{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:26:37Z","timestamp":1777854397088,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2005,4,1]],"date-time":"2005-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1112313600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Information Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2005,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Defined as the differential degree to which rich and poor countries benefit from new information and communications technologies such as the Internet, the global digital divide is widely measured by international institutions in terms of the number of persons with individual access to those technologies. Yet, while this measure makes sense in the rich countries, where individual ownership is widespread among the population, it makes very little sense in poor countries. For, in the latter, what we find is that although individual access is indeed very limited, a remarkable number of local innovations ensure that the benefits of the Internet are made available to at least 10 million people throughout the Third World. Many such persons are illiterate, unskilled and resident in the rural areas of developing countries. These findings directly contradict the commonly held notion that there are few, if any, local innovations in the applications of the Internet outside the rich countries and those parts of poorer countries with close connections to the former (most typically through multinational corporations).From a policy point of view, we suggest that foreign aid donors and national governments pay less attention to providing individual access facilities such as so-called telecentres and focus instead on ways to foster indigenous rural innovation systems devoted to finding relevant and cost-effective applications of the Internet.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0165551505050788","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2005,2,21]],"date-time":"2005-02-21T16:24:18Z","timestamp":1109003058000},"page":"114-123","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":44,"title":["The global digital divide in the Internet: developed countries constructs and                 Third World realities"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"31","author":[{"given":"Jeffrey","family":"James","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Tilburg University, The Netherlands,"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2005,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","volume-title":"Gauging ICT Potential Around the World","author":"ITU","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb2","volume-title":"Spanning the Digital Divide","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb3","volume-title":"Asian Drama","author":"G. Myrdal","year":"1968"},{"key":"atypb4","volume-title":"Development Economics","author":"D. Ray","year":"1998"},{"key":"atypb5","series-title":"Africa Region Working Paper Series Number 20","volume-title":"Information and Communication Technology, Poverty and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia","author":"M. Pigato","year":"2001"},{"key":"atypb6","volume-title":"Guide to ICTs for Development","author":"A. Sood","year":"2002"},{"key":"atypb7","volume-title":"The Kiosks Networks: Information Nodes in the Rural Landscape","author":"A. Sood","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb8","volume-title":"Telecommunication Indicators Update","author":"ITU","year":"2002"},{"key":"atypb9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/palgrave.jit.2000019"},{"key":"atypb10","volume-title":"Telecommunications in Asia: A Closer Look at South Asia","author":"M. Minges","year":"2002"},{"key":"atypb11","volume-title":"150 New Community Multimedia Centres to be Set Up in Africa","author":"UNESCO","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb12","volume-title":"Challenges and Opportunities, for India Post in a New Environment","author":"World Bank","year":"2002"},{"key":"atypb13","volume-title":"Faster, Safer Snail-Mail in India","author":"S. Rai","year":"2001"},{"issue":"22","key":"atypb14","first-page":"168","volume":"38","author":"F. Noronha","year":"2003","journal-title":"Economic and Political Weekly"},{"key":"atypb15","volume-title":"India\u2019s Reluctant March Towards Democratising its Air-Waves","author":"F. Noronha","year":"2002"},{"key":"atypb16","volume-title":"Radio Broadcasting and the Internet: Converging for Development and Democracy","author":"B. Girard","year":"1999"},{"key":"atypb17","volume-title":"Kothmale Community Radio: Expanding the Knowledge Base","author":"W. Jayaweera","year":"2001"},{"key":"atypb18","volume-title":"The One to Watch: Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity","author":"S. Hughes","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb19","volume-title":"The One to Watch: Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity","author":"I. Pringle","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb20","volume-title":"Upgrading Traditional Rural Technologies","author":"J. James","year":"1979"},{"key":"atypb21","volume-title":"World Telecom Indicators","author":"ITU","year":"2004"},{"key":"atypb22","volume-title":"The One to Watch, ICTs and Interactivity","author":"B. Girard","year":"2003"},{"key":"atypb23","volume-title":"Agencia Informativa P\u00falsar: Free, Daily News Service for Community Radio in Latin America","author":"Association for Progressive Communications (APC)","year":"2001"},{"key":"atypb24","unstructured":"Forbes Magazine,                      \u2018Silicon Mali\u2019                  (2002). Available at:                 http:\/\/forbes.com\/global\/2002\/0204\/042_print.html (accessed 9 January 2002)."},{"key":"atypb25","volume-title":"Petersberg Prize Finalists","author":"Development Gateway","year":"2004"},{"key":"atypb26","volume-title":"Information and Communication Technologies for Development","author":"F. 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