The Deepening Divide

During the mid 90s around the time the Internet became popular it became apparent that there was still one critical issue holding back limitless opportunities. Computer professionals had to find a way to close the gap between those who do not have computer or Internet access and those who do also known as the digital divide. Suddenly hundreds of conferences of computer professionals social scientists and government policy experts worldwide dedicated themselves to this concern. Then the Internet hype seemed to dissipate and observers assumed the digital divide would fix itself. The Deepening Divide: Inequality in the Information Society explains why the digital divide is still widening and in advanced high-tech societies deepening. Taken from an international perspective the book offers full coverage of the literature and research and a theoretical framework from which to analyze and approach the issue. Where most books on the digital divide only describe and analyze the issue Jan van Dijk presents 26 policy perspectives and instruments designed to close the divide itself. Written in a simple thorough and multidisciplinary approach The Deepening Divide offers insights to students researchers policymakers and professionals in media and communication studies sociology educational policy public policy and computer education. Jan A.G.M. van Dijk is an internationally recognized expert in the field of communication with new media studies as his primary interest. The author of The Network Society: Social Aspects of the New Media (SAGE 1999) and co-editor of Digital Democracy: Issues of Theory and Practice (SAGE 2000) van Dijk is a professor of Communication Science at Twente University the Netherlands and serves as an advisor of the European Commission of the Information Society Forum.