Digital divide

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Number of internet users per 100 inhabitants between 1997 and 2013 according to data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The number of mobile phone customers per 100 inhabitants grew between 1997 and 2014 in both industrialized and developing countries.
The digital rift: number of computers per 100 inhabitants, map from 2006
World Information Summit WSIS in Geneva (2005).

The term digital gap ( English digital gap ), also digital divide ( English digital divide , Italian divario digital , French fracture numérique , Spanish brecha digital ) describes differences in the access to and use of information and communication technology , especially the Internet , between National economies or different population groups due to technical and socio-economic factors. It relates to regional, national and international differences. The term has appeared in public discussion since the mid-1990s and has the “Digital Divide Network” as a forum. A textbook in German is available from research in the field of media and communication sciences defined by this term (Zillien & Haufs-Brusberg 2014).

The term also stands for the thesis

  • that the chances of access to the Internet and the other ( digital ) information and communication technologies are unevenly distributed and strongly dependent on social factors,
  • that the knowledge gaps that arise in the course of different Internet use are larger than those that are related to the use of older media and
  • that these differences in opportunities in turn have social implications.

In simple terms: those who have access to modern communication technologies have better social and economic development opportunities. But there are feedbacks from inequalities in access, use and effect.

Origin and development of the term

The term with its different and / or different language names is definitely still in development (cf. Mirko Marr, 2005). Zillien and Haufs-Brusberg wrote in 2014: “With the further development of digital divide research, the term digital inequality has established itself in addition to the terms aimed at polarization [including our lemmas] , as this more aptly sums up the manifold inequalities. "

  • The term digital gap was used by Bill Clinton in 1998 . At that time, the US telecommunications authority NTIA had submitted its report "New Data on the Digital Divide".
  • Servon cited authors who ascribed this composition of words to journalists Webber & Harmon in an article for the Los Angeles Times about a broken marriage due to the husband's excessive online use.
  • Arnhold accepts the South African President Thabo Mbeki as the originator of the term.
  • The former President of the Markle Foundation, Lloyd Morrisett, dismissed the authorship for the term of himself when asked by Benjamin M. Compaine in 2001.

Definitions

There are different conceptions on the digital divide and the question of when it is closed, or, more nuanced, how the specific inequalities influence each other. A MetaModel (Hilbert 2011) establishes a conceptual framework for the various definitions based on the diffusion theory through social networks . All types of studies and projects on the digital divide can be classified into the four categories of this question: WHO, with WHICH characteristics, is networked with WHAT for a technology, HOW:

  • WHO : Individuals, organizations / communities, societies, world regions
  • with WHAT characteristics: income, education, geography, age, sex, type of property, size, profitability, sector;
  • is with WHAT a technology: telephone, internet, computer, digital TV
  • HOW connected: only access, use, active appropriation and process integration

This results in a matrix with four dimensions, with each dimension made up of different variables. Each additional variable increases the combinatorial complexity of this four-dimensional matrix exponentially. For example, with only 3 different types of study subjects (individuals, organizations, or countries), each with 4 different characteristics (age, wealth, geography, sector), 3 different levels of access (access, use, active appropriation), and 6 Types of technologies (landline phone, mobile phone, computer, digital TV, internet, broadband with a certain speed), already result (3 × 4 × 3 × 6) = 216 different definitions of the digital divide. Each of these is equally justified and depends solely on the objective pursued by the respective user of the definition. Because of this great variety of possible definitions, it is not valuable in practice to ask about “the” definition of the digital divide. The desired definition depends on the context and, above all, on the desired impact and the desired end effect of the use of technology. In other words, in practice the definition of the digital divide is always normatively oriented towards the desired effect: circumstances of a desired effect, WHO, with WHAT characteristics, should be connected with WHICH technology, best HOW.

The digital divide in public discussion

The term digital divide is applied both to the differences between population groups within a society and in relation to the differences between industrialized and developing countries . The term digital divide is also based on the so-called knowledge divide .

The discussion about this term must be seen in connection with the thesis, which has been advocated more and more since the 1990s , after the general development is heading towards an information or even knowledge society in which the ability to access and master these technologies is largely essential for personal success should be decisive for a person.

