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This study describes 26 English language teaching faculty members’ and 32 preservice English as a foreign language teachers’ emergency remote teaching experiences and emotions. Verbal data gathered through an online questionnaire with open questions were analyzed using semidirected content analysis. Most faculty and all students reported negative feelings, which were connected with some faculty members’ focus on delivering content without interaction and with insufficient Internet access. Some students’ autonomy allowed them to overcome the first of these challenges. Teachers with online education training reported better experiences. Thus, universities and the State must provide more training and equipment to close the digital gap and ensure effective emergency remote teaching.

Today’s global, knowledge-based society and economy need creative thinkers in all fields: engineering, medicine, arts, entrepreneurship and education. Educational institutions are tasked with finding new ways of encouraging students to become creative both as individuals and groups. Still, motivation and creativity are only a few of the primary educational goals. They are ambiguous by nature, theoretical, and hard to implement in the real world. Nevertheless, it is a common belief that creativity is an important trait that students should possess in order to face the quickly evolving world. The purpose of this study is to examine the related published works on games, software, imagination, education and creativity. We seek to gather useful information that would both draw attention to this problem and how Open-Source Software (OSS), as a model, can drive students’ creativity.

Digitalization of all spheres of society has brought significant changes in the practices and forms of reading in the XXI century. Along with the traditional (analog, reading from a paper), a new format of reading has appeared and widespread – digital format (computer, electronic, from screen). It changes the nature of the reader's interaction with the text, has potential opportunities (social reading) and risks (digital inequality). In this regard, the role of libraries (as well as cultural and educational institutions) in enculturation society to the new digital literacy and elimination of negative consequences of digital inequality is increasing. The purpose of the article is to study the specifics of the development of reading in the modern world, to ground characteristic features of reading from the paper and the screen. For this purpose, various points of view of scientists on the originality of reading activities in various formats, the effectiveness of perception of a printed and an electronic text are given; the results of research projects conducted in many countries of the world to identify the characteristics, opportunities, risks and prospects for the development of traditional and digital reading are analyzed and summarized. It is concluded that there have emerged and continue to evolve screen reading practices. Reading in the digital environment as a new way of contacts via electronic texts dynamically changes the communication environment, speeding up and simplifying consumer access to information, has many opportunities and advantages, and transforms reading skills and habits of society. Moreover, at a new technological stage of development, it revives social reading, intensifies digital inequality, leading to a secondary mental-­cognitive digital gap, and modifies personal reading experience of contemporaries.

This article outlines how the rapid evolution of the ICT sector in highly-developed economies has resulted in digital inequality between the EU-15 and countries that joined the EU in the first and second decades of the 21st century. The main hypothesis of the study is that digital inequality be-tween the economies of EU member states weakens the competitiveness of the EU in the area of EU economy 4.0 in the global market and could threaten European digital sovereignty, including the issue of access to public and private data and digital identity protection. The results of the an-alysis show that the currently existing digital inequality widens the digital gap between the EU and the US and China, and further bolsters the digital dominance of non-European countries. The main challenge lies in providing national economies of Central and Eastern Europe with appropriate instruments that would allow them to make up for these digital deficiencies . The study used critical literature analysis and data contained in the reports of the OECD, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, UNCTAD, WTO and European Commission materials.

Nowadays, students expect that their university will not only provide a valuable source of practical knowledge for them, but will also be ready to offer appropriate distance learning opportunities both on a daily basis to diversify and enrich the study process experience and during global pandemic crises, which will probably be the reality of their lives in the next decades. The novelty and topicality of this study is justified by the need to assess the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the European Union higher education system and its adaptability to switch from traditional to remote study forms. The objectives of the study were: 1) to analyse the need to improve digital skills in the European Union by investigating the achievements of the Digital Economy and Society Index; 2) to assess the current digital environment of Latvian public universities and conduct an in-depth study of the digital environment of Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. The research methodology is based on the desk study, social survey, comparative analysis and logical construction research methods. The results of the study revealed the digital gap that still exists between the more developed Nordic European countries and the less developed Southern and Eastern European countries. However, detailed analysis of the situation in Latvia leads to the conclusion that Latvian higher education institutions have significantly increased the amount of digital content in both external and internal communication systems and can offer competitive educational services that comply with the contemporary education requirements.

In 21st century, competencies mediated with ICT are key for development at the educational area. This is the reason why this research aims to assess perception on level of competences of secondary school teachers on technological tools to promote collaborative work methodologies with their students and determine if said level has influence on the implementation of these experiences. Design implies a mixed model based on the application of a questionnaire divided in three parts: demographic aspects, level of knowledge on collaborative tools and experiences on collaborative work with students. Sample (n=542) corresponds to secondary education teachers from Dominican Republic. In analysis, nonparametric tests and categorizations were used. Results suggest that teachers require of a better formation on collaborative methodologies and tools mediated by ICT and, additionally, results indicate that there is a digital gap between male and female teachers, as the first group had more advantages.

