Annotated Bibliography

 Explorations Of The Digital Divide 

Annotated Bibliography

Sydorenko, Viktoriia et. Al, Improvement of Higher Education: How To Bridge the Digital Divide During the Transformation. Journal of Education, 2024 

This study outlines the digital divide in Ukrainian education and attempts to bring it in line with the forefront of world experience. It outlines the critical importance of distance learning due to the martial law conditions brought on by Russia’s unprecedented attack on Ukraine beginning in 2022. It outlines the prominent position the USA holds in digitizing education and how it transformed during Covid-19. It outlines what the terms “digital gap”, “digital divide”, “digital barrier”, “information inequality”, etc. mean in regards to education and the shortcomings of Ukrainian laws on higher education. The study investigates the essential component of modernization of higher education and how imperative it is to education given the situation locally and explores methods to implement these changes. The methods deployed involve a complex of scientific methods, legal methods, and principles of theoretical and cognitive activities in the field of education.

Yersel, Burcin, et.al., Digital Divide and Emergency Remote Education: Reconsidering the Use

of Educational Radio During the Pandemic. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 2023.

Reviews the effects the Covid-19 pandemic has had on education and how the interruption was compensated for since education is a fundamental human right with the implementation of emergency remote education (ERE). Two noteworthy main concepts emerged: the concept of interaction, and the concept of the digital divide and how it negatively shapes the process for learners as well as teachers. Radio is a substitute for digital tools as it is more affordable and provides faster access for learners than high-tech communication media tools. It's an exploratory study to see the usefulness of university radio for education during a pandemic by looking at the experiences gained during the pandemic. The example here illustrates how education has been one of the main structures most affected by the pandemic but offers an alternative solution via university radio in assisting the learning process.

Gabe, T., Abel, J. (2002). Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Infrastructure in Rural

America: Measuring the Digital Divide. American Agricultural Economics Association.

This article outlines the effects of the rapid expansion of advanced telecommunication services in the new economy (in 2002). It focuses on overcoming the disadvantages associated with isolations and low densities of economic activity. The effects telecommunications networks can provide to rural residents educationally, medical services. It outlines how investments in telecommunications infrastructure may also increase productivity in agriculture. It outlines states rankings in access and a differentiation between metro and non metro areas.

McDaniels, T., Improving Broadband In Appalachia: How Municipal Broadband Networks Can Bring High-Speed Internet to Millions. Public Contract Law Journal, 2022.

This article proposes state and local governments should utilize different forms of municipal broadband networks to help close the digital divide in America (using an Appalachia case study). It reviews how state laws can be a restrictive barrier to access in rural areas and reviews what needs to be amended in the Telecomunications Act of 1996 to provide more options in providing access to to residents. It goes over the history of  Appalachia, its poverty and seclusion. It outlines how the law can be the restrictive issue in gaining access for remote rural areas and what kind of action is required to remedy the problem. 

Lai-Chong Law, E., Et. Al. Insights From Impacts of the Digital Divide on Children in Five Majority World Countries During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Behavior & Information Technology, 2023

This article reviews what is the digital divide, and studies what the effects of it in conjunction with the pandemic have had on children’s education through a study that is methodological, conceptual, and practical. Unequal participation reinforces unequal access and resource distribution perpetuates the cycle. This study shows how the digital divide was exacerbated by the pandemic. It also illustrates the effects that not having access to internet but also devices has and the digital literacy issues between generations that complicated distance learning for young students making it so their only source of  help couldn’t help because they didn’t know how to use the devices or programs. 

Elliott, R. (2023). The Demographics of Student Device Ownership: An Examination of the Personal Computing Ecosystems of Students in Higher Education. Educational Technology & Society, 26(3), 129 - 140.

In this article Elliott illustrates the dependency higher education has on the use of digital materials (text, audiovisual, software). Students in higher education are largely responsible for providing the devices require to interact with the course materials. This study describes a large-scale survey of student ownership and use of computing devices  at a large university in the midwestern united states. The results demonstrate that students generally have access to devices that don’t allow them to engage with their digital Course materials, but age and demographic factors correlated with socioeconomic status appear to impact the type and quality of devices owned. The study was conducted by anonymous survey at a major public university with over 90,000 students.

Ali, C., 2020. The Politics of Good Enough: Rural Broadband and Policy Failure in the United States. International Journal of Communication 14, 5982-6004.

Intensifying with the pandemic, the U.S. rural/urban digital divide has been a policy concern for more than a decade. Living, working, and studying online from home is not possible for more than 42 million Americans, most notably in rural communities who lack broadband. Methods include thematic coding analysis of FCC rural broadband policies. Comments from the Rural Broadband Strategy and RDDF were also analyzed. They represent historical chronology. 

Hamilton, J., Morgan, F., How Economics Affects The Information Lives Of Low Income Individuals. International Journal of Communication, 2018.

This article applies economic principles to an exploration of the digital divide about how information is produced for, acquired by, and utilized by low-income individuals in the United States. Income inequality readily translates into information inequality. Methods used are economic principles to explore how information is utilized by low-income individuals in the united states.