The term "digital divide" was the reason for the UN - World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2003 in Geneva and 2005 in Tunis. There the term “digital divide” found broad acceptance among representatives of civil society and in the official documents. The relevance of the digital divide, whether it is getting bigger or smaller, is controversial. The World Bank reported in 2005 that the digital divide was shrinking - but it referred in particular to the use of cell phones.

The concept of the digital divide is controversial. Critics complain that the digital divide cannot be empirically proven. In particular, it is overlooked that the development opportunities depend less on technical conditions ("connection to the network") than on the ability of people to use these technologies. The discussion about the phenomenon of a "digital divide" has thus shifted in recent years away from the pure separation of offline and online users towards a multi-dimensional construct that identifies new inequalities within the use of the medium, and thus the user perspective is increasingly important wins.

Recent studies indicate that it not only requires the efforts of the individual in order to reduce this “digital inequality”, but that the design of the offers themselves are responsible for various “drop-out scenarios”. So it shows that even with the so-called "digital natives", who are supposed to have problem-free access and a natural use of the Internet, besides the accessibility and user-friendliness of websites, the very individual competencies on the part of the users are decisive. in order to be able to use and classify content on websites effectively and efficiently.

The low threshold in the World Wide Web should not only be discussed against the background of people with physical disabilities and the general level of education of the users, but in addition to the acquisition of individual competencies and a targeted media-pedagogical mediation, it also has to design more inequality-sensitive and inclusive Content has a primary and universal meaning for reducing a "second level digital divide".

Because of such criticism, the term “digital divide” is no longer understood in a technical sense (connectivity). According to former UN Secretary-General said Kofi Annan in the context of the digital divide also from a substantive gap ( content divide ): "Much of the power goes to the real needs of the people passing by. And 70 percent of the world's Internet sites are in English and suppress regional voices and perspectives, ”Annan said at the world summit in Geneva.

Overcoming the digital divide

Even if the existence of a digital divide was undisputed at the WSIS summit, the participating states failed to reach an agreement on how to overcome this divide. While many poor countries called for a “digital solidarity fund”, most industrialized countries rejected it. At the summit, the German government also took the position that the digital infrastructure would develop by itself - provided there was real competition, which is not the case in many countries.

One of the main challenges in overcoming the digital divide is coordinating the various projects and authorities involved in it. Traditionally, the digital divide is seen as a matter for the telecommunications authority, such as the Federal Network Agency , or the American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and NTIA , which also manage the associated budgets. However, these funds are only a very small fraction of what the public sector as a whole is spending on addressing the digital divide and the introduction to the information society (often less than 5%). Health authorities, ministries of education, or the financial authorities spend a much larger part of public money. To date, however, there is a concept in very few countries to coordinate these fragmented resources.

One project that aims to provide infrastructural access to digital information is the non-profit project One Laptop per Child . The aim is to provide a full-fledged laptop for students that is mobile, innovative and yet inexpensive.

Many supporters of the FLOSS , open content and open access movements are confident that their movements will or have already contributed to reducing the digital divide. A project such as One Laptop per Child would be much more difficult to implement without the existence of open standards and free open source software. This $ 100 laptop will come with software under the GNU General Public License combined with a Wikipedia database. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales justifies his commitment to the free encyclopedia by giving people in poor countries free access to knowledge and thereby helping to improve their educational opportunities.

Another measure to overcome the digital divide can be to provide used computers for free or at low cost. Numerous initiatives by non-profit organizations, companies, schools and private individuals organize the collection, preparation and transport of disused but functional computers to people in need, usually in developing countries ( e.g. Linux4 Africa ).

Digital divide worldwide

Indian children are brought closer to computers and the Internet at school as part of the One laptop per child campaign .

