Digital Capital

253 Pages·2017·2.643 MB·English

by  Sora Park (auth.)

D I G I TA L
C A P I TA L
Sora Park
Digital Capital
Sora Park
Digital Capital
Sora Park
University of Canberra
Bruce, ACT, Australia
ISBN 978-1-137-59331-3 ISBN 978-1-137-59332-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59332-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017947165
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A
cknowledgements
Writing is such a lonely endeavour because one has to spend so much
time alone. However, I was never lonely while writing this book, as I was
able to converse with the 232 interview participants and countless survey
respondents, who shared their life stories with my research teams. I feel
so privileged to have met these people who were willing to carve out
time from their busy lives to talk to us about their online activities and
how they felt about technology. The time I spend with research partici-
pants is what makes my job interesting. The small, selfless contributions
people make—that is what holds the world together.
As a student, I was trained in quantitative methods and loved the
efficiency and the bird’s-eye view that one can get from aggregating
data. I still truly value this way of examining and explaining the world.
However, while studying people and their new encounters with digital
technologies, I felt a need for a more grounded approach, and became
fascinated by the art of qualitative research. Individual projects reveal dif-
ferent and nuanced stories of the people who participate in them, and
the researcher can get a deeper understanding of how things work from
their perspectives. In this book, while I have tried to capture the broad
picture by looking at surveys and statistical data, I have also dug deeper
into individual accounts of what it means to be digitally engaged or digi-
tally excluded.
I am indebted to all my research partners, particularly the four teams
that made this book possible: the mHealth team, the children and inter-
net team, the digital writing project team, and the rural connectivity
v
vi ACKNOWLEDgEMENTS
team. The book is a product of numerous online and offline discussions,
fieldwork, reading and commenting on each other’s drafts, and casu-
ally exchanging ideas. In particular, I would like to thank Sally Burford,
Paresh Dawda, John Burns, Leif Hanlen, Paul Dugdale, and Chris Nolan
from the mHealth team; Julie Freeman, Catherine Middleton, and
Matthew Allen from the rural connectivity team; Eun-mee Kim and Eun-
Yeong Na from the children and internet team; and Naomi Baron and
John Hyman from the digital writing team.
I would like to mention my wonderful team of research assistants and
associates who were always eager to learn as well as provide their assis-
tance: Jee Young Lee, Megan Deas, Luke Toy, Yeji Kwon, Soeun Yang,
Yena Ko, and Morris Carpenter.
Thanks to my colleague John Campbell, I was able to see beyond my
narrow disciplinary biases. Mike Santer gave me the confidence to con-
duct this research about digital exclusion and made me realise how valu-
able it is to study non-users in a hyperconnected world. I cannot thank
Adrian Constance enough for generously sharing his insights and expe-
rience. I am in awe of his passion for clients who come to his training
classes. Our first encounter at the ACT Digital Hub was when I con-
ceived the idea of this book. I am also indebted to my dear colleagues
and friends at RDA Southern Inland, Hilltops Council, Ochre Health,
ACT Digital Hub, and the Writing Center at American University. I can-
not possibly name all the others involved in the projects, but I would like
to thank them for their contributions.
This book project would not have been possible without the generous
support of the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra.
Dean Lyndon Anderson and former Director Jerry Watkins gave me
the opportunity to focus on research for two years as a Senior Research
Fellow. For inspiring me over coffee sessions and giving me their sup-
port, I am deeply grateful to my team at the News & Media Research
Centre: Kerry McCallum, Kate Holland, Mathieu O’Neil, glen Fuller,
Caroline Fisher, Warwick Blood, Peter Putnis, Franco Papandrea, and
Alanna grant. Special thanks to Deborah Lupton for providing me
with sound advice on how to write a book. I would also like to thank
gwangjae Kim for offering insights into the Korean context during his
stay as a Visiting Scholar at the Centre.
ACKNOWLEDgEMENTS vii
My daughter Eugenie, who from the early age of 5 or 6 asked so
many questions about the internet and television, inspired me to study
how young people engage with media. I am forever in gratitude for her
unconditional confidence in her not-so-perfect mother.
This book is a collaborative effort with all these people and is based
on the foundation of a solid body of literature on digital literacy and dig-
ital inclusion. All errors and omissions are mine.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
Part I Reconceptualising Digital Inclusion
2 The Varied Spectrum of Digital Engagement 13
3 The State of Digital Inequalities: Interplay
Between Social and Digital Exclusion 35
4 Understanding Digital Capital Within a User’s
Digital Technology Ecosystem 63
5 Preconditions of Digital Engagement 83
Part II New Problems and Solutions
6 The Digital Shift 109
7 Digital Fluency 129
8 Information is Power 161
ix
x CONTENTS
Part III The Paradigm Shift in Digital Inclusion Policies
9 New Models of Digital Training 187
10 Revisiting Digital Divide Policies in the Age of
Hyperconnectivity 213
Appendix: List of projects 233
Bibliography 235
Index 239
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 1.1 Framework of an individual’s digital technology ecosystem 8
Fig. 4.1 Conceptual framework of the paths from inclusion
to skills to engagement 76
Fig. 5.1 Increased confidence after participating in the
mHealth programme (%) 100
Fig. 6.1 global internet penetration (individuals) 110
Fig. 6.2 global changes in major ICTs (2000–2015) 111
Fig. 6.3 global internet penetration estimate (2015) 111
Fig. 6.4 global data poverty map 112
Fig. 6.5 Households with broadband access by income quartile 113
Fig. 6.6 Diffusion of selected online activities amongst
internet users 118
Fig. 6.7 gaps in internet usage by age (2014) 119
Fig. 7.1 Conceptual model of digital fluency 133
Fig. 7.2 Relationship between social media use
and online social capital among Korean
and Australian youths 152
Fig. 8.1 Reasons for using Facebook (2013) 174
Fig. 9.1 Actual, perceived, and confidence level
of being digitally literate (%) 192
Fig. 9.2 Internet activities among Korean youths 194
Fig. 9.3 Digital literacy among rural and urban youths in Korea 195
Fig. 9.4 Types of digital training methods 199
Fig. 9.5 The training effect 202
Fig. 9.6 Confidence of trainees and non-trainees 203
xi