Digital divide
The digital divide is unequal access to digital technologies and the skills, resources, and opportunities needed to use them effectively.
Broadband internet access: Availability and use of high-speed internet connections by households, businesses, and institutions. Network coverage and connection quality determine whether digital services are reachable.
Educational technology: Digital tools and systems used to support teaching, learning, and educational administration. Unequal devices, connections, and skills can limit students’ access to learning.
Information society: A society in which information production, processing, and communication have a central economic and cultural role. The divide became salient as daily life and institutions moved online.
Rural broadband: High-speed internet service in sparsely populated areas outside major urban centers. Low population density and infrastructure costs leave many rural communities underserved.
Digital divide measurement: Methods for assessing inequalities in access to, use of, and outcomes from digital technologies. Different indicators can produce different accounts of who is excluded.
Digital literacy: The ability to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information using digital technologies. Devices and connections yield less benefit when people lack the skills to use them.
Telemedicine: The delivery of clinical services at a distance using telecommunications technologies. Connectivity and digital skills affect who can use remote health care.
Internet access: The ability to connect to and use the global system of interconnected computer networks. The term first gained prominence around unequal access to the internet.
Urban digital divide: Unequal access to digital technologies and skills among residents of cities. Urban proximity to networks does not eliminate affordability and skills barriers.
Digital redlining: The systematic exclusion of communities from digital services or infrastructure, often through discriminatory decisions. Unequal deployment can reflect institutional choices as well as technical constraints.