The poorer position of developing countries is also evident when it comes to access to the resources of the information society. The industrialized countries are better connected to the Internet. For example, in 2007 less than four percent of people in Africa were online. In 2016, according to measurements from internetworldstats.com, 28.7 percent of Africa's population was online, while the world average has leveled out at around 50 percent. Development politicians and aid organizations define the Internet and mobile telephony as an aspect of basic needs, as they promote democracy. In the meantime, a mood of optimism can be seen in the developing countries: while mobile communications have reached a level of saturation in industrialized countries, it is booming in developing countries, not least because in many of these countries the development of the fixed network has almost stopped.

The development in the information economy should lead to the stabilization of the market economy and the achievement of prosperity in these countries. Studies show some positive effects, for example on local fish markets in South India. Banking transactions such as transfers, including international ones, have been possible in Kenya using mobile phones since 2007. In India, however, more than 700 million people did not have a bank account in 2014. In absolute terms, India was in second place with the most Internet users in 2016 , but the percentage was just under 35% of the population, while it was 66% in Brazil .

Digital divide in Europe

The following important information is missing from this article or section:
Comparison of countries, EU, etc.
Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

Central aspects of a digital divide in Europe are the technical availability of broadband Internet access and the possibility of inexpensive always-on Internet use by means of flat rates . This narrower aspect of the digital divide is also known as the broadband divide . In 2016, Ukraine , with 44% internet users, had only half as high a penetration rate as Germany with 88%.

In Germany , the nationwide initiative against the digital divide has been active since 2005 - teil.de. On March 12, 2011, the "Federal Association Initiative against Digital Splitting - Divided.de eV" was founded, which is particularly committed to nationwide broadband Internet coverage.

Further aspects of the digital divide are level of education, age and social environment, which can result in societal disadvantages due to a lack of competence in the use of new media . The Digital Opportunities Foundation, supported by federal ministries, educational institutions and companies, is committed to countering all aspects of the digital divide .

According to a decision (file number: L 6 AS 297/10 B) of the State Social Court of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010, a PC is not necessary for proper household management. A Hartz IV recipient is therefore not entitled to it.

Broadband divide

This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

A regularly updated broadband atlas published by the Federal Ministry of Economics shows the unequal regional availability of broadband internet access in Germany. However, this only shows the supply situation on the basis of the voluntary information provided by the providers and not from the point of view of local consumers. Therefore, better care is often shown there than is actually available on site. In April 2008 the community of interest kein-DSL.de presented a broadband demand atlas. By entering the broadband requirements and the bandwidth requirements of those interested in broadband, this should reflect the actual demand in Germany and support the needs-based expansion.

Both offers do not provide any updatable parameters for the extent of the digital divide, as they only consider availability gaps and their reduction, but not the growing difference between minimum bandwidths ("DSL Light" with 384 kbit / s) in peripheral locations and maximum bandwidths due to technical progress and network expansion (in 2010 via cable modem up to 120 Mbit / s).

At the turn of the year 2006/2007 around 59% of the rural access areas in Germany with a population density of less than 100 inh. / Km² had DSLAMs , which placed Germany in 15th place in the EU. In response to a request in the German Bundestag in May 2007, the federal government had to admit that more than one million households cannot use the Internet via a broadband connection. Almost 700 communities have not yet been connected. In March 2008, the government parties conceded in the German Bundestag that four million households in Germany no or insufficient current standards broadband access with less than 1 Mbit / s transfer rate - including in particular in rural areas popular DSL connections from Deutsche Telekom with fixed transmission rates among 1 MBit / s ( DSL-Light , Dorf-DSL ) fall - can use.

Politicians have now recognized the need for action at national and European level. The Federal Ministry of Economics continues to rely on a broadband infrastructure produced by the market and calls for local involvement if broadband access has not yet been implemented. For cases in which there is no sign of market development due to insufficient demand, in July 2007 a guide was made available on how subsidies by municipalities can be used in accordance with European law. Funding, which can be used specifically for the development of a broadband infrastructure from 2008 onwards, is also to be made available by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the federal states. However, the funding amounts mentioned so far have met with criticism as being too low. VATM, the German Association of Cities and Municipalities (DStGB) and the German District Association (DLT) presented a master plan to connect most of the 2200 municipalities (around 5 million citizens) that have not yet had a broadband connection within one year.