Digital divide is among the most important problems required to be overcome by our contemporary information society, where skills are among the principle determinants of such inequalities. This study examines the digital divide in a non-Western population which has not been studied before, and specifically it measures the digital skill levels of the people living in the Northeastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The primary contribution of the study is confirmatory of previous research regarding digital skills, though in the context of a previously-unexamined population. By using a sample representing the region (n =400), the digital skill levels of the participants were measured. Data were collected through performance tests developed by van Deursen, A.J.A.M., and J.A.G.M. van Dijk (2010. Internet skills and the digital divide. New Media & Society 13, no. 6: 893-911. doi:10.1177/ 1461444810386774). Findings indicate that the digital skill level of the participants is generally low. The users are most successful at the formal level, followed by operational, informational and strategic skills, respectively. The level of strategic skills is quite low, which hints at the fact that the users studied are not able to translate their Internet use into real-world tangible benefits. It is also found that age, gender, education, household income significantly predict digital skill levels.

The changes in the advertising industry are rapid and dizzying. The advertising industry is going through structural change and advertising education faces a daunting challenge in keeping up with t...

With the wide application and development of big data, digital economy has become the innovation power of global economic growth and has an important impact on the development of global social and economic cooperation. From an international perspective, this paper analyzes the development trend and achievements of the United States, the European Union and important international organizations in the field of digital economy. On this basis, this paper analyzes the current situation and challenges of the development of China's digital economy, and puts forward suggestions and measures to promote the development of China's digital economy in view of the digital gap, value assessment, development mode, talent training.

The paper seeks to show the importance alternative pedagogical methods had when trying to reopen schools on-site and online. Resilient schools were not created in this pandemic. In previous natural disasters, educational institutions needed to used online resources to maintain schools open. A literature review is presented, aiming for answers on inclusion in flexible school settings, solutions for the digital divide and different responses to the crisis produced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, Australia and New Zealand cases are presented, as well as introducing the flexischooling phenomenon and the digital divide. Both Australia and New Zealand recognise the rights for families to homeschool or to take children to alternative educational institutions, therefore, is legal. In the pair, it is observed how this legal status of alternative educational options both online and flexible, has strengthened the governmental response on closing the digital gap. Therefore, their reaction when lockdowns were ruled was significantly fast, especially in New Zealand. In conclusion, the article offers an interesting debate on the need for on-site education or flexibility when creating inclusive schools and critical thinkers, presenting both sides of the conversation. Lastly, it is highlighted the need to upgrade the school system to enhance a resilient response in future crisis. El presente artículo busca mostrar el efecto que han tenido los métodos alternativos de enseñanza flexible en la búsqueda de reabrir escuelas presencialmente u online. Las escuelas resilientes no son una invención de esta pandemia. En previas catástrofes naturales, distintas instituciones educativas ya utilizaron los recursos online para seguir impartiendo su docencia. En búsqueda de respuestas sobre la inclusión en entornos de educación flexible, soluciones a la brecha digital y distintas respuestas a la crisis de la COVID-19, se presenta una revisión bibliográfica centrada en el caso de Australia y Nueva Zelanda, así como en el entendimiento del fenómeno de la educación flexible y la brecha digital. Tanto Australia como Nueva Zelanda reconocen el derecho de las familias para educar en casa y la opción del flexischooling es legal. Se observa como en ambos países, donde ya está normalizada la enseñanza online o la educación en el hogar, llevan muchos años en la lucha por cerrar la brecha digital y, por tanto, su respuesta ante los distintos confinamientos fue significativamente rápida, sobre todo en el caso del país kiwi. Como conclusión se reflexiona sobre la necesidad de presencialidad para lograr una educación inclusiva y direccionada al desarrollo del sentido crítico mostrando argumentos contrarios y relacionándolo con la información previa. Por último, se reflexiona sobre la necesidad de modernizar los sistemas educativos para una respuesta resiliente en futuras crisis.

