Digital Capital

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Sora Park

   Pages 1-10

3. Reconceptualising Digital Inclusion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

      PDF

   2. The Varied Spectrum of Digital Engagement

      • Sora Park

      Pages 13-34

   3. The State of Digital Inequalities: Interplay Between Social and Digital Exclusion

      • Sora Park

      Pages 35-62

   4. Understanding Digital Capital Within a User’s Digital Technology Ecosystem

      • Sora Park

      Pages 63-82

   5. Preconditions of Digital Engagement

      • Sora Park

      Pages 83-106

4. New Problems and Solutions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 107-107

      PDF

   2. The Digital Shift

      • Sora Park

      Pages 109-127

   3. Digital Fluency

      • Sora Park

      Pages 129-160

   4. Information is Power

      • Sora Park

      Pages 161-183

5. The Paradigm Shift in Digital Inclusion Policies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 185-185

      PDF

   2. New Models of Digital Training

      • Sora Park

      Pages 187-212

   3. Revisiting Digital Divide Policies in the Age of Hyperconnectivity

      • Sora Park

      Pages 213-232

6. Back Matter

   Pages 233-247

   PDF

This book describes and understands the many factors that influence a person’s behavior towards digital technologies, and how that affects the person’s potential to benefit from digital society. The ability to adapt to these new technological environments - and the extent to which an individual embraces them - has become critical to an individual’s well-being and quality of life, the underlying assumption being that only by effectively engaging with digital technologies can the user accrue benefits from the experience. By introducing the concept “digital capital,” which refers to the conditions that determine how people access, use, and engage with digital technology, Park examines how the digital ecosystem of the user lead to new forms of digital inequality. Using numerous empirical studies on internet users and non-users, as well as recommending small localized solutions to the big global problem, a critical and alternative perspective of the digital divide is provided.

• digital capital
• technology
• social media
• information
• connected
• internet
• devices

“This is a timely intervention into the literature on digital inclusion, inequality, and literacy, which both historicises and updates the literature for our contemporary conditions of digital ubiquity.” (Dr Bjorn Nansen, The University of Melbourne, Australia)

• University of Canberra, Bruce, Canberra, Australia

  Sora Park

Sora Park is Director of the News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra, Australia. Her research focuses on digital media users, media markets and policy.

Policies and ethics