Title

Cultural Dimensions of the Digital Divide: Information and Communication Technologies and Brockton’s Cape Verdeans

Document Type

Grant Proposal

Date Accepted

Spring 2004

Project Description/Abstract

Policy concerning and research into the Digital Divide has focused on identifying and eradicating differences in Information and communication Technologies (ICT) access. These interventions frame access discrepancies in simple demographic terms and often equate ICT access – at work, home, technology centers – with practices, understandings, and skills that ensure a productive ICT-filled life. However, the meaning of ICT adoption and use is not uniform across cultures – equal access does not equate to equal usage and satisfaction. As such, ICT success is not only a question of access, but also one of cultural sensibility: cultural background contributes to the adoption and use of ICT. This purpose of this preliminary study, therefore, is to investigate the role of culture in ICT adoption and use by looking at Brockton, Massachusetts’s Cape Verdean community. It examines how information about technology flows through the community and how the community understands, values, and uses ICT.

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