Introduction to the Special Series on the Digital Divide

A number of definitions can be found for the term. The Web site http://whatis.techtarget.com explains that the term “describes the fact that the world can be divided into people who do and people who don't have access to and the capability to use modern information technology, such as the telephone, television, or the Internet...The digital divide also exists between the educated and the uneducated, between economic classes, and, globally, between the more and less industrially developed nations” (Digital Divide, 2002). The American Library Association (2002) stresses that it includes differences in both “access to information through the Internet, and other information technologies and services” and in “the skills, knowledge, and abilities to use information, the Internet and other technologies.” According to the World Economic Forum (2002), “The issue of digital divide extends more broadly than merely that of direct access to technology. Instead, it can be conceived of as the disparity between how different nations are using information and communication technologies as a tool for social and economic development.”