El acceso a las tecnologías digitales es un derecho humano ampliamente garantizado para las personas con discapacidad, en tanto estas aportan a la inclusión social, a la autonomía y vida independiente. Asimismo, las mismas, usadas y desarrolladas bajo los principios de accesibilidad y criterios de diseño universal, pueden contribuir significativamente a los procesos de educación inclusiva del colectivo con discapacidad. Partiendo de este reconocimiento, se exponen los primeros avances de una investigación que indaga en la brecha digital de las personas con discapacidad en los espacios educativos del noroeste argentino. Por medio de un recorrido bibliográfico se explicitarán los principios epistemológicos que la estructuran, los conceptos teóricos que delimitan el objeto de estudio y los aportes de otras investigaciones conexas que brindan información para su contextualización., Access to digital technologies is a widely recognized human right for people with disabilities, as they contribute to social inclusion, autonomy and independent living. Furthermore, when digital technologies are used and developed under the principles of accessibility and universal design criteria, they can contribute significantly to the processes of inclusive education for disabled people. Departing from this recognition, it is exposed the first advances of a research that investigates the digital gap of the people with disabilities in the educational spaces of the Argentine Northwest. By means of a bibliographic journey, the epistemological principles that structure this research, the theoretical concepts that delimit the object of study and the contributions of other related researches that provide information for its contextualization will be explained., Facultad de Trabajo Social

What is more influential—technology or society? While this issue has been in constant dilemma for many researches, the situation in Israel is clear: Israel is a leading high-tech country and technology is leading society in all aspects. In terms of technology, Israel is a technologically advanced market economy. It is known as a “Start-up Nation”, which means that its economic growth is stupendous and leading in high-tech worldwide. On the other hand, Israel is among the most impoverished of the OECD member countries, with a high rate of poverty and a social and digital big gap between its rich and poor. The main issue that this research investigates is the social gap of a developed country and a leading start-up nation which falls behind many countries in major social and policy categories. As the research demonstrates, Israel is a prime example of the domination of technology over society. The country’s development is a product of the digital revolution which situates Israel as a developed country in terms of technology, however also has been negative for the socio-economic inequality, to what this research defines as the digital gap.

Absztrakt: A tanulmany a digitalis egyenlőtlensegek fogalmaival es főbb kutatasi iranyaival ismerteti meg az olvasot. Kiter Magyarorszag jelenlegi helyzetere es osszeveti azt az europai orszagok digitalis hozzaferesi adataival, megallapitva, hogy Magyarorszag inkabb a leszakado orszagcsoportok koze tartozik. Az iras a nemzetkozi tanuloi teljesitmenymeresek adatai alapjan azt is vizsgalja, hogy a digitalis irastudas teruleten a tradicionalis egyenlőtlensegi dimenziok ervenyesulnek-e. Megallapithato, hogy Magyarorszagon az oktatasi egyenlőtlensegek dimenzioi e teruleten is hasonloan műkodnek, csak meg inkabb elmelyulnek.

The paper aims to analyze the territorial inequality in the Russian Federation, relying on the leading indicators of the availability and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by the population and households. The authors critically analyze the existing sources of statistical information and the existing system of indicators characterizing the availability and use of ICT by the population and households in Russia. The indicators used for assessing the digital territorial differences based on the resource-target approach were selected. The degree of unevenness of the digital development of regions within the federal districts and throughout the country as a whole is estimated. The influence of the territorial factor on the formation of indicators of accessibility and ICT use was revealed, and the degree of the relationship of availability and use of ICT in the regions of Russia was assessed. As a result of the analysis, the authors argue that the largest digital gap in the regions of Russia occurs in the affordability of ICT and the availability of skills for its use. At the same time, there is a definite tendency to reduce the digital divide of the regions in these indicators. The variance analysis confirms the importance of the influence of the regional factor on the formation of accessibility and use of ICT by the population and households. The analysis of regional differences in the digitalization processes showed that the problem of digital inequality is most acute, especially in rural areas compared with urban areas. The study of the degree of correlation between accessibility and use of ICT in the regions of Russia showed that the level of skills and knowledge, as well as the material capabilities of the population, which must be taken into account when developing measures to reduce the digital divide, are the essential factors.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar, a grandes rasgos, el incipiente panorama de la ciudadanía digital en México, en el marco de los grandes procesos de restructuración capitalista y del arduo tránsito hacia la democracia en el país. La metodología utilizada parte de un análisis histórico-estructural, el cual considera a la realidad social como una "totalidad relacional" que funciona y se desarrolla desde diversas dimensiones, articuladas en un mismo entramado histórico-social. Después de revisar dicho escenario, este trabajo explora los principales retos que enfrenta la construcción y desarrollo de la ciudadanía digital en México en la actualidad. The goal of this paper is to broadly analyze the incipient outlook of digital citizenship in Mexico within the framework of the great restructuring processes of capitalism and the arduous transition towards democracy in the country, which is currently going through a process of transformation. The methodology employed is historical-structural analysis, applied by Latin American social sciences to study complex phenomena, and which considers social reality as a "relational whole" that functions and develops from different "dimensions", which are articulated in the same sociohistorical framework. After broadly describing Mexico’s present scenario, the paper explores the main challenges current- ly faced by the construction and development of digital citizenship in the country.

