Measuring the Digital Divide in Agustín Codazzi (Cesar): A Perspective from the Urban-Rural divide

Abstract

Objectives: This article presents the digital divide as a consequence of the ongoing inequalities present in the world through the urban-rural divides, from a global to a Colombian perspective. The document is divided into three sections: urban-rural divides, the digital divide and its relationship with urban-rural divides, and concludes with a presentation of the digital divide measurement in Agustín Codazzi (Cesar) as a specific case. Research results are presented as a diagnosis of the digital inequalities present in post-conflict scenarios. The future goal is to benefit the science, technology, innovation, and society relationship, in a contextualized manner, through physical and/or digital content generation. These contents would present high technical quality standards that would respond to current trends, whose purpose would be the pursuit of digital gap reduction in the municipality.

Materials and methods: With the aim of analyzing the dynamics of the population's relationship with connectivity and digital content for local knowledge benefit, and following published guidelines by Hoyos Muñoz & Cardona Valencia (2021), a survey—whose statistical unit are households—consisting of three parts was designed and implemented: part 1: Characterization; part 2: Digital Divide; and part 3: Perception of technology. The instrument was applied to the target population: public educational institutions with higher secondary education from urban and rural areas—specifically tenth grade—located in Agustín Codazzi (Cesar). Specifically, the survey was applied to 563 tenth-grade students from six public educational institutions located in the municipality’s urban and rural areas. Part 1, Characterization, consists of personal and household classification variables of those completing the survey. In part 2, Digital Divide, a set of questions is asked to measure the Digital Divide index, which evaluates four aspects for its measurement: Access, Use, Skills, and Benefits. The ICT Development Index (IDI) is used as a reference, combined with indicators from the Association for Measuring ICT for Development, linking the Benefits with Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, and 8. Finally, in part 3, the people's perception regarding the digital divide is measured through a five-point Likert scale consisting of: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly agree. This component allows for an understanding of the importance of strengthening local community ICT and captures the population's ideas as a source for inclusion strategies.

Results: Notably, it has been found that, in general, the municipality's digital divide depends on two main components: Access and Benefits. The access digital divide is completely related to the lack of greater infrastructure, and it has a direct relationship with the population's economic situation, which, although not in extreme poverty, has different priorities from acquiring the household internet service. The benefits digital divide requires an educational strategies approach, such as training in available devices usage, access to academic training platforms, and available funding for entrepreneurships and business ventures at national and local levels. Consequently, digital education access and a proper digital skills development are essential to ensure that children and young people improve their prospects and can take advantage of current learning opportunities, from fundamental to state-of-art knowledge, leading to the development of key skills in various areas of knowledge.

Conclusions: In Colombia, accessibility and affordability remain the biggest obstacles to driving digital transformation across the country. The digital divide, understood as the inequality in access, use, and utilization of ICT, is wider in rural areas compared to urban ones. This gap between urban and rural areas creates a social imbalance that limits population´s opportunities for development and their participation in the knowledge society. On the one hand, there is an access gap related to technological infrastructure availability (internet, devices) and connectivity in rural areas. On the other hand, there is a usage gap associated with population´s digital skills and ICT relevance in their daily lives. Finally, there is an exploitation gap linked to the ability of ICT usage to generate added value, productivity improvement, and public and private services access. These gaps have important implications for a country's social and economic development, mainly in rural areas. The lack of ICT access in rural areas truncates educational, labor, and civic participation opportunities. Additionally, it hinders access to relevant information, and it impedes the technological appropriation that could improve quality of life and productivity in sectors such as agriculture.