DIGITAL DIVIDE AND CAPITAL

DIGITAL DIVIDE

• Digital divide is defined as the gap between those who have ready access to technology and those who don’t.

SOCIAL CAPITAL

• Social capital is defined as the network of relationships between people who exist in a certain society. These relationships help the particular society to function properly. (IIE 2015)

• The digital divide has a relationship with social capital. This relationship is not beneficial because it interrupts the relationships and potential relationships between people who do and don’t have proper access to technology.

KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL

• Knowledge capital is also called intellectual capital and is a collection of knowledge, ideas, processes and talents.

• There is a correlation between the digital divide and knowledge capital because being a collection of knowledge, the knowledge capital has to be passed on/communicated to someone else in order for the knowledge capital to expand. The issue with this is that the digital divide stops the communication with certain people who don’t have access to technology, that would otherwise help them reach information easily.

HUMAN CAPITAL

• Human Capital is known as the skills and/or experience that an individual or population has/have.

• In today’s world, we have different levels of workers with different skillsets, and the digital divide divides these levels even further. The reason for this is that manual labourers will most likely be among those that don’t have proper access to technology. This means that they most likely will not be able to expand their knowledge or skillset online and will end up staying in the same position.

REFERENCES

IORGULESCU, R., 2015. Human Capital, The Digital Divide, And The Possible Connection To The Flow-Fund Analysis Of Socioeconomic Metabolism. [Online] Available at: https://ideas.repec.org/a/cbu/jrnlec/y2015v1ip5-16.html[Accessed 24 May 2016].