Title:
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THE ASA (ACCESS-SKILLS-ATTITUDES) APPROACH: A FRAMEWORK FOR MORE EFFECTIVE E-INCLUSION MEASURES |
Author(s):
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Pieter Verdegem , Pascal Verhoest |
ISBN:
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ISSN: 1645-7641 |
Editors:
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Pedro IsaĆas |
Year:
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2008 |
Edition:
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V VI, II |
Keywords:
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E-inclusion, digital divide, user research, policy, adoption & domestication, ICT literacy, personal
computer & internet penetration |
Type:
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Journal Paper |
First Page:
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47 |
Last Page:
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57 |
Language:
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English |
Cover:
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Full Contents:
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click to dowload
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Paper Abstract:
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Business strategies and policies that were successful in increasing internet penetration in the early days
may no longer be appropriate. This is most probably so in countries where a majority of people are
already connected to the internet. As more people are online, it becomes more likely that the remaining
fraction of non-adopters is either hard to convince, under-skilled or simply lacking the financial
resources to afford a connection. In view of this problem, this paper proposes a policy approach to
increase personal computer and internet acceptance in collaboration with the industry. The measures
developed within this approach are based on strategies of segmentation and differentiation. This entails
that product offerings are specifically targeted towards different socio-demographic groups in the
population. In addition, our approach does not only concentrate on removing barriers, as most einclusion
policies do, but also at increasing the value of ICT for end-users. This approach is based on a
project that applied both qualitative and quantitative research methods to investigate the relation between
the socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics of non-adopters, and on the other hand, their
profile in terms of access levels, ICT skills and attitudes towards ICT and their needs and expectations
(if any) about ICT. In this paper we show, firstly, that members of homogeneous socio-demographic and
socio-economic groups indeed share similar characteristics in terms of access, skills and attitudes and,
secondly, that these groups can be effectively reached by policy makers and businesses with specific
product offerings. |
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