Views of Digital Divide: A Literature Review

Abstract

The term ‘digital divide’ was introduced in the mid-1990s and has become popular as an area of interdisciplinary concern. The term has received much attention from many researchers and policy makers. However it remains an important object of public policy debate that encompasses social, economic and political issues which affects humanity and the universe at large. ‘Digital divide’ may result in ‘knowledge divide’ or ‘information divide’ which reflects the level of knowledge and information about the universe and one’s immediate environment as well as its protection. Lack of such knowledge and information may also have specific implications for the socio-economic development in different communities. This paper reviews the literature on the digital divide with regard to researchers’ different views on the concept. The literature reviewed in this paper includes journal articles and conference papers published between 2000 and 2014 from various areas, namely information technology and information science, social science and education, and economics and management science. It is clear from the ‘review’ that the digital divide is viewed differently by the researchers. The different views of the digital divide are influenced by a number of factors such as the researcher’s field of study, how the researcher understands the concept digital divide, and problems which the researcher intends to solve. The paper structured the existing literature on digital divide according to views of different authors.