Ethical Implications of the Digital Divide and Social Exclusion

Abstract

Despite that global internet usage continues to expand given the increase in the number of computer ownership and Internet access, a divide persists between information rich and information poor, which is people with lower incomes, education levels, skill and capacity, minorities, as well as those living in rural areas. Building on numerous researches on the digital divide, this study argues for a different set of metaphors by which digital divide should be understood, valued and managed. It examines the understanding that the digital divide is inevitably tied to the concept of social inequalities in every society. With an insight provided for understanding the independent and different layers of the digital divide, a criterion on appropriate approach toward tackling the problem of digital divide is thus supplied. Findings have significant implication for cumulative research on the subject of digital divide in Africa.