NARROWING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: THE AUSTRALIAN SITUATION
Author(s):
Pradip K. Sarkar,
Mohini Singh
Paper abstract: Despite the initial slow progress, governments around the world have finally adopted the Internet as
means of interactions with citizens and delivering public services. Despite the strides made by many
Western governments, such as Australia, in implementing e-government, significant barriers to the
evolution of fully-fledged e-government services still exist, one of which is the phenomenon of digital
divide. Digital divide in Australia, a developed country with an advanced technological base, is caused
by demand-pull factors, and thus, require the application of social setting approaches in understanding
the phenomenon and subsequently, implementing measures to narrow the digital divide. This paper
discusses the digital divided issues in developed countries, strategies to narrow the digital divide in
Australia, and issues for further research.
Keywords:
Electronic government, Digital divide, Demand-pull/Supply-push, Australia
