Digital Data Divide Database

This database estimates the world’s technological hardware capacity to telecommunicate information between 1986 and 2017. The database provides both the number of telecommunication subscriptions and the bandwidth capacity for 168 countries.

The database can be found here: https://osf.io/qyagv/

Please cite as: Hilbert, M. (2019). Digital Data Divide Database (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. ID 3345756). Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3345756 ; https://osf.io/qyagv/

For animations of this database, see:

https://www.scidev.net/global/icts/data-visualisation/digital-divide-data-interactive.html

Different parts of this database have been analyzed on the country level in several studies, especially in:

Hilbert, M., López, P., & Vásquez, C. (2010). Information Societies or “ICT Equipment Societies?” Measuring the Digital Information-Processing Capacity of a Society in Bits and Bytes. The Information Society, 26(3), 157–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972241003712199 & https://www.martinhilbert.net/information-societies-or-ict-equipment-societies/

Hilbert, M. (2011). Mapping the dimensions and characteristics of the world’s technological communication capacity during the period of digitization. In Working Paper. Mauritius: International Telecommunication Union (ITU). http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/wtim11/documents/inf/015INF-E.pdf

Hilbert, M. (2012). How much information is there in the “information society”? Significance, 9(4), 8–12. https://www.martinhilbert.net/how-much-information-is-there-in-the-information-society/ & https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2012.00584.x

Hilbert, M. (2014). Technological information inequality as an incessantly moving target: The redistribution of information and communication capacities between 1986 and 2010. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(4), 821–835. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23020 & https://www.martinhilbert.net/technological-information-inequality-as-an-incessantly-moving-target/

Hilbert, M. (2016). The bad news is that the digital access divide is here to stay: Domestically installed bandwidths among 172 countries for 1986–2014. Telecommunications Policy, 40(6), 567–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2016.01.006 & https://www.martinhilbert.net/the-bad-news-is-that-the-digital-access-divide-is-here-to-stay/

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