Authors:
Maurizio Martinelli
;
Irma Serrecchia
and
Michela Serrecchia
Affiliation:
Institute for Informatics Institute for Informatics and Telematics (IIT-CNR), Italy
Keyword(s):
Internet diffusion, digital divide, domain names.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
e-Business and e-Commerce
;
e-Payment
;
Society, e-Business and e-Government
;
Web Information Systems and Technologies
Abstract:
The digital divide can occur either as a “local” (within a given country) or “global” (between developing and industrialized countries) phenomenon. Our study intends to offer an important contribution by analyzing the digital divide in Italy and the factors contributing to this situation at the territorial level (i.e., macroareas: North, Center, South and at the regional level). To do this, we used the registration of Internet domains under the “.it” ccTLD as proxy. In particular, we analyzed domain names registered by firms. The analysis produced interesting results: the distribution of domains registered by firms in Italian regions is more concentrated than the distribution according to income and population, suggesting a diffusive effect. Furthermore, when analyzing the factors that contribute to the presence of a digital divide at the regional level, regression analysis was performed using social, economic and infrastructure indicators. Results show that Italian provinces that ha
ve good productive efficiency, a high cultural level, and greater spending for investment in telephony and telematics are the best candidates for utilization of the Internet.
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