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Digital divides and the role of policy and regulation: a qualitative study

Panayiota Tsatsou

Social Dimensions of Information and Communication Technology Policy, Pages: 141 - 160

Swansea University Author: Panayiota Tsatsou

Abstract

This chapter addresses the research question: what is the role ofinternet policy and regulation in digital divides in Greece? I argue thatInternet policy and regulation account significantly for the persistenceof digital divides in Greece. The chapter draws on literature thatviews the role of policy...

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Published in: Social Dimensions of Information and Communication Technology Policy
Published: New York Springer 2008
Online Access: http://rd.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-387-84822-8/page/1
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13004
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Abstract: This chapter addresses the research question: what is the role ofinternet policy and regulation in digital divides in Greece? I argue thatInternet policy and regulation account significantly for the persistenceof digital divides in Greece. The chapter draws on literature thatviews the role of policy and regulation in digital inclusion asproblematic and proposes a more dialectical view of the interactionsbetween politics and technology, so that the democratic andparticipatory potential of the Information Society can be approachedmore critically. The chapter explores the research questionempirically through in-depth individual interviews with elite actors inthe Greek Information Society. Elite actors who are involved invarious areas of policy and regulation in the Greek InformationSociety are in the position to account for the role of internet policyand regulation in aspects of digital exclusion from more than oneperspective. Thus, the chapter argues about the significant role ofdecision-making in the Greek case of digital divides, providing thegrounding upon which research outside Greece could rely on to lookat other cases of digital divides and at the role of policy and regulationaccordingly.
Keywords: Digital divides, Greece, policy, regulation, interviews
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Start Page: 141
End Page: 160