Since in rural areas with low network density , the expensive laying of new cable routes for the connection of subscriber lines in particular hinders broadband connections, there is an increasing demand, with foresighted, relatively inexpensive empty conduits , into which fiber optic cables can be drawn , for upcoming civil engineering and development work. At the turn of the year 2007/2008, Baden-Württemberg passed corresponding provisions in a broadband subsidy law.

At the level of the framework legislator in the European Union and at the federal level, a process of reflection has begun in the course of which the designation of broadband Internet access as a universal service is being considered, as will be the case in Switzerland from 2008 - so far unique in the world . The valid interpretation of this service as functional Internet access is fulfilled by narrowband access billed on a minute basis , which is, however, increasingly inadequate for today's Internet applications.

The municipal associations in Germany have the end of 2007 the supply of broadband access as a State-level task of general interest defined. For the equivalence of living conditions required by the Basic Law, access to the data superhighway plays just as important a role as transport links or the range of schools.

Social groups, including communal alliances from business and politics, industry associations , web portals , and citizens' groups are active against the shortage of broadband . We also proceed on our own initiative. The Baden-Württemberg Clearing House New Media in Rural Areas and the Citizens' Network Dielheim / Wiesloch also provide assistance for successful local engagement. It is also advisable to look to industry associations such as eco VATM and BITKOM , but also to the regional chambers of industry and commerce for information events and roadshows where information is provided about the problem and it is possible to contact providers without time and effort. Technological alternatives for areas not covered by DSL are, for example, directional radio, WiMAX , commercial or self-managed WLANs , satellite and UMTS ( HSDPA ) as well as TV cable internet .

Income gap

Household income is central to the digital divide between rich and poor in society, and thus a major factor that restricts Internet use . In Great Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced an initiative in early 2010 to provide 270,000 low-income families with laptops and free Internet access.

Age gap

Another gap in both the use and acceptance of the Internet and cell phones arises between the various age groups. For today's generation of students, these things are completely natural; in the case of older students, the degree of utilization is sometimes almost 100%. There is a clear contrast for people who have been retired for a number of years. Among these, the spread of Internet use is below 10% and a large part of this age group strictly rejects the new media, not least because of various reports on the dangers and crime there, both for themselves and for society.

One of the main causes of this generation conflict is the very rapid development. The Internet in its present form has only existed since the early 1990s, and the general spread of cell phones ( D-Netz ) is similarly old. As a result, many people who left their profession by the year 2000 hardly or not at all came into contact with new media, depending on their profession. In the meantime, numerous providers of adult education are trying to counteract the digital age gap by including offers for the targeted teaching of computer skills and skills in dealing with new media to older people in their program. One example is sponsored by the Digital Opportunities Foundation companies Starthilfe50 .

In Germany, the age gap is closing: While practically all 14 to 19 year olds in Germany have been using the Internet at least occasionally since 2010 (100 percent), a majority of those over 60 years old (50.4 percent) have only been doing this since 2015. In all age groups under 60, a majority use the Internet every day; among the 50-59 year olds their share is 56.1 percent. For comparison: in 2003 92.1 percent of 14-19 year olds used the Internet at least occasionally, but only 13.3 percent of those over 60 years of age.

