Digital Divide

A digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact of information and communication technologies (ICT).The term Digital divide describes a gap in terms of access to and usage of information and communication technology, including the skills to make use of those technology within a geographic area, society or community

Conceptualization of the digital divide has been described as follows:

• Subjects who have connectivity, or who connects: individuals, organizations, enterprises, schools, hospitals, countries, etc.
• Characteristics of connectivity, or which attributes: demographic and socio-economic variables, such as income, education, age, geographic location, etc.
• Means of connectivity, or connectivity to what: fixed or mobile, Internet or telephony, digital TV, etc.
• Intensity of connectivity, or how sophisticated the usage: mere access, retrieval, interactivity, innovative contributions.
• Purpose of connectivity, or why individuals and their cohorts are (not) connecting: reasons individuals are and are not online and uses of the Internet and information and communications technologies ("ICTs").

Dynamics or evolution, whether the gap of concern will increase or decrease in the future, when the gap of concern would be maximized.

Attempts to bridge the digital divide include a program developed in Durban, South Africa, where very low access to technology and a lack of documented cultural heritage has motivated the creation of an “online indigenous digital library as part of public library services.” This project has the potential to narrow the digital divide by not only giving the people of the Durban area access to this digital resource, but also by incorporating the community members into the process of creating it.

Another attempt to narrow the digital divide takes the form of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). This organization, founded in 2005, provides inexpensively produced "XO" laptops (dubbed the "$100 laptop", though actual production costs vary) to children residing in poor and isolated regions within developing countries. 

Nations where poverty compounds effects of the digital divide, programs are emerging to counter those trends. Prior conditions in Kenya - lack of funding, language and technology illiteracy contributed to an overall lack of computer skills and educational advancement for those citizens. This slowly began to change when foreign investment began. In the early 2000s, The Carnegie Foundation funded a revitalization project through the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS). Those resources enabled public libraries to provide information and communication technologies (ICT) to their patrons. In 2012, public libraries in the Busia and Kiberia communities introduced technology resources to supplement curriculum for primary schools. By 2013, the program expanded into ten schools.