As a result of the COVID-19 the teaching staff has been required to use technological tools that allow them to follow their activities under confinement. Teachers have highlighted the problem of the digital gap, updating and inequality that they suffer in Mexico as one of the historical problems to be addressed in this sector. This paper presents a platform designed to work as a meeting point between teachers with the digital gap and people willing to help them. The process was based on the User Centered Design approach in order to find a relevant solution.

Pharmaceutical business has started reaching out for e-business in Brazil, trying to better fill the digital gap and reach a higher audience. This type of business doesn’t show the same relation between digital and physical stores, as the Chris Anderson’ long tail theory perceived in bookstore business, but the recent increase of the delivery business has open possibilities and urged the pharmaceutical enterprises to follow. Based on precedent data, a high fidelity prototype was developed and a series of tests were applied to verify its usability and task flow. Conclusion discusses the relation of proposed interaction with users’ expectations, the usability tests with the prototype, the relation between stakeholders’ interests in the project, the influence of this factor in the applied methods and the final outcome, merging research science with market and business demands.

La pandemia ha obligado a cerrar instituciones educativas y a emplear otras formas de enseñar cómo es la educación virtual. Sin embargo, no todos han tenido las mismas oportunidades, debido a que existe una desigualdad tecnológica. Es por ello, que la investigación tiene como objetivo identificar la brecha digital en la educación, dificultad generada en tiempos de pandemia COVID-19 desde la percepción de los padres de familia del subnivel inicial del Cantón Gualaceo. Para ello, el trabajo fue desarrollado desde una tipología descriptiva no experimental y de cohorte transversal, apoyada en un enfoque mixto, mediante la aplicación de una encuesta y un grupo focal, identificándose la dificultad principal que es la brecha digital de uso de la tecnología, es decir, la falta de conocimiento o bajo nivel de competencias digitales de los representantes legales, inconveniente que afecta el apoyo directo del aprendizaje de los niños en sus hogares.

Se inicia el análisis mostrando la relevancia de las conexiones de los contenidos en los entornos digitales y virtuales, a partir de las potencialidades de la Web Social y sus instrumentos, proceso basado en la interacción y por ende en la comunicación y que precisa la adquisición de competencias apropiadas. Se argumenta la naturaleza cognitiva de estas competencias a partir de un análisis comparativo con las competencias en información, destacando su efecto en una nueva brecha digital. Se abordan las propiedades inherentes de las competencias en comunicación a partir de la cultura participativa de modo que se hace precisa una especialidad académica propia, la New Media Literacy, cuyos fundamentos se argumentan mediante un análisis de sus agentes, actores, lenguaje, contexto y canal, con sus potencialidades, así como de la necesidad de un modelo evaluativo propio.

Teaching in Higher Education is with increasing frequency completed within a Learning Management System (LMS) environment in the Blended Learning modality. The use of learning objects (activities and resources) offered by LMS means that both teachers and students require training. In addition, gender differences relating to the number of students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and Non-STEM courses might have some influence on the use of those learning objects. The study involves 13 teachers (6 experts in e-Learning and 7 non-experts) on 13 academic courses (4 STEM and 9 Non-STEM) and a detailed examination of the logs of 626 students downloaded from the Moodle platform. Our objectives are: (1) To confirm whether significant differences may be found in relation to the use of learning objects (resources and activities) on Moodle, depending on the expertise of the teacher (expert vs. non-expert in e-Learning), (2) To confirm whether there are significant differences between students regarding their use of learning objects, depending on the expertise of the teacher (expert vs. non-expert in e-Learning), (3) To confirm whether there are significant differences for the use of learning objects among students as a function of gender. Differences were found in the use of Moodle learning objects (resources and activities) for teachers and for students depending on the expertise of the teacher. Likewise, differences were found for the use of some learning objects as a function of gender and the degrees that the students were following. Increased technological training for both teachers and students is proposed, especially on Non-STEM qualifications, in order to mitigate the effects of the technological gap and its collateral relation with the gender gap and the digital divide.

El artículo muestra el análisis del papel de las tecnologías de información y comunicación (tic) como mediadoras de políticas públicas dirigidas a la reducción de la pobreza en los municipios Bolívar y Villa del Rosario de la frontera colombo-venezolana; al seguir la metodología cuantitativa se halló su influencia comunicacional al proveer información, acortando la brecha digital e incitando el empoderamiento. The article shows an analysis of the role of the Information and Communication Technologies (ict) as mediators of public policies aimed at reducing poverty in the Bolivar and Villa del Rosario municipalities of the Colombian-Venezuelan border. When following the quantitative methodology, its communicational influence when providing information was discovered, bridging the digital gap and encouraging empowerment.