literature

  • Arnhold, Katja (2003): Digital Divide. Access or Knowledge Gap? . Munich: Verlag Reinhard Fischer
  • Castells, Manuel (1996): The Rise of the Network Society ; Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Cleppien, G./Kutscher, N. (2004): Digital Divide and Online Education. In: Otto, H.-U./Kutscher, N .: Informal education online. Perspectives for education, youth work and media education. Weinheim, Munich.
  • Compaine, Benjamin M. (2001): The Digital Divide. Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth? . Cambridge, London
  • German Bundestag. (2002). Final report (PDF; 10.6 MB) of the study commission . Globalization of the world economy - challenges and answers. (Chapter 5.2.1 Digital division, pp. 262–277.)
  • Gehrke, Gernot (2004): "Digital Division - Digital Integration. Perspectives on Internet Use." Munich 2004 (ecmc Working Paper, Vol. 5).
  • Gehrke, Gernot (2003): NRW online-offline. Reasons and motives for (not) using computers, the Internet and online services. In: Jo Groebel ; Gehrke, Gernot (Ed.): Internet 2002: Germany and the digital world. Opladen, pp. 223-297.
  • Gehrke, Gernot / Tekster, Thomas (2004): Between digital division and integration. New findings on the status of non-use of the Internet and online services. On the background of the debate about division and integration. ( PDF )
  • Hanimann, Thomas and Ruedin Etienne (2007): Digital Trenches or Digital Bridges? - Opportunities and risks for emerging countries .
  • Hooffacker, Gabriele (1995): We use networks. A communicative manifesto, Göttingen: Steidl ( excerpt )
  • Iske, S., Klein, A., Kutscher, N. (2005): Differences in web usage - social inequality and informal education on the internet. In: Social Work and Society, Volume 3 (2005), Issue 2. URL: http://www.socwork.de/IskeKleinKutscher2005.pdf
  • Katenkamp, ​​Olaf (2002): Internet for everyone, new cultural techniques in the digital ditch; in: ARBEIT magazine, 2002, issue 1 ( PDF )
  • Competence Center Informal Education (2007): Boundless Cyber ​​World? On the relationship between digital inequality and educational access for young people. Wiesbaden (Ed. Competence Center Informal Education - Hans-Uwe Otto, Nadia Kutscher, Alex Klein and Stefan Iske)
  • Kubicek, Herbert / Welling, Stefan (2000): Before a digital divide in Germany? Approaching a hidden problem of economic and socio-political explosiveness. In: Medien- & Kommunikationwissenschaft , Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 497-517
  • Kutscher, N. (2007): Digital inequality and educational disadvantage in children. In: Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (Hrsg.): Kinderreport Deutschland 2007. Freiburg.
  • Kutscher, N. (2005): Digital divide as an educational barrier. In: Thole, W./Cloos, P./Ortmann, F./Strutwolf, V. (Ed.): Social work in public space. Social justice in shaping the social. Wiesbaden.
  • Kutscher, N. (2005): "As in normal life too" - Social differences in Internet use and participation in education among young people. In: merz (media and education) science special issue 6/2005.
  • Kutscher, N./Otto, H.-U. (2004): Social differences and informal education in virtual space. In: Otto, H.-U./Kutscher, N .: Informal education online. Perspectives for education, youth work and media education. Weinheim, Munich, pp. 7-22.
  • Langer, Christian (2012): Digital division. A critical analysis. Saarbrücken: AV Akademikerverlag
  • Marr, Mirko (2005): Internet access and being politically informed - on the digital division of society . Constance UVK
  • Neumann, Julia (2012): Bridging the Digital Divide. An analysis of claims under international law and international solidarity structures to bridge the digital divide by means of satellite communication. Cologne: Heymanns
  • Norris, Pippa (2001): Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge University Press
  • Otto, H.-U./Kutscher, N./Klein, A./Iske, S. (2004): Social Inequality in Virtual Space: How Do Young People Use the Internet? First results of an empirical study on online usage differences and appropriation structures by young people. The study is available for download in the research network on the website of the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). URL: [1]
  • Riehm, Ulrich / Krings, Bettina-Johanna (2006): The "blind spot" in the discussion on the digital divide. In: Medien & Kommunikationwissenschaft Vol. 54, Issue 1, pp. 75–94
  • Schauer, Thomas & Fritz Rademacher: The Challenge of the Digital Divide. 2002 See pdf
  • Scheule, Rupert M. u. a. (Ed.): Networked split. The digital divide from an ethical perspective . Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-7705-3968-0
  • Scheule, Rupert M. (2005): The digital gradient as a problem of justice. (PDF; 244 kB) In: Informatik Spektrum, Volume 28, No. 6 (December 2005), 474–488; doi : 10.1007 / s00287-005-0038-8 .
  • Servon, Lisa J. (2002): Bridging the Digital Divide: Technology, Community and Public Policy . Malden.
  • Täube, Volker G./Joye, Dominique (2002): Determinants of Internet Use in Switzerland: Structural Disparities and New Technologies , in: Wolfgang Glatzer (Ed.), Rich and Poor , Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 73-86.
  • van Dijk, J. (2005): The deepening divide: inequality in the information society. Thousand Oaks.
  • Wei, Lu & Hindman, Douglas. B. (2011): Does the Digital Divide Matter More? Comparing the Effects of New Media and Old Media Use on the Education-Based-Knowledge Gap. In: Mass Communication and Society 14, 216-235
  • Zillien, Nicole (2006): Digital Inequality. New technologies and old inequalities in the information and knowledge society. Wiesbaden
  • Zillien, Nicole & Haufs-Brusberg, Maren (2014): Knowledge Gap and Digital Divide. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2014
  • Zwiefka, Natalie (2007): Digital education divide. Informal Education and Social Inequality on the Internet. INTERNET Research series, Volume 28. Munich: Verlag Reinhard Fischer

