Digital Poverty

Examines the problem of inedequate access to information and communication technology (ICT) and the need to develop appropriate pro-poor ICT policies. Shows how market reforms have failed to ensure that the benefits of the Information Society have spread across the region.

This book proposes new solutions to the problem of poverty, and begins with providing analyses. It bases most of the analyses and solutions in the context of the digital era. The book also follows, in addition to a scientific distribution, a spatial-geographical one: analyses of countries of the European Union as well as South Africa, while it referring to two main variables, television and art, as agents of poverty alleviation. The book places particular focus on how poverty is understood in the framework of Industry 4.0. It introduces a new expanded Multidimensional Poverty Index with more than 20 dimensions; moreover, it provides a mathematically based solution for the disposal of perishable food. Finally, it does not disregard the crucial aspect of the issue of poverty: that of education planning. This book is of interest to specialists in poverty research, from students to professionals and from professors to activists, without excluding engineers.

There is widespread concern that the Internet is exacerbating inequalities between the information rich and poor.

This book tackles poverty and policy issues in the UK by discussing successful projects and practices, across lots of short chapters. The first section provides a brief history overview of poverty in the UK over the past two hundred years and discusses the question of why the UK, as a wealthy western nation, still has a poverty issue. It discusses various vulnerable groups and contextual factors which lead to these inequalities. The second section articulates what anti-poverty work is and shares project examples from across the country where anti-poverty workers are supporting people to survive and then to thrive. Lived experiences voices are articulated to present examples of poverty being experienced. This book draws on academic and practitioner work and aims to equip the activist and inform the student, academic and policy maker.

Overcoming Information Poverty: Investigating the Role of Public Libraries in The Twenty-First Century considers the role of public libraries in alleviating information poverty and targeting social exclusion, using a three-level information poverty framework. The book proposes a model for understanding the concept of information poverty, develops indicators for its measurement, and provides recommendations for service improvement based on analysis of public library services at macro (strategic), meso (community) and micro (individual) levels. The topic is of theoretical and practical importance when considering the changing role of public libraries today. The book is the first time a macro, meso, and micro model of information poverty indicators has been developed and applied to illustrate the impact of public libraries at strategic, community, and personal levels. Stimulates thinking and debate on information poverty and how it may be addressed by public libraries, education departments, and governments Uses case studies to investigate how information poverty can be tackled at the macro, meso, and micro level Focuses on how strategic policies to reduce information poverty filter through to community-based interventions within branch libraries Discusses mixed methods, using quantitative and qualitative data, surveys, interviews, and focus groups with library users and non-users, to conduct a three-level investigation of information poverty

'ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction' presents a conceptual framework to analyse how poverty dynamics change over time and to shed light on whether ICT access benefits the poor as well as the not-so-poor. Essential reading for policymakers, researchers, and academics in international development or ICT for development.

Information and communication have always opened opportunities for the poor to earn income, reduce isolation, and respond resiliently to emergencies. With mobile phone use exploding across the developing world, even marginalized communities are now benefiting from modern communication tools. This book explores the impacts of this unprecedented technological change. It looks at how the poor use information and communication technologies (ICTs). How they benefit from mobile devices, computers, and the Internet, and what insights can research provide to promote affordable access to ICTs, so that communities across the developing world can take advantage of the opportunities they offer.

This book is rooted in co-design and co-production, taking an interdisciplinary lens and expertise from academia, industry, and stakeholder organisations to examine contemporary issues and to deliver a manifesto for technology innovation, application, and transgenerational living experiences for the 21st century.