What are the Consequences of Being Disconnected in a Broadband-Connected World?

Abstract

The evolution of the Internet in the past decade — from a slow, stationary, and primarily communications-based technology to a mobile, fast technology that supports a range of communication, participatory, and transactional applications — has made access more valuable, and disconnection more consequential, for individuals. This evolution means that stakeholders should embrace a different framing of the digital divide, focusing on the costs of digital exclusion. These costs can fall on an individual, if the Internet is the only way to carry out some tasks, and on society, if expensive and less-efficient legacy systems must be maintained to serve a shrinking minority without access. Whereas the digital divide debate concerns technology scarcity for certain population segments, addressing the costs of digital exclusion is about developing people's capacity to manage today's abundance of digital resources. This essay offers suggestions on a framework to develop tools that will enable individuals to take advantage of the affordances of broadband.

A Feasibility Study of an In-the-Wild Experimental Public Access WiFi Network

“…Based on the socio-economic classification of the population in Aspley we are primarily concerned with, using terminology from Horrigan [4], the 'near converts' and 'digital hopefuls' where cost is the main barrier to adoption, rather than the 'digitally uncomfortable' and 'digitally distant' where skills and perceived relevance are the main barriers.…”

“…Unfortunately at the same time the UK's telecommunications regulator, OFCOM, reports that fixed-line broadband penetration in the UK is only 75% and data from the Internet World Stats survey of October 2012 reports that 10% of the UK population do not have Internet access at home [3]. Given this trend for services to move online, the negative consequences of digital exclusion are only going to increase [4].…”

Wild interdisciplinarity: ethnography and computer science

“…The project had no resources to acclimatise those who were strangers to this world, and so Citizens could only be those who had already accrued them, or whose desire to be online was sufficient to overcome the discomfort of adaptation. We found though, as the literature forewarned (Horrigan, 2011), that a sizeable percentage of Aspley's digitally excluded -perhaps half -were either content to be so, or even actively defensive of this status. In the words of one 'digitally distant': If a gambit existed which might recover a participant from such an interaction, the fieldworkers did not find it.…”

“…A proof of concept, PAWS aimed to address the 'material access' side of the digital divide, instead of other factors such as skills or motivations (van Dijk, 2005;Warschauer, 2003). Using Horrigan's (2011) terminology, PAWS was aimed at the 'digital hopefuls' and the 'near converts' (those who like being online, but are deterred by cost or lack of skills) -not the 'digitally distant' or 'digitally uncomfortable' (those who have negative attitudes toward cyberspace, as well as a lack of resources and skills).…”

The Ethical and Legal Practice of Online Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Review of Mental Health Professions

“…As such, many individuals may seek help for their mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical issues online (Barak & Grohol, 2011;Horrigan, 2011). Online clinical practice is growing in its scope and availability (Barnett, 2011;Rochlen, A.…”