Adoption of ride-sharing apps by Chinese taxi drivers and its implication for the equality and wellbeing in the sharing economy

The adoption of ride-sharing apps is critical to the survival of taxi drivers in the mobile-driven sharing economy. Based on survey data collected from 1195 licensed taxi drivers in Beijing, the authors present an integrated technology adoption model that combines technology and use factors (perceived usefulness and ease of use), social factors (word-of-mouth, peer adoption and subjective norms), system factors (socioeconomic and digital inequality), and audience factors (demographic characteristics and innovative personality traits). The results showed that adoption was innate, inherited, and socially driven. Adoption was positively associated with income, access to technologies, innovative personality trait, peer adoption, word-of-mouth, and perceived usefulness of the apps. The implications of the findings for inequality in the sharing economy are discussed.     

Mapping the two levels of digital divide: Internet access and social network site adoption among older adults in the USA

Older adults have increasingly adopted Internet and social network sites (SNSs), but little communication scholarship has explored systematic differences in access within this population. Using a nationally representative sample of Americans over the age of 50 years from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study, we examine Internet access (N?=?18,851) and SNS adoption patterns (N?=?869) among this sample and explore how these patterns vary by age. Regarding Internet access, results suggest that while the gender divide has reversed in favor of women, older adults who are economically, socioculturally, or physically disadvantaged are less likely to have reliable Internet access. In addition, the view that the various divides in Internet access are less of a concern for those who are younger is only partially supported, as some access-related divides do not vary by age or even decrease with age. For SNS adoption, we found that access to technological resources (diversity of online activities) positively predicts SNS use. Moreover, SNS users are more likely to be younger, female, widowed, and homemakers, perhaps because these individuals are more motivated to use SNSs to complement or compensate for their existing social status. These findings reveal unique challenges and motivations in relation to Internet access and SNS adoption patterns across the later life span.     

Digital skills and social media use: how Internet skills are related to different types of Facebook use among ‘digital natives’

Based on the idea that Internet use can be conceptualized in terms of depth (frequency) and width (differentiated) uses of the Web, this study explored how socio-demographic factors and digital skills are related to frequency and types of Facebook use among young adults. It used a face-to-face representative survey conducted in the three main urban areas of Chile among a sample of 18-to 29-year olds. The results found that men and more educated young people had higher levels of skills, confirming that the so-called ‘digital natives’ are not a monolithic group. They also revealed that digital skills did not predict frequency of Facebook use. Furthermore, lower educated young people tended to use Facebook more frequently. Although these results go against the long-established digital divide research, traditional digital gaps emerged when types of use were analyzed. While more educated and skillful individuals tended to use Facebook for informational and mobilizing purposes, socio-demographic factors and skills did not make a difference in Facebook use for social purposes.     

信息素质教育与数字鸿沟问题探讨

加强大学生信息素质教育是当今信息时代对人才培养提出的新要求。通过国内信息素质文献的评述,分析信息素质教育在缩小数字鸿沟中所起的作用,提出加强信息素质教育是缩小数字鸿沟的重要路径。此外,针对国内信息素质教育过程中出现的问题,探讨信息素质培养策略;通过师资队伍及课程设置两方面的建设,帮助大学生获得终身学习的技能。     

我国区域信息鸿沟测度的实证研究

针对测度我国区域信息鸿沟,运用层次分析法对我国15个省市在网络可接入性、网络使用能力、网络内容应用、网络外部环境4个方面共10个指标进行分析,通过获得各省信息通信技术（ICT）接入、应用水平综合指数和信息鸿沟指数,对我国区域信息鸿沟进行实证研究。结果表明,我国区域间的信息鸿沟是非常明显的。本方法可以在纵向和横向上比较区域间信息鸿沟的状况,由此估计以往ICT发展政策的成功与失败,并用于指导今后的工作。     

