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Digital inequality in provincial China

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Digital inequality in provincial ChinaFeaturedgraphicsDigitalinequalityinprovincialChinaHaimengLiu,ChuanglinFangandSiaoSunInstituteofGeographicalSciencesandNaturalResourcesResearch,ChineseAcademyofSciences,China;CollegeofResourcesandEnvironment,UniversityoftheChineseAcademyofSciences,ChinaAbstract...

Digital inequality in provincial China
FeaturedgraphicsDigitalinequalityinprovincialChinaHaimengLiu,ChuanglinFangandSiaoSunInstituteofGeographicalSciencesandNaturalResourcesResearch,ChineseAcademyofSciences,China;CollegeofResourcesandEnvironment,UniversityoftheChineseAcademyofSciences,ChinaAbstractTherapidspreadofinformationandcommunicationstechnologiesisacceleratingthedevelopmentofoureconomyandsociety.Whileinformationandcommunicationstechnologieshavebecomeanimportantdevelopmenttoolthatreshapesmanyaspectsoftheworld’sactivities,digitalinequalityemergesonaworldwidescaleduetodifferenceinaccesstoanduseofinformationandcommunicationstechnologies.Digitalinequality,whichisanewphenomenoninthecurrentinformationera,willwidenthegapbetweendevelopedanddevelopingcountriesregions.Chinahaswitnessedrapidinformationizationalongwithitsboomingeconomicgrowthoverthepastdecade.However,digitalinequality,asanimportantaspectofsocialinequalitiesinChina,hasreceivedonlyscantattentioncurrently.Basedonthetechniqueofcartogram,Figuresdisplayprovincialinformationandcommunicationstechnologiesdevelopmentindex(IDI)valuesin2010and2015inChina,exhibitinghighinequality.RegionsofthehighestinformationandcommunicationstechnologieslevelsaredistributedalongChina’seasterncoast.Onthecontrary,theprovincesinthewestpresentverylowinformationandcommunicationstechnologieslevels.ThecoefficientofvariationofIDIvaluesdroppedfrom0.30to0.18,indicatingdecliningdigitalinequalityinChina.Acausalbidirectionalrelationprobablyexistsbetweentheeconomicdevelopmentandinformationandcommunicationstechnologieslevels.KeywordsDigitalinequality,China,informationandcommunicationstechnologiesTherapidspreadofinformationandcommunicationstechnologies(ICT)isacceleratingthedevelopmentofoureconomyandsociety.WhileICThavebecomeanimportantdevelopmenttoolthatreshapesmanyaspectsoftheworld’sactivities,digitalinequalityemergesonaworldwidescaleduetodifferenceinaccesstoanduseofICT(TorresAlberoetal.,2014).Digitalinequality,whichisanewphenomenoninthecurrentinformationera,willwidenthegapbetweendevelopedanddevelopingcountriesregions.Chinahaswitnessedrapidinformationizationalongwithitsboomingeconomicgrowthoverthepastdecade.In2016,thenumberofinternetusershasreached731million,makingtheCorrespondingauthor:ChuanglinFang,InstituteofGeographicalSciencesandNaturalResourcesResearch,ChineseAcademyofSciences,Beijing,China.Email:fangcl@igsnrr.ac.cnEnvironmentandPlanningA0(0)1–4!TheAuthor(s)2017Reprintsandpermissions:sagepub.co.ukjournalsPermissions.navDOI:10.11770308518X17711946journals.sagepub.comhomeepninternetpenetrationrate53.2%,andthenumberofmobilephoneusersis695million.However,digitalinequality,asanimportantaspectofsocialinequalitiesinChina,hasreceivedonlyscantattentioncurrently.AnICTdevelopmentindex(IDI)isdevelopedinordertoassesstheinformationizationlevelsinvariedprovincesinChina,referringMeasuringtheInformationSocietyReport2016(ITU,2016)andChina’sinformationizationdevelopmentannualreport(MIIT,2016).Thisindexsystemincludes10indicators(i.e.internetpenetration,internationalinternetbandwidth,mobilebroadbandpenetration,computerpenetration,mobiletelephonepenetration,ecommerceratio,egovernmentratio,meanyearsofschooling,tertiaryFigure1.DigitalinequalityandeconomicinequalityinprovincialChina.Areasareshadedbytheirsizeonthecartogram.Thebottomleftgraphprovidesanoriginalmapforthepurposeofcomparison.2EnvironmentandPlanningA0(0)enrolmentratio,andratioofapplyforapatent),whichcharacterizethreedimensionsofICT(i.e.access,useandbenefits).AlltheindicatorsarenormalizedandtheirweightsaresetthesametocomputeIDI.Basedonthetechniqueofcartogram,Figure1(a)and(b)displaysprovincialIDIvaluesin2010and2015inChina.Bothfiguresexhibithighinequality.RegionsofthehighestICTlevelsaredistributedalongChina’seasterncoast.ByadjustingthesizeofeachregionaccordingtotheIDIvalue,thesizesofBeijing,Tianjin,andShanghaiextendfarbeyondtheiractualareas.Onthecontrary,theprovincesinthewestpresentverylowICTlevels.AlbeitlittlechangeshownintheoverallspatialpatternofIDIvaluesbetween2010and2015basedonvisualinspection,thecoefficientofvariationofIDIvaluesdroppedfrom0.30to0.18,indicatingdecliningdigitalinequalityinChina.Thiscanprobablybeexplainedbytherapidexpansionofmobileinternet(LooandNgan,2012)andtheendeavorstowardsmoreaffordableaccesstoICTmadebylocalgovernmentsincentralandwesternChina.Forinstance,thegovernmentofSichuanhasimplementedeffectivepoliciestoencourageinformationinfrastructureconstructionandpublicandprivateinvestmentinbigdata,cloudcomputing,ecommerce,etc.Asaresult,theIDIvalueinSichuanhasincreasedfrom43.77in2010to74.93in2015.Digitalinequalityiscloselycorrelatedwithunequaleconomicdevelopment(Guille´nandSua´rez,2005).ThecartogramsofGDPpercapitain2010and2015arealsopresentedforcomparison(Figure1(c)and(d)).ThespatialpatternofGDPpercapitaissimilartothatofIDI.TheeconomicdisparityinprovincialChinaalsopresentsanarrowingtrend,withthecoefficientofvariationoftheGDPpercapitadroppingfrom0.51to0.43.AcausalbidirectionalrelationprobablyexistsbetweentheeconomicdevelopmentandICTlevels:inlessdevelopedregions,accesstoICTislowbecauseICTinfrastructuresareusuallylacking;Inturn,withlessICTaccess,poorerregionsarenotabletofullyparticipateinanincreasinglydigitalbasedeconomy,whichwillfurtherwidenthegapbetweenthemanddevelopedregions.However,acloserinvestigationisnecessarytoenablecomprehensiveunderstandingofthecomplexrelationshipbetweeneconomyanddigitalinequality,basedonwhich,effectivepoliciescanpossiblybemadeinordertoaddresssocialinequalityandpromotesharedprosperity.DeclarationofconflictinginterestsTheauthor(s)declarednopotentialconFictsofinterestwithrespecttotheresearch,authorship,andorpublicationofthisarticle.FundingTheauthor(s)disclosedreceiptofthefollowingfinancialsupportfortheresearch,authorship,andorpublicationofthisarticle:TheresearchissponsoredbyaMajorProgramoftheNationalNaturalScienceFoundationofChina(No.41590842).SoftwareArcGIS10.2andCartogramGeoprocessingTool(http:arcscripts.esri.comdetails.asp?dbid¼15638).ReferencesITU(2016)Measuringtheinformationsocietyreport2016.Availableat:www.itu.intenITUDStatisticsDocumentspublicationsmisr2016MISR2016w4.pdf(accessed28March2017).Liuetal.3Guille´nMFandSua´rezSL(2005)Explainingtheglobaldigitaldivide:Economic,politicalandsociologicaldriversofcrossnationalinternetuse.SocialForces84:681–708.LooBPandNganY(2012)Developingmobiletelecommunicationstonarrowdigitaldivideindevelopingcountries?SomelessonsfromChina.TelecommunicationsPolicy36:888–900.MIIT(2016)China’sinformationizationdevelopmentannualreport.Availableat:www.miit.gov.cnn1146290n1146402n1146445c4838381content.html(accessed28March2017).TorresAlberoC,RoblesJMandMarcoSD(2014)InequalitiesintheInformationandKnowledgeSociety:FromtheDigitalDividetoDigitalInequality.London:Springer.4EnvironmentandPlanningA0(0)
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