THE DIGITAL DIVIDE INDEX – A MEASURE OF SOCIALINEQUALITIES IN THE ADOPTION OF ICT

Recent information society policies have been paying much attention to the threat of a "digital divide".The gap between citizens from different socio-economic backgrounds with regard to theiropportunities and abilities to access and use information and communication technologies iscommonly regarded as a potential barrier for participation in the information society. This papersuggests a method for measuring the digital divide on an aggregate level by defining a Digital DivideIndex (DDIX) which focuses on the presumably disadvantaged groups of society. The DDIX appliesdiffusion theory to the current digital divide research paradigm. It presents initial results for the 15EU Member States and the European Union as a whole. A comparison of the indices for the years1997 and 2000 shows that the digital divide in Europe has not yet decreased and that particularly theelderly and the low education segment of the population have failed to catch up with the average. Thepaper reports about research in progress which is linked to several indicator projects funded withinthe IST Programme of the European Union, especially to the projects SIBIS, BEEP and SeniorWatch.