Videogames, televisions, and computers in all their forms, and smartphones, are everywhere to the extent that the time spent in front of a screen by all sectors of society now takes up most of the leisure time of the citizens of all four corners of the world. Yet in the face of this barrage of media, citizens have developed few formative experiences for acquiring these audiovisual and media languages or for increasing their audiovisual and media skills. The main aim of this study is to assess media competence in the Spanish region of Andalusia with the use of an instrument specially designed for the purpose. The measurement criteria and indicators of this tool are shaped by media literacy paradigms and leading international reference models, in particular the model proposed by Hobbs. The instrument consists of indicators which, according to their features, are measured via subjective or objective questions and multiple choice (ordinal or nominal) options. Measurement is standardized by the interpretation of the responses to the items on a scale of 1– 4. The construct is validated by means of factorial analysis to confirm the presence of the five factors (criteria) that form the instrument. The sample consists of 667 adult citizens aged 18–55, resident in Andalusia. The results corroborate the influence of demographic factors on media literacy levels and help identify clusters of citizens that can facilitate the design of targeted literacy projects. The results show that media competence is a construct articulated by dimensions of a varied nature that correlate in many different ways to distinctive social groups within this study.

The problem of forming digital literacy of society is considered through the created so­cio-cultural prerequisites for the implementation of digitalization programs in different countries. It is shown that the existing methods for the analy­sis of digital involvement allow fixing the existing «digital gap», but do not answer the question of ways to preserve human capital in peripheral re­gions. In particular, it is shown that the implemen­tation of the «knowledge society»concept becomes a reality only for those countries whose manage­ment system has been coordinated at the state and regional levels, and has been able to implement the principles of openness and accessibility in the field of education and information technolo­gy. The implementation of these principles makes it possible to build a more flexible education sys­tem, which will create socio-cultural prerequisites for remote and less developed regions to solve the country»s new tasks of creating universal digital literacy and neutralizing social problems caused by increasing digital inequality. The interdisci­plinary research uses institutional, functional and socio-cultural approaches. The conclusions are il­lustrated by the results of quantitative assessment of the main parameters used to determine the level of digitalization of society.

Digital practices are pervasive in the everyday lives of young people. However, to be emerged in digital networked practices does not inherently provide competences to critically examine media and online content. Formal learning could profit from young people's interests and enthusiasm in informal learning contexts, bridging the gap between formal learning and everyday digital practices. The school has an urgent and decisive role to promote digital literacies and to prepare young people to adapt to a changing world. This paper presents results from the project Net Children Go Mobile in Portugal to analyze the gap between digital practices and school. The digital gap between the culture of the school and the culture of children's lives outside school is not just about having more access to technology or more ICT training, it is essentially about having the competence of using critical thinking and a diverse set of skills in digital practices.

1.4 billion Euros. This is the amount spent on social media marketing in Europe. This figure is expected to reach 3.2 billion in 2017 (Forrester, 2013), an increase of nearly 150%. However, from the point of view of literature, the concept of social media is still new even though the importance of technology in communication has been studied before. This research focuses on adoption of social media by investigating the digital gap that could exist between generations. Based on a quantitative survey (414 answers), CFA and SEM analyses were used to highlight the main influencers of adoption of social media per generation. Results show that age influences optimism, innovativeness, and perceived usefulness of adoption of social media.

This paper explores the dissemination of access to home Internet among Whites and Blacks in the US, the inequalities observed between the groups (known as the digital divide), the trends exhibited by the two groups in the acquisition of Internet access, and the factors contributing to these disparities. The study focuses on the large and growing digital divide observed among Whites and Blacks in the period 1997–2007. Both the standard and a variant of the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition techniques are employed to identify and quantify the factors that contribute to this gap. In all decompositions, differences in education, family income, household composition, and access to the Internet outside the home are found to be the primary factors that explain the racial digital gap.

