remains, based on
sociodemographic and
economic status at each Internet divide. In addition, for these
linguistically isolated states, English proficiency being a strong
influence on
adoption and use indicates a further divide between elites and
nonelites.
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