Public access to ICTs : sculpting the profile of users; working paper

Based on a survey of public access ICT users in five countries, the preliminary analysis indicates that while many public access ICT users are young (40% under 20 years old), male (65%), students (44%), with at least secondary education (82%), there is a fair amount of diversity in user characteristics. The significance of public access ICTs is demonstrated in the finding that most users’ first contact with computers and the internet was in a public access venue. The Global Impact Study of Public Access to Information and Communication Technologies was a five-year project (2007-2012)

The measurement of banking output and the treatment of interest in the system of national accounts

The satisfactory measurement of banking output has eluded statistical agencies since the inception of national income accounting. At the heart of the problem is the treatment of interest. Net interest payments are considered part of the output originating in the paying industries. When applied to the banking sector this practice results in unrealistically low or even negative output and an imputation is carried out to rectify the problem. This thesis identifies the problems surrounding the existing concepts and practices, discusses alternatives that have been proposed and develops a new approach to measuring banking output. The rate of interest is decomposed into a transfer and a service part and economic prices for banking services are constructed. Thus, nominal and real banking output are obtained in a straightforward manner. Empirical work points to the viability of the new approach

This paper represents the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Statistics Canada. Connectedness Series

The digital divide, commonly understood as the gap between information and communications technology (ICT) `haves' and `have-nots', has emerged as an important issue of our times largely due to the uneven diffusion of the Internet. Many variables, including income, education, age and geographical location, exert significant influences on household penetration of both ICT and non-ICT commodities. Thus, divides can be defined for any permutation of the above. In the case of ICTs, divides depend on the specific technology, its timing of introduction, as well as the variable of interest. This study shows that the digital divide is sizeable; ICT penetration rates grow with income. Generally, the effect of income is larger on newer ICTs (Internet, computers, cell phones) than older and established ones (television, telephone). Then, using the Internet penetration of households by detailed income level, it finds that in an overall sense the Internet divide is slowly closing. This, however, is the result of the accelerated adoption of the Internet by middle-income households -- particularly upper middle. The Internet divide is widening when the lowest income deciles are compared with the highest income decile. At the same time, the rates of growth of Internet adoption among lower-income households exceed those of higher-income households. This is typical of penetration patterns of ICT and non-ICT commodities. Rates of growth are initially very high among high-income groups, but at later stages it is the penetration of lower-income groups that grows faster. By G. Sciadas The commercial arrival of the Internet, in conjunction with the convergence of information and communications technologies (ICTs), has generated a creative turmoil in all walks of life, including a research thir..

Connectedness Series Our Lives in Digital Times

How to obtain more information Specifi c inquiries about this product and related statistics or services should be directed to: Connectedness Series, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0T6 (telephon

Emerging knowledge opportunities : monitoring infostates for development ; final technical report

Orbicom’s Digital Divide Index provides a rigorous statistical tool capable of benchmarking the unequal access to the use of ICTs internationally, and monitors the progress made by different countries over time, as well as the relative performance across important components of policy interest, such as network deployment, development of skills and use of ICTs. The index was last published by Orbicom in 2005, coinciding with the Second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The empirical application and analysis were complemented with several in-depth analytical chapters on topics such as the macro-economic impacts of ICTs, regional perspectives from Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as women in the information society. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) adopted the Orbicom framework and, with some changes, updated the index in February 2007 as the ICT Opportunity Index. The 3rd Global Knowledge Conference (Kuala Lumpur, December 2007) offered a strategic opportunity to make use of the new and updated index by the ITU, and use it as the macro backdrop for more detailed national quantitative market analyses in developing regions, as well as further expand the work on Women and the information society. The project was aligned with the themes of the Global Knowledge Conference, “Emerging Markets, Emerging Technologies, Emerging People”..