La mayoría de los países latinoamericanos están focalizados en elevar la calidad de los aprendizajes mediante la dotación de recursos tecnológicos a los centros educativos como si su mera presencia bastara para desarrollar las competencias fundamentales del siglo XXI. La lectura digital no es un fin en sí mismo, es un medio a disposición del usuario que la selecciona según sus propósitos y las utiliza en contextos socioculturales específicos. Los adolescentes acceden a Internet, al menos con cuatro fines: académicos, recreativos, para participar en la sociedad y comunicarse. Este estudio describe dichos fines en jóvenes de la República Dominicana y lo relaciona con el nivel de competencia lectora en dos contextos educativos, escuelas públicas y privadas. La muestra está compuesta por 382 estudiantes de cuarto de Secundaria. Se aplicaron dos instrumentos: CoLeP, basado en los textos liberados de PISA y una Escala de Práctica de Lectura, que clasifica los cuatros fines de lectura en dos formatos, impreso o digital. La conclusión es que casi todos los estudiantes acceden a Internet y lo utilizan para fines académicos sin importar el sector educativo, sin embargo, el nivel de competencia lectora difiere significativamente, ubicándose los estudiantes de las escuelas públicas en los niveles más bajos, lo que resta oportunidades a sectores socialmente más vulnerables y produce neoanalfabetos con altos costos económicos para la nación, Most Latin American countries are focused upon improving learning quality by providing schools with technological resources, as if their sole presence was enough to develop 21st Century skills. Digital reading is not an end in itself; it is a tool that a user selects, depending on the desired purpose and uses it in specific contexts. Adolescents access Internet with at least four purposes: academic, recreational, socialization and communication. This study describes said purposes in adolescents from the Dominican Republic and relates them to their reading literacy proficiency level in two educational contexts: public and private schools. The sample group included 382 students in their fourth year of secondary school (10th grade). Two instruments were used: CoLeP, based on texts from PISA, and a Scale to measure reading frequency, which classifies the four reading purposes in two formats: printed and digital. The conclusion is that most students access and use the Internet for academic purposes, regardless of the educational sector. Nevertheless, reading literacy proficiency differs significantly with students from public schools being in lower levels. This minimizes the opportunities of the most vulnerable social sectors producing reading illiterates that have high economic costs for the nation

In the past decades, information and communications technologies (ICTs) have fundamentally changed higher education and research, with the emergence of the World Wide Web—the greatest human-information construct in history—and the introduction of ICTs in teaching and learning, which spurred new interactive dynamic learning methodologies and enabled cross-cultural and flexible collaborative interactions. ICTs have become essential for higher education, as an infrastructure, a channel for information and communications, and a tool that helps drive innovation.

The technologies and skills in the ICT sector have boosted in the past forty years, but the profession has not followed this process. Unfortunately low levels of professionalism are typical nowadays. The EU encourages to increase the knowledge, skills and creativity of the European workforce (involved the ICT practitioners) by using effective lifelong learning. The information and communication technologies (ICT) take full advantage of the strategic and operational opportunities. More and more qualified ICT practitioners, e-skilled managers are needed to realize it. That is why the e-skills which increase the competitiveness, productivity of the workforce are in a central aspect in the European policies therefore education providers, governments and industries are to accomplish these processes have to collaborate and cooperate.

Our research analyses the digital divide within the European Union 27 between the years of 2008 and 2010. To accomplish this we use multivariate statistical methods, more specifically factor and cluster analysis, to address the European digital disparities. Our results lead to an identification of two latent dimensions and five groups of countries. We conclude that a digital gap does, in fact, exist within the European Union. The process of European integration and the economic wealth emerge as explanatory factors for this divide. On the other hand, the educational attendance is not proven to be significant, as one would expect.

This article explores the patterns of the digital divide in Turkey and analyzes policies related to this issue. Our analysis reveals that the digital disparities are interwoven with other social inequalities. This finding is parallel to the conclusions of previous research which suggests that digital exclusion can have a 'reinforcing' effect on social and/or economic inequalities. Having considered the current range of policies targeting either ICT access or skills, we argue that techno-centric solutions with huge budgets occupy the policy agenda at the expense of more sophisticated programs that take into account the social context of digital exclusion. These policies fail to address the most disadvantaged groups. Those who are old, disabled, female and reside in rural areas are less likely to be internet users and existing policies do not reach out to these groups. Publisher's Version Author Copy

Despite the efforts devoted to the analysis of the digital divide over the last years, the regional evidence on this issue is still scarce. Within this context, the goals of this paper are twofold: (1) measuring the digital divide across the regions of the 27 Member States and within each country and (2) explaining the observed regional disparities. The analysis leads to identify Dutch regions as the Top-10 in ICT, while Greece and Bulgaria occupy the Bottom-10. Therefore, results show that the regional digital divide reflects to some extent the income gap. However, regional policy seems to be having some positive implications for technology adoption. In particular, the rural-versus-urban dimension of the digital gap appears to be less important than it is usually claimed to. Likewise, some evidence is found of the role of cultural and institutional factors in ICT adoption, an issue that has not been previously analyzed at the regional level.

In order to bridge the digital gap and to facilitate the use of ICT in teaching and learning among lecturers and students in Nigeria universities, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) organized a workshop to train lecturers in the use of ICT skill and knowledge. It was expected that 12,000 lecturers from various universities will be trained. It was discovered that the idea was welcomed since most of them find if difficult to integrate ICT in their academic work. As a result of this, the study seeks to find out the success achieved among participants and their perception toward the programme.

