Smart Divide in a Socio-Technical System: Perspectives from Southern Illinois Communities

Keywords: Smart Divide, Socio-Technical System
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has reshaped how our communities access and utilize essential services. Rural communities, however, continue to face significant barriers to use ICTs arising from geographic isolation, infrastructure gap, and social inequalities, which is also known as smart divide. However, there has been a scarcity of research to understand smart divide based on a quantitative socio-technical system (STS) framework. This study aims to examine this smart divide from the lens of an STS, emphasizing the interwoven roles of social and technological factors in contributing to this digital inequality. An Actor-Network Theory (ANT) inspired model, which incorporates both social (human) and technological (non-human) dimensions of the divide, is developed and tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The model proposes premises that the interplay of ICT infrastructures, social infrastructures, and socio-economic factors contributes to smart divide. The model tests three relationships: (1) insufficient ICT infrastructures and (2) disadvantaged socio-economic factors proportionately correlate to smart divide occurrence, and (3) social infrastructure acts as a mediator buffering the impacts of both ICT infrastructures’ deficiencies and socio-economic disadvantages. Mail survey data on households’ digital connectivity, socio-economic indicators, and smart divide metrics (smart education and health) was collected from 262 residents of two remote towns in southern Illinois- Cairo and Carbondale. The findings of this study will advance a theoretical understanding of smart divide as a socio-technical phenomenon and guide effective interventions to mitigate rural smart divide.