ABSTRACT
The “digital divide,” put simply, is the divide between those people who have access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) and those who do not: the “haves” and the “have nots,” the “information rich” and the “information poor” (bridges.org, 2002). Norris (2001) identifies a multidimensional digital divide, consisting of three distinct divides: global, social, and democratic. The global digital divide refers to an international disparity in access to the Internet between industrialized and developing countries, whereas the social digital divide is the difference between the information rich and the information poor in any individual nation. The democratic digital divide is “the difference between those who do, and do not, use the panoply of digital resources to engage, mobilise, and participate in public life” (Norris, 2001, p. 4).
