C38.
Rice, R. E. & Katz, J. E. (2003). Digital divides of the Internet
and
mobile
phone: Structural determinants of the social context of communication
technologies.
In J. E. Katz (Ed.), Machines that become us: The social context of
personal
information technology (pp. 91-104). New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction Publishers.
Recent research on the digital divide is almost
entirely devoted to the
Internet. And, while results are fairly consistent on some
topics
(such as gaps between users and nonusers associated with education,
income,
age, gender and race), there are contradictions in other areas, and
trends
are changing rapidly (with differences based on race and gender largely
disappearing).
The paper summarizes recent research on the extent and distinctions of
the
Internet (and some cellphone) digital divide. The overall paper
analyzes
differences in kinds of digital divides for both the Internet and the
cellphone,
and similarities and differences between the Internet and cellphone
user
categories.
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