The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink ways to avoid forms of digital exclusion or digital discrimination. This edited collection comprises of chapters written by respected scholars from a variety of countries, and brings together new scholarship addressing what the process of digital inclusion means for individuals and places in the countries analyzed. Each country has its own strategy to guarantee that people can access and enjoy the benefits of the information society. While this book does not presume to map all the countries in the world, it does shed light into these strategies, underlining what each country is doing in order to reduce digital inequalities and to guarantee that socially disadvantaged people (in terms of disabilities, availability of resources, age, geographic location, lack of education, or ethnicity) are digitally included.
Introduction: Digital Inclusion: Empowering People through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Massimo Ragnedda and Bruce Mutsvairo Part I: Digital Inclusion in Advanced Countries Chapter 1: Reducing and Preventing Digital Discrimination: Digital Inclusion Strategies in Europe, Massimo Ragnedda Chapter 2: Not So Ubiquitous: Digital Inclusion and Older Adults in Australia, Sue Malta and Raelene Wilding Chapter 3: Digital Inclusion in International Perspective: An Asset-Based Approach to Digital Inclusion Research in the US Context, Bianca C. Reisdorf and Colin Rhinesmith Part II: Digital Inclusion in BRICS Countries Chapter 4: From Access to Proficiency: Reconceptualising Digital Inclusion in a Rural Area in South Africa, Lorenzo Dalvit Chapter 5: Mapping the Evolutive Trajectories of China's Digital Divide: A Longitudinal Observation, Jianbin Jin, Fanxin Meng, Anfan Chen, Lin Shi, and Tao Wang Chapter 6: Changes in Knowledge Acquisition According to the Proximity with Digital Media Networks, Andrea Limberto Part III: Digital Inclusion in the Middle East Chapter 7: Digital Inclusion in Jordan: Opportunities and Hurdles, Hanna Kreitem Chapter 8: An Explanatory Analysis of Facebook's Effect on Social Cohesion in Iran, Hamid Abdollahyan and Mahin Sheikh Ansari Chapter 9: "Nothing Is Ever Truly New": The Persisting Digital Exclusion in Israel, 2002-2013, Amit M. Schejter, Orit Ben-Harush, and Noam Tirosh Part IV: Digital Inclusion in Africa Chapter 10: ICT and Development: Narrowing the Digital Divide and the Knowledge Gap of ICT Users in Cameroon and Ghana, Kehbuma Langmia and Christiana Hammond Chapter 11: Kenya's Digital Divide: Challenged, Evolving, and Persistent, Norbert Wildermuth Afterword, Why Digital Inclusion Now? Gerard Goggin
