Mapping digital divide in neighborhoods: Wi-Fi access in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

As the Internet becomes widely available, one possible effect is to level the playing field for all members of the society. The opposite effect is to produce a new kind of inequality, commonly referred to as the 'digital divide'. This study uses the access point mapping technique to obtain...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnals of GIS Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 35 - 46
Main Authors Driskell, Luke, Wang, Fahui
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis 20.11.2009
Subjects
digital divide
factor analysis
socioeconomic disadvantages
Wi-Fi access point mapping
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Summary:As the Internet becomes widely available, one possible effect is to level the playing field for all members of the society. The opposite effect is to produce a new kind of inequality, commonly referred to as the 'digital divide'. This study uses the access point mapping technique to obtain the Wi-Fi access point density and analyzes its association with various demographic and socioeconomic attributes in neighborhoods. Fieldwork in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, indicates that low-income households headed by a black, single, female parent with multiple children and no college degree have the lowest rates of Wi-Fi ownership. Results from research following the technique can help inform planners in implementing municipal Wi-Fi networks and can also be used as a proxy measure for socioeconomic attributes that are not updated in a timely manner and are often expensive to collect.
ISSN:1947-5683
1947-5691
DOI:10.1080/19475680903271042