The information society must be considered, above all, a society composed by people. For that reason, a social priority for the information society development should be centered in the acquisition of knowledge. To be included in the digital literacy means to have the technological capabilities that allow a person surviving in the information society. We try to offer real examples for the development of digital literacy in a variety of areas of application: education, social inclusion and firms. For that reason we describe and analyze the contribution of digital literacy to the following Spanish projects: Educared, which promotes the spread of Internet for innovation and pedagogical training amongst teachers, parents and students in primary and secondary schools; the Dana Project, which identifies good practices to reduce the digital gap based in gender; and Competic, a program offers good practices for the promotion of information and communication technologies in small and medium size firms.

African universities need information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance teaching and learning, to participate in collaborative research networks and to deliver high-level ICT experts for society. By adopting ICTs in an innovative way, higher education in Africa can pave the road towards the global knowledge society.

Our research was initiated in an attempt to analyse the digital gap between nations. With this aim, we approached the measurement of digital disparities between countries by means of multivariate statistical methods. In particular we used factor and cluster analysis to obtain a classification of the levels of digital development. This framework was applied to the European Union (EU) before its last increase in number of nations. The analysis led to the identification of two factors and four groups of countries in the EU, showing asymmetry in the development of the information society.

A tanulmány elméleti és empirikus eredmények tükrében vizsgálja az információs társadalom fejlődéséből adódó egyenlőtlen helyzeteket, a digitális szakadék fogalmát. A téma aktualitását az adja, hogy a digitális téren bekövetkező társadalmi és területi lejtő a korábbi egyenlőtlenségek 21. századi újjászületésének tekinthető. Az elemzésben foglalkozunk egy potenciális célcsoport, a romák információs társadalommal kapcsolatos attitűdjeivel, szerepkészletével is. A roma társadalmi csoportokkal készült kérdőíves vizsgálat adatai alapján sürgetjük azt, hogy a földrajzi periférián élő társadalmi csoportok számára induljanak a helyi igényeknek megfelelő digitális e-esélyegyenlőség politikák.

Using representative national surveys, this study tracks education, occupation, and gender access and use of digital technology among adults between 1983 and 2002. Although greater parity has occurred, substantial divisions remain. For individuals who owned a home computer, gender, education, and labor force gaps in home Internet access had largely disappeared by 2002, although better educated males still most often used home e-mail. Male college graduates most often had work web access or email. Gender gaps in online time rose from 1995 to 2002; men and very well educated adults increased their hours the most. Occupational variables were critical: many gender differences in information technology (IT) access and use lessened when labor force participation or occupational type were controlled. Although disparities have diminished, digital gaps across gender and educational level and among those with different labor force experiences continue.

ResumenEn el contexto del desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información y el Conocimiento (sic) y de las crisis mundiales del capitalismo global, el trabajo aborda la problemática de la brecha digital como una expresión de las desigualdades del siglo xxi. Se presentan los antecedentes del auge que comenzó a cobrar ese proceso en los últimos años del siglo xx, así como las propuestas y proyectos formulados por los países latinoamericanos para construir esa nueva organización social. Se hace énfasis en el carácter estructural del problema de la brecha digital, en tanto “nueva desigualdad”. Se señalan las transformaciones fundamentales de dicho concepto para luego, con el apoyo de algunas estadísticas, presentar en un contexto general algunos puntos de análisis sobre la brecha digital en América Latina y en México.AbstractIn the context of Information and Knowledge Society (iks) and global capitalisms world crisis, this work addresses the problems of the digital gap as an expression of inequalities in the 21st century. The precedents of the boom that this process began to gain in the last years of the 20th century are presented, as well as the proposals and projects developed by Latin American countries in order to build this new social order. The structural nature of the digital gap problem is emphasized, understanding it as a “new inequality.” The fundamental transformations of this concept are pointed out and, based on statistic data, some broad analysis points on the digital gap in Latin America and Mexico are presented.

Este artículo pretende establecer los rasgos fundamentales de la sociedad de la información y el conocimiento, SIC, y de contribuir a su conceptualización analizando sus orígenes históricos, tecnológicos y político-económicos. Asimismo, el trabajo aporta algunas cifras del llamado abismo o brecha digital, a fin de poner de manifiesto que existe un acceso desigual entre las naciones y entre los individuos que no sólo depende de la infraestructura disponible, sino de las habilidades de la población para manejar los nuevos desarrollos tecnológicos de la SIC. En este contexto, la autora enfatiza que el abismo o brecha digital representa una promesa discursiva alimentada por los organismos financieros internacionales, difícil de superar entre las naciones e individuos menos favorecidos debido a su situación socioeconómica real. This article (Information and Acknowledge Society. Between Optimism and Hopelessness) purpose to establish the fundamental characteristics of the information and acknowledge society (ICS), and to contribute to its conceptualization through the analysis of its historical, technological and political origins. This work offers some ciphers of the digital gap on the way to show the unequal access between nations and individuals. This status is not just because the infrastructure available, but for the capabilities of the people to handle the new technological developments of ICS’s. On this context the author affirms that this digital gap is more than a shot time goal, is a discursive promise made by the international financial organisms.

