Contributed by Organizations or Campuses; Articles, Papers, and Reports; Informatics; and Digital Divide

Effective Use: A Community Informatics Strategy Beyond the Digital Divide

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Title:Effective Use: A Community Informatics Strategy Beyond the Digital Divide (ID: CSD3074)
Author(s):Michael Gurstein (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
Source:First Monday
Origin:Contributed by Organizations or Campuses (2004)
Type:Articles, Papers, and Reports
Abstract:A huge industry has been created responding to the perceived social malady, the "Digital Divide". This paper examines the concepts and strategies underlying the notion of the Digital Divide and concludes that it is little more than a marketing campaign for Internet service providers. The paper goes on to present an alternative approach — that of "effective use" — drawn from community informatics theory which recognizes that the Internet is not simply a source of information, but also a fundamental tool in the new digital economy.
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