Digital divide of regions (by example of the Russian Federation)

Abstract

The reduction of intranational differences is the topical issue of modern states sustainable development. One of the conditions for its reduction is to provide equal access of different categories of population to information, resources and services, to the informational and communicational technologies usage. This article raises the problem of the specific social group`s digital divide. And it`s associated with the residence of its representatives in different territories. The object of the study is student youth. The digital divide has been studied through the practices of Internet usage by the younger generation of eight federal districts of the Russian Federation. There have been identified common trends for all districts young people. It is shown that territorial differentiation of online practices is manifested by the purposes of accessing them, the degree of technological solutions use and the preferences of social media. Data analysis about the specifics of Internet use among young people from different federal districts made it possible to combine such territories into three groups. Students from the first group are characterized by the highest involvement in online practices. They are more actively resorting to information and communication technologies and more present on social networks and use IT innovations. The online practices among young people from the second type districts are characterized by unevenness. In some cases students demonstrate high involvement in it (for example, when they are using information and communication technologies in the moment of job research, using cloud file storage services), in others cases it is low due to a weaker presence in some social media. Students from federal districts of the third type are characterized by the lowest involvement in the most part of online practices. The results of