Benchmarking digital divide: definitions used and methods applied

Abstract

Paper first discusses some specifics regarding terminology and concepts of the first, second, dual and third digital divide. Paper also extends the measurement of the digital divide phenomena above the simple comparison of percentage related to the information technology penetration across different countries and socio-demographic segments. Two examples of advanced methodological measurements are presented: a composed measure - the digital divide index (DIDIX) and the time distance methodology, which offers a significant improvement at both conceptual and application levels