中国互联网发展的区域差异与政策治理

中国“数字鸿沟”日趋缩小,是东、中、西部地区内省际间差距的不断缩小的结果;区域知识发展水平、经济生活水平和对外开放程度对互联网发展区域差异的解释力最强,信息基础设施的影响也较显著。我们认为,政府应重点推进中西部贫困地区信息基础设施建设,优化教育环境与人才环境,提高企业电子商务应用程度,给予针对性的政策扶持,进而有效治理“数字鸿沟”难题,全面推进中国互联网均衡协调发展。      

The Digital Divide Across All Citizens of the World: A New Concept

This paper is concerned with the requirements for and implications of, moving from the confines of the conventional concept of the digital divide to one that reflects a world distribution of Internet users with different income levels, with particular reference to those users living in poverty. The first part of the note provides a simple, sequential, two-country illustration of what such a transition would entail. The resulting framework is then used to revisit the much-discussed issue of recent changes in Internet use between rich and poor countries. One mechanism that is associated with the revised concept is shown to substantially reduce the size of the digital divide as conventionally measured. The other mechanism, by contrast, works in the opposite direction because the increased number of users in developing countries are drawn from high-income, educated and urban classes, creating a highly unequal distribution within these countries.

Does Cultural Capital Matter?: Cultural Divide and Quality of Life

Since the remarkable work of Pierre Bourdieu, the concept of cultural capital has gained wide popularity along with theoretical and conceptual debates. This trend represents the social-structural change from materialism to postmaterialism. However, there are few empirical studies which find the cause and effect of cultural capital. Based on empirical survey data, this paper will analyze “how cultural capital and cultural divide influence the subjective well-being at the individual level.” Our analysis includes the following: First, we explore to what extent the cultural divide between haves and have-nots of cultural capital has impacted their subjective well-being, which consists of happiness and life satisfaction at the individual level. Second, we analyze what factors cause those cultural divides. Sociodemographic, social-relational, and economic variables are included in the regression models to test their relative explanatory power. Third, we discuss the implication for cultural policy.     

老年人算法歧视的法治应对

对老年人歧视的社会与制度偏见嵌套入"算法黑箱"中,不仅技术性固化了传统老年人歧视社会建构的场景观念,而且加剧了对老年人群体社会排斥的隐性歧视,与"积极应对人口老龄化"国家战略要求相背离。建立在互联网、大数据、人工智能、量子信息与区块链等数字化信息技术快速迭代发展基础上的算法,不仅将老年人技术性歧视为原子型与比特型两类群体,进而对比特型群体的老年人以微粒化与标签化的方式进行直接或间接隐性歧视,而且利用其时间复杂度与空间复杂度的特点,将现行法律法规中存在的"年龄歧视"等立法不足或缺陷问题给与"合法化"承认并无限放大,实质损害老年人群体的应然权益。通过对老年人叠加算法后遭遇的三种主要歧视类型进行原因解读,明晰社会变迁与科技发展叠加背景下老年人同时遭遇"前喻文化"代际鸿沟与技术迭代数字鸿沟的双重冲击,而进入比特世界场景的老年人仍然面临嵌套偏见与复杂规则的算法塑造的老年人画像的直接排斥或不公平对待间接歧视的自动化决策歧视情形。我国现行立法关于老年人的单一年龄维度界定标准与有关老年人退休、退职的规定,既无视老年人的个体差异性,也脱离了社会发展的实际情况,不符合社会保障法的功能设计与本质要求。因此,应从法治的角度进行顶层设计,对破解老年人算法歧视与积极应对人口老龄化国家战略之间存在的现实矛盾与发展悖论问题予以合理化规制,即用分层理论完善老年人法律制度以纠正法律本质主义年龄歧视下的制度性缺陷,解构数字孪生法律制度嵌套规制老年人歧视的"算法黑箱",赋予老年人算法自决权以积极推动"积极应对人口老龄化"国家战略,从而平衡科技发展与老年人群体权益保护之间的利益关系,确保科技向善和算法造福老年人。