El artículo parte del supuesto que las tecnologías de la información no definen por ellas mismas los objetivos sociales que pretendemos alcanzar. La potencialidad democratizadora o innovadora de las tecnologías depende de los modelos sociales y pedagógicos en los que se inserte su utilización. Se analiza la brecha digital tanto entre países como en su interior, así como la dinámica de producción de contenidos y el impacto de las nuevas tecnologías sobre los resultados de aprendizaje. En el diseño de estrategias políticas se reconoce que la variable clave son los docentes y se alerta sobre la necesidad de que los procesos de introducción de las tecnologías de la información en las escuelas sean acompañados por instancias de experimentación y de evaluación, que son las únicas que pueden evitar falsas ilusiones y garantizar que las enormes inversiones que requieren estos procesos tengan los efectos buscados.

A raíz del estudio de las TIC en Educación (Legarda) y el estudio de la Cultura Visual en la identidad de las docentes (De Juan) nace esta aproximación holística, identitaria y generacional del papel determinante que juegan las TIC en el rol de la docencia. Desde la revisión teórica se analiza el nuevo contexto educacional en la Sociedad Web, con especial hincapié en la problemática de la Brecha Digital y la potencialidad de las TIC para hacer frente a los retos y pronósticos para este siglo XXI, donde la Escuela como institución va a mutar. El análisis profundiza en las características visuales de la tecnología y en su efecto en la Sociedad de la Cultura Visual en la conformación de identidades. Abstract: After studying the role of the ICT in Education (Legarda) and the Visual Culture in the identity of the teachers (De Juan), this article approaches both issues from a holistic, identity related and generational perspective. From the theoretical review, the new educational context is analyzed, the Web Society, focusing on the Digital Gap and the potential of the ICT to deal with the challenges of the 21st century, where the School as an institution will change. The analysis deepens in the visual characteristics of the technology and in it’s effect on the identity formation in the Visual Culture Society.

En una sociedad digitalizada que presenta cambios acelerados a causa del uso masivo de las TIC, se demandan estudiantes competentes, creativos, que posean conocimientos en tales campos, a pesar de que se considera que es complejo de aprender. Estos cambios se reflejan en todos los campos de la sociedad, no obstante, se subestiman en la educación rural donde la brecha digital es más sentida cada día. Ante la cantidad de herramientas tecnológicas que pueden integrarse al currículo para potencializar los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje, se decide implementar contenidos didácticos que, colectivamente con estas herramientas, para el caso Scratch y Makey Makey, fomenten habilidades del pensamiento de orden superior, y hacerlo entonces en la ruralidad con niños de grado cuarto y quinto demostrando que la tecnología debe ponerse al alcance de todos en aras de una inclusión digital sin distinciones, visionando el futuro del mundo rural de la mano del cambio tecnológico.

The present article reports a research project developed by the HIMINI research group, entitled “The Impact of a Hypermedial Environment on the Understanding and Production Processes of Verbal Artistic Texts by Students of Fifth Grade at Primary School”. The main aim of this study is to investigate the effects that a hypermedial environment, produced by this research group, may have on the fifth grade students’ learning of literature. The artistic texts that are central to this study are Short-short Stories and flash fiction. The main findings suggest that there is progress in the understanding and production of these types of literary texts, that the digital gap among the students who used the hipermedial environment is reduced, and that it fosters colective virtual intelligence with literary purposes.

The evolution of electronic administration (also called e-government) does not stop raising questions and creating challenges in relation to services offered on the internet, with the so-called "digital gap" or the emergence of a digital democracy. This paper attempts to present the general problematic with regard to the evolution of electronic administration, and in particular with regard to digital democracy. Finally, it offers a model for measuring the state of maturity of initiatives in favor of a digital democracy.

Over the last few years the mobile market in South East Europe (SEE) has experienced a rapid growth in terms of operators and penetration rates of mobile telephony. This is due to the fact that wireless telephony has a cost comparable to fixed and it is easier to be established in comparison with fixed. Moreover, the countries of SEE hope that through mobile telephony they will be able to decrease the digital gap between them and the European Union countries. An overview of the mobile telecommunications evolution in SEE countries is analyzed in this article.

Open educational resources (OER) is currently a worldwide growing trend fuelled by the advancement of the web. The wide adoption of this movement in languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and many others shows how powerful and influential this movement has played. On the other hand, the Arab World suffers from a significant digital gap, and a serious shortage of Arabic OER that serve their educational and cultural needs. In this paper, we shed the light on the current movement of OER in the Arab World in general and in Saudi Arabia in particular as well as discussing the challenges and opportunities facing this movement in the Arab region.