Jos de Haan. "A multifaceted dynamic model of the digital divide". T&Society, 1, 7, (Spring/Summer 2004), Pages 66-88.
Online: http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i07/v01i07a05.pdf
This article criticizes current research on the digital divide as being mainly descriptive, starting from a too simple criterion of access and failing to consider the many origins and consequences of differences in IT access. It presents the outlines of a needed multifaceted theoretical model in which Internet access is seen as dependent on the uses: 1) motivation, 2) possession, 3) digital skills and 4) use patterns. Various causes and consequences of differential IT access are being taken into account.
Having access to IT can be seen as only one factor that produces differences in social, cultural and economic outcomes. These outcomes, in turn, are also influenced by the forces that produce differences in IT access in the first place, as part of a larger pattern of feedback loops. Distinguishing direct from indirect effects using this model becomes an important empirical task. Results from previous empirical research, mainly conducted in the Netherlands, are used to illustrate parts of the model and possible theoretical outcomes of future research.
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