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Cf. Carsten Friedland: Overcoming the digital divide. Information and communication technologies in Africa. Federal Agency for Political Education, 2005. Last accessed on February 2, 2015.
  2. ↑ See Mirko Marr and Nicole Zillien: Digitale Spaltung . In: Wolfgang Schweiger and Klaus Beck (eds.): Handbuch Online-Kommunikation. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010. 257–282.
  3. ^ Archive link ( Memento from February 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Zillien & Haufs-Brusberg 2014, 76 citing Wei & Hindman 2011: 229
  5. ↑ Mirko Marr: Internet access and political knowledge - on the digital division of society. Constance: UVK 2005.
  6. ↑ a b Zillien & Haufs-Brusberg 2014 77
  7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc_gUI7zqTY
  8. ^ Servon, Lisa J. (2002): Bridging the Digital Divide: Technology, Community and Public Policy. Malden.
  9. ^ Arnhold, Katja (2003): Digital Divide. Access or knowledge gap ?. Munich: Verlag Reinhard Fischer.
  10. ↑ Compaine, Benjamin M. (2001): The Digital Divide. Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth ?. Cambridge, London.
  11. ↑ a b c d Martin Hilbert (2011): "The end justifies the definition: The manifold outlooks on the digital divide and their practical usefulness for policy-making", Telecommunications Policy, 35 (8), 715-736; doi : 10.1016 / j.telpol.2011.06.012 . Free full text (PDF; 1.4 MB).
  12. ↑ cf. Hanimann / Ruedin (2007).
  13. ↑ Rößner, Michael (2010): Participation, Exclusion and Inclusion of Adolescent Media Users on the Internet: On the relevance of barrier-free accessibility in everyday life. An empirical study.
  14. ↑ heise.de: According to a global survey, the digital divide is solidifying
  15. ↑ heise.de: Less than four percent of Africans are online
  16. ↑ InternetWorldStats.com: Internet Users in Africa 2016
  17. ↑ heise.de: Bishop Marx: Internet must not exclude
  18. ↑ golem.de: Internet and mobile phones are important for democracy in Africa
  19. ↑ spiegel.de: Development aid mobile phone: A new cell phone for 15 euros
  20. ↑ heise.de: The IT industry in Pakistan is optimistic
  21. ↑ spiegel.de: Mass networking: The world is pushing for the cell phone
  22. ↑ heise.de: United Nations: Mobile phone use in developing countries is increasing rapidly
  23. ↑ The cell phone makes the sardine price
  24. ↑ Mobile communications development workers: When the cell phone becomes a bank. In: Spiegel Online . June 17, 2007, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  25. ↑ daf / dpa / AFP: India government wants to equip millions of households with bank accounts. In: Spiegel Online . August 28, 2014, accessed May 14, 2020 .
  26. ↑ a b Geteilt.de: Nationwide initiative against the digital division --Share.de
  27. ↑ Fast Internet: Disadvantaged people have a new mouthpiece , press release on the association website shared.de of March 13, 2011, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  28. ↑ Too old and uneducated? 23 million offline users in Germany. , golem.de, November 7, 2011, accessed November 20, 2012.
  29. ↑ Foundation Digital Opportunities against the Digital Divide
  30. ↑ Computer in the household "not necessary". ( Memento from May 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau, May 11, 2010.
  31. ↑ Digital divide by law. , Feminist Institute Hamburg, September 2, 2010, accessed December 31, 2010.
  32. ↑ Schmalbandatlas.de: The nationwide broadband demand atlas of the community of interests kein-DSL.de
  33. ↑ EU: Annual iSociety Report 2008 - staff working paper: EU figures on DSL coverage in rural areas
  34. ↑ EU conference Bridging the Broadband Gap 2007 , IDATE study
  35. ↑ Expansion of the universal service in the area of ​​telecommunications (PDF; 110 kB) Answer of the Federal Government, Bundestag printed matter 16/5302.
  36. ↑ a b Bundestag wants to close gaps in broadband coverage , heise.de, March 7, 2008.
  37. ↑ State Secretary Pfaffenbach on Cebit 2008: Millions of connections with insufficient data rates , welt.de, March 6, 2008.
  38. ↑ WIK study warns against opening broadband scissors , heise.de, March 27, 2008.
  39. ↑ The use of public funds to close broadband gaps in Germany ( Memento from September 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
  40. ↑ Broadband funding essential in rural areas - funding approaches too low ( Memento from January 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB).
  41. ↑ Master plan for nationwide broadband coverage , golem.de, November 26, 2007, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  42. ↑ Baden-Württemberg law on the laying of empty conduits for pending civil engineering work, press release 274/2007 of the Ministry for Rural Areas and Consumer Protection Baden-Württemberg, December 28, 2007, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  43. ↑ Broadband access for all Europeans by 2010 , Digital Opportunities Foundation, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  44. ^ EU: Bridging the Broadband Gap
  45. ↑ Broadband connection with universal service , Swiss Confederation - Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication, September 13, 2006, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  46. ↑ DSL-free zones - rural communities are looking for a connection , FAZ from November 26, 2007.
  47. ↑ '#Petition "broadband for everyone": EU Parliament approves ( memento from March 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), onlinekosten.de, January 23, 2008.
  48. ↑ Website of the Broadband Competence Center NRW (BBCC.NRW)
  49. ↑ eco warns of two-class society in broadband , heise.de, October 24, 2006, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  50. ↑ kein-dsl.de: Information and DSL alternatives initiative Pool and supplier contacts
  51. ↑ A village in Baden networks with the world , spiegel.de, March 30, 2009, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  52. ↑ HOWTO: Rich and sexy with a broadband citizens' initiative ( memento from February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Citizens Network Dielheim / Wiesloch.
  53. ↑ Guide for municipalities on broadband expansion ( memento of June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Clearingstelle Baden-Württemberg.
  54. ^ Industry association eco ( Memento from May 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  55. ↑ BFWA aims to improve internet access in rural areas , golem.de, August 30, 2007, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  56. ↑ Additional frequencies released for wireless Internet , heise.de, August 30, 2007, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  57. ^ At the Müritz it works: Wireless broadband internet via previous radio frequencies , golem.de, January 7, 2009, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  58. ↑ Saarland receives WiMAX network , golem.de, August 27, 2007, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  59. ↑ Filiago brings Internet via satellite with a return channel , golem.de, March 16, 2007, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  60. ↑ UMTS flat rate with a cap for home , golem.de, September 7, 2007, accessed on November 20, 2012.
  61. ↑ freifunk.net: Self-organized broadband networks based on WLAN
  62. ↑ landfunk.net: Initiative for a better supply of broadband connections in rural regions
  63. ↑ neuburg-schrobenhausen: Example of the initiative of a municipality to obtain an Internet broadband connection
  64. ↑ Kubicek, Herbert / Welling, Stefan (2000): Before a digital split in Germany? Approaching a hidden problem of economic and socio-political explosiveness . In: Medien- & Kommunikationwissenschaft , vol. 48, no. 4, p. 499ff.
  65. ↑ Arms are provided with free Internet ( memento from September 14, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), persoenlich.com, accessed on January 13, 2010.
  66. ↑ Beate Frees / Wolfgang Koch: Media Perspektiven 9/2015 . Table 2, p. 367