Digital divides and the role of policy and regulation: A qualitative study

Abstract

This chapter aims to answer the research question: what is the role of internet policy and regulation in digital divides in Greece? I argue that Internet policy and regulation account significantly for the persistence of digital divides in Greece. The chapter draws on literature that views the role of policy and regulation in digital inclusion as problematic and proposes a more dialectical view of the interactions between politics and technology, so that the democratic and participatory potential of the Information Society can be approached more critically. The chapter explores the research question empirically through in-depth individual interviews with elite actors in the Greek Information Society. Elite actors who are involved in various areas of policy and regulation in the Greek Information Society are in the position to account for the role of internet policy and regulation in aspects of digital exclusion from more than one perspective. Thus, the chapter argues about the significant role of decision-making in the Greek case of digital divides, providing the grounding upon which research outside Greece could rely on to look at other cases of digital divides and at the role of policy and regulation accordingly. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.