The document discusses various digital divides caused by socioeconomic, infrastructure, content, universal access, gender, and skills factors. These digital divides impact forms of capital like social capital by restricting people's ability to network; knowledge capital by limiting access to information and skills development; and human capital by reducing populations' collective skills, knowledge, and abilities. Addressing digital divides could help maximize these different types of capital within and between countries.

1. THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Chiara Franco
15016784

2. VARIOUS DIGITAL DIVIDES:
 Socio-economic divide
 Divide in infrastructure
 Divide in content
 Universal Access divide
 Gender divide
 Skills divide

3. SOCIO-ECONOMIC DIVIDE
 The initial problem surrounding access is that of the ability to access
data and information through the use of digital devices. The above
stated problem surrounding access is known as the ‘digital divide’.
 The above stated divide is often affiliated with socio-economic factors,
similar to the gap between developed countries and developing
countries. The differences between countries that are classified as
developing and developed extend to internet use. Countries that are
regarded as developed countries will have a larger ratio of the public
that has access to the internet, while those countries that are regarded
as developing have a much smaller ratio of the public that has access to
the internet.

4. DIVIDE IN INFRASTRUCTURE
 The classification of a country, in regards to whether or not a country is
regarded as developed or developing, does not just apply to the socio-
economic divide, but also to the infrastructure divide. The infrastructure
within a developed country is significantly greater than the
infrastructure within a developing country. An example of this is the
dispersion of electricity throughout a country. The dispersion of
electricity within a a developing country is dismal in comparison to that
dispersion of electricity within a developed country.

5. DIVIDE IN CONTENT
 Although there is an exorbitant amount of content on the internet. The
problem remains in the fact that majority of the content that is available
is primarily in English. Over the years there has been a rise in content
available that isn’t in English, however English content is still the most
prominent.

6. UNIVERSAL ACCESS DIVIDE
 People who suffer from some sort of physical disability are usually
disenfranchised when it comes to access. This isn’t due to their lack of
skills, but rather due to the hardware and software put to use and
available. Moreover, the expense of the hardware and software is
outrageous.

7. GENDER DIVIDE
 There is a significant internet gender gap within developing countries.
This significant gap is detrimental to those girls and women that are
denied access to the internet within those developing countries. The
internet has allowed its users to extend their knowledge and due to
women’s lack of access, they don’t have the opportunity to extend their
knowledge, thus giving them a disadvantage to men who do have
access in developing countries. There opportunities include access to
educational opportunities, access to support communities and access
to potential career opportunities.

8. SKILLS DIVIDE
 It is all well and good having access to the internet, however once you
have obtained such access, you require the skills with which to utilize
the opportunity. Although accessibility has been steadily increasing,
skills have not necessarily increased as the same rate as the accessibility
has.

9. SOCIAL CAPITAL
Social Capital are the people that we know or the social networks in which we live and the main
idea reason for this being referred to as social capital is because as a network you will be able to
achieve more than an individual would.
 The Socio-economic divide has an impact on social capital because for a person to create the above stated
network, they will require access to the internet.
 The Divide in infrastructure will effect social capital because if the infrastructure is poor the population wont
have the needed access to the internet and therefore will be unable to create ties with members from another
town or even overseas.
 The Divide in content will have an impact on social capital because when there is a restriction on the various
content that is available on the internet, it prevents people who speak other languages from being able to gain
knowledge from content that isn't in their own language. This prevents people from being able to network with
people who speak a foreign language.
 The Universal Access divide will have an effect on social capital because throughout the world, millions of
people are restricted when it comes to their access to the internet which prevents them from networking on an
international level.
 The Gender divide will have an impact on social capital because women are restricted, which means that men
are able to create larger networks in comparison to women, which leaves women with a much smaller network
because of the restrictions placed upon them, due to their gender.
 The Skills divide will have an effect on social capital because for a person to network and they have access to
the internet, they still need the skills to use the internet, which will allow them to network.

10. KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL
Knowledge capital, which is also referred to as intellectual capital, is the intangible asset that represents
beneficial ideas, thoughts, processes and various perceptive talents that pertain to a company or
organization.
 The Socio-economic Divide has an effect on knowledge capital because citizens within a developed
country will have a vast knowledge in comparison to citizens that reside in a developing country based
on their access to the internet or even books.
 The Divide in infrastructure will have an effect on knowledge capital because a poor infrastructure will
prevent people from expanding their knowledge and their skills.
 The Divide in content will have an impact on knowledge capital because there is limited content within
a specific language which will limit the potential knowledge that could be attained.
 The Universal Access divide will have an effect on knowledge capital because due to the limitations
worldwide in regards to the internet will prevent the extension of knowledge.
 The Gender divide will have an impact on knowledge capital because women are limited which means
that the knowledge that they could potentially obtain is restricted and therefore the useful knowledge
that women could potentially provide isn't available.
 The Skills divide will have an effect on knowledge capital because people that have access to the
internet are able to expand their knowledge and skills, however they first need to have the required
skills to navigate the internet.

11. HUMAN CAPITAL
Human capital comprises of all the knowledge, various skills, special talents, diverse abilities, experience,
intellectual ability, intelligence and wisdom that is possessed individual and collectively within a population. These
assets or resources are the total capacity of the people within the general population, these assets or resources
represent a form of wealth and this wealth can be coordinated to achieve the goals of the country or a state or a
specific portion thereof.
 The Socio-economic divide will have an impact on human capital because countries classified as developing
will have less access to the internet than a developed country, therefore people that live within a developing
country will have less access to the internet, having a negative effect on human capital.
 The Divide in infrastructure will have an effect on human capital because there may only be a few specific
locations that will allow access to the internet because of the poor infrastructure, therefore restricting human
capital.
 The Divide in content will have an impact on human capital because the limited content within a specific
language will restrict the so called ‘wealth’ of human capital.
 The Universal Access divide will have an effect on human capital because the access divide limits the spread of
information and knowledge, having an effect on human capital.
 The Gender divide will have an impact on human capital because women are usually placed at a massive
disadvantage because of their gender, which may restrict human capital.
 The Skills divide will have an effect on human capital because there may be a large divide in various skills
within a population.