Systematic Mapping of Digital Gap and Gender, Age, Ethnicity, or Disability

Abstract

Rapid technological evolution defines the first two decades of the millennium. This phenomenon has increased the digital gap, disparities, and inequalities in global and local contexts. This paper reports a systematic literature mapping of 180 articles published from 2000 to 2021 discussing the digital gap. The documents were retrieved using boolean operations in two databases, adding terms related to gender, age, ethnicity, and disabilities, focusing on population groups that are especially vulnerable to the effects of this phenomenon. The method included categorizing the retrieved documents to provide a general view of the most concerning topics in the academic and research community. This analysis concludes (a) the approaches to address this topic are diverse, as this is a multilayered, complex, and interconnected issue; (b) many studies refer to developed countries; however, fewer are those who observe or analyze the underdeveloped regions; (c) the majority of published papers in the last decade report information and communication technologies (ICT) and their role in bridging the gap, showing an opportunity area for designing these technologies considering more accessible approaches through flexible technology approaches; (d) this study’s results are a valuable source of information to identify the design requirements for accessible products and service systems. The last section provides a detailed explanation of the findings.

Influence of Country Digitization Level on Digital Pandemic Stress

“…Older professors express having lower digital competence and lower ability to adapt ( Figure 6 ), in general, to DLEs ( Table 7 ). This observation is consistent with some previous works, which identify the older population as the most vulnerable in the digitization process [ 65 ]. If the psychological impact of the pandemic is analyzed at a general level, not necessarily in the digital domain, previous studies do not identify significant gaps by age [ 66 ], which shows the impact of the pandemic in the digital educational domain has specific behavior.…”

Digital Justice in the Smart City Developing a Framework for Participatory Digitalisation Strategies at the Local Level

“…However, citizens and social milieus have different opportunities to participate in smart city development, as a large number of studies and research papers show that citizens have very different prerequisites, resources and competencies for possible participation. These different characteristics of social prerequisites and inequalities have already been addressed in a wide range of research studies under the terms "digital divide" or "digital gap" [7,8]. At least, three different strands of discussion can be distinguished relevant to the objectives of the present paper:…”

“…Beyond research on individuals or social milieus, recent methodological approaches go further and focus on respective digital resources and competencies, i.e., what qualities are entailed by social relationships, interactions and transactions [1,[19][20][21]. Current research on the digital divide then also focuses on the exclusion of individual population groups (e.g., marginalised women, indigenous populations, refugees, unemployed and single parents, people with disabilities) or even world regions [22,7]. Herein, the importance of informal learning contexts such as libraries, museums, social groups for the formation of digital skills is emphasised [23].…”

Spatiotemporal investigation of the digital divide, the case study of Iranian Provinces

“…(Vassilakopoulou & Hustad, 2021 ) This is known as the “digital divide,” and its origins may be traced back to economic, social, and other factors. (Longoria et al, 2022 ).…”

“…The phrase “digital divide” was used to describe the discrepancy in Internet access between rural and urban parts of the USA at the time (Longoria et al, 2022 ). This issue gradually spread to other nations.…”