1.0
Introduction
The purposes of this study were to analyze the state of the digital
divide in the year 2000; analyze how this had changed over the previous
three years, 1997 to 2000; and better understand why some Canadians remain
unconnected. The study focuses primarily on the state of the digital divide
in Canada in 2000. This analysis considers which variables or circumstances,
such as employment type, gender, age and income, help to better inform
our understanding of the subgroups of the unconnected population.1
The study also investigates differences between Internet users and nonusers
through a comparison of selected technical literacy skills and activities,
and evaluates the importance of content and social context in relation
to individuals benefiting from access to the Internet. The study also
includes a general overview of efforts in other jurisdictions to close
the digital divide. This report concludes with a number of policy and
program recommendations.
Previous work in this area not only identified a general digital divide,
between the Internet ‘have’ and ‘have nots’, but
further divided the unconnected into ‘near users’ and ‘far
users’. Near users are those individuals who are interested in using
the Internet but fail to do so because of some structural obstacle, such
as cost or literacy. Far users, on the other hand, have little interest
or need in using the Internet, though some will likely be occasional users
in the near future.2
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