Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Digital Inclusion or Exclusion?¡XThe Access and Usage of Internet in the Elderly

Chieh-Wen Liu, Rutgers University and Shu-Fen Tseng, Yuan Ze Unversity

Abstract
Universal access has become an important policy in the information society. There is no denying that computer and internet use is becoming increasingly commonplace in homes, schools, and on the jobs. According to the 2001 NITA report, there has been strong growth in computer and internet penetration rates for all age categories. Aged 50 and older experienced the highest rates of growth in internet usage of all groups, increasing 53 percent between December 1998 and August 2000. Although rates have improved, seniors continue to be the least likely group in the US to have internet access. The components of access of the elders have become critical index in the information society.

In addition to access, usage of online activity also differs among various age groups. Those 55 and older were least likely to use the internet in many of the surveyed categories, such as playing games, job searching, participating in chat rooms, and listing to the radio online. Nevertheless, this age group was more likely (42.7 percent) than any other age group to check health information online. Those 55 and older also showed equally e-mail use as any other adult age group.

The growth of internet access also can be found around the world. The internet connectivity rate has increased dramatically from 20.1 percent- in 1999 to 37.5 percent- in 2001 in Taiwan. Although the elderly show the least number of internet users compared to other age groups, they were the group that show the highest increase rate of internet access. It is particularly important to explore digital divide for the elderly, since more appropriate internet application has been developed in the recent years and assisted on ranges of daily activities that the elderly might need the most than other age groups. This study first explores the proportion of access divide and distribution of internet usage in the elderly in Taiwan. Secondly, the determinants of the information have and the information have-not in the elderly will be discussed. Thirdly, effects of access and usage on the internet application of daily life activities for the elderly will be analyzed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: During the 1990s, both scholarly and media discourses have been celebratory of the Internet in general. As Wolcott and Cagiltay (2001: 133) suggest, “the Internet has appeared as a powerful force for integrating local economies into the global economy, an engine for economic growth, a force for freedom, a threat to revenue streams of telecommunications providers and their governments, a facilitator of terrorist activities, and a corruptor of social values.” A global, neo-liberal policy agenda was popularized by the Clinton-Gore administration in 1993 through their proposal for the establishment of a Global Information Infrastructure (GII) and Global Information Society (GIS), which overlapped with both the GATS and the US’ own National Information Infrastructure (NII). The aim of this paper is to, first, briefly reflect on the policy and academic discourse on information infrastructure and digital divide in terms of the implications of the ways these concepts were regarded; secondly, to analyze the current situation in Turkey, a candidate to the EU, concerning access to the ICTs and factors affecting the digital divide; and thirdly, to discuss the vision offered by government-level IST policies and international events such as WSIS.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper, I explore one of the central struggles over the politics of globalization: creating alternatives to neoliberal strategies to open markets around the world and extend the processes of commodification and corporate control. I examine U.S. and Brazilian efforts to use free and open source software as forms of digital culture to develop new forms of digital inclusion. Indeed, they seek to create a digital form of the commons as an alternative to the dominant form of neoliberal globalization. In distinct yet complementary ways, hackers in the U.S. and government officials in Brazil seek to develop software-sharing communities that use free and open source software as forms of digital culture that allow for a new global commons. I explore three aspects of these efforts. First, I examine the work of Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, highlighting the complexity of the process of forging alternatives to neoliberalism as well as the potential for using existing laws designed to protect property rights to challenge and ultimately subvert those rights. Second, I examine the current Brazilian government strategy to use free and open source software to promote technological autonomy and resist the economic power of the Global North in the information technology sector. Third, I focus on the efforts of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, highlighting the possibilities for using cultural policy to forge alternatives to neoliberalism by making free software available as a global public good. This policy uses digital culture to foster new forms of collectivity and grassroots participation in social and cultural life, creating a foundation for innovative, alternative forms of globalization.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Mobile technology usage for other than voice has been common in Japan for close to ten years now, starting from popularization of text-messaging to early adoption of e-monetary platforms and adding cellular phones payment functions. Usage of a cell phone as an e-wallet, prepaid train pass and membership card for various services is now common in Japan.
Mobile technology also serves as the main tool for web access and email for many Japanese. As this has had a positive effect in increasing the digital inclusion statistics in Japan, a main problem of digital inclusion is being hidden at the same time. Web access through mobile technology may be promoting a ubiquitous digital environment, however, is not properly promoting the real benefits of digital inclusion. Due to the technical and interface constraints to remain a mobile tool, Internet access through mobile technology slow down the initial access to the wealth of knowledge to strategically improve citizens, and instead lead a majority of their users through their preset portals to the conveniently packaged commercial information. This is especially common among the older users of mobile technology.
On the other hand, Japanese youth have been at the forefront of mobile technology other than voice for over a decade, going back to when text communication through pagers were a fad among junior high and high school students. However, at the same time, problems in Japan are occurring among the youth of Japan and how they use current mobile technology. “Ura-site” or dark-sites of schools or classrooms are made to collect and concentrate gossip about school or classes and teachers, which are usually harmless, however have been turned into a tool for facilitating a type of cyberbullying, through using these sites to target specific members of their classes. For example, children can coordinate their behavior against a particular student using these sites, so they can communicate on how to begin ignoring or bullying students, or begin disobedience against teachers. The photo function, which is a convenient tool for most adults, becomes a tempting tool for youth to take hidden photographs of other classmates that can later be used for humiliation or extortion. “Profs” which provide profiles of cellular phone users, were meant to be used as service for promoting community building. However, access to these profiles that sometimes unknowingly provided private information, became the targets for access by sexual predators and have also been turned into weapons for cyberbullying. Escalation of negative activities of mobile technology has been linked to suicides among some youth in Japan.
This study will look at the possibilities and hopes that mobile technology have for us, but will also concentrate on the problems of digital inclusion linked with mobile technology, and the privacy issues that encompass the mobile environment. Statistical data from government agencies and private institutes will provide the rationale for discussing these problems and will make an attempt to provide solutions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Grounded in the idea that meaningful engagement with technology and technological infrastructures requires attention to access, ownership, education, and content regulation, this study interrogates the meaning of the term "digital inclusion" during debates over municipal wireless plans in San Francisco. Between late 2003 and early 2006, the city embarked on an effort to provide free wireless access to residents. By the end of its process to select a private vendor to build the system, and in response to input from the public, the city recognized it needed to serve individuals and communities with little or no chance of benefiting from mere access to the internet. As a result, city officials developed a broader vision for digital inclusion based around the availability of hardware and training as well as locally-relevant content. However, local government was shy to pursue the details of its approach and furthermore failed to think beyond community-based education for digital inclusion or contemplate the impact of a public-private ownership model on residents' abilities to meaningfully interact with the network. By analyzing official city discourse alongside public discussion, this research offers suggestions on how to redefine digital inclusion for municipal wireless broadband initiatives elsewhere in the United States.