The Digital Divide in Citizen-Initiated Government Contacts: A GIS Approach

As the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) grows, governments have seen the Geoweb and Web 2.0 as an opportunity to increase citizen involvement through e-government which provides citizens with the ability to record and share information. 311 services represent citizens'...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of urban technology 2014-10, Vol.21 (4), p.77-93
Main Authors: Cavallo, Sara, Lynch, Joann, Scull, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communities
Demographics
Digital
Digital divide
e-government
Electronic government
Geographic information systems
Governments
Local government
municipal services
Satellite navigation systems
Visualization
volunteered geographic information
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:As the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) grows, governments have seen the Geoweb and Web 2.0 as an opportunity to increase citizen involvement through e-government which provides citizens with the ability to record and share information. 311 services represent citizens' most direct contact with local governments in the form of volunteered geographic information (VGI) empowering citizens with the means of solving community issues. Past studies have examined VGI and e-government use finding patterns of a digital divide with survey data; yet, further research which allows for the visualization of these patterns using citizen-generated data is needed to understand the link between users and the content they create. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between sociodemographic status and 311 service request frequency in three cities within the United States using geographic information systems (GIS) and regression analysis. Results suggest the potential existence of a digital divide and that the demographic profile of a city plays a role in participation in e-government.
ISSN:1063-0732
1466-1853
DOI:10.1080/10630732.2014.942167