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What does it mean to be digitally poor?

What does it mean to be digitally poor?

Roxana Barrantes in Digital Poverty: Concept and Measurement states that in the concept of digital poverty, we are concerned not with any particular information and communication, but with data that can be stored, made available, used, and consumed by digital media (http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/337.pdf).

The meaning of digitally poor indicate how far/much someone is able to use digital communication technologies that broaden the equipment’s functionality in order to facilitate information and communication. If someone cannot use the digital technologies for his/her need, he/she is categorized as digitally poor. Therefore, digitally poor individuals are not only low-income or people with unfulfilled basic needs. According to Barrantes digitally poor individuals may also include people who could not be called poor when their economic conditions are evaluated.

But in my opinion, digital poverty (need to use abstract noun) also relates to their income and education. For example,  if someone is low income, he/she cannot buy the multi-media equipment that is needed. So he/she will find it difficult to access (OR have difficulty in accessing) many sources from the web, radio, or television. This may be due to lack of knowledge of its use or lack of communication services. Low-income situation also relates to the level of education. When someone lives in absolute poverty, he cannot reach a higher education so he/she may be  illiterate. Because someone  has a higher education level, he is less likely  to be a digitally poor person.

Yohanes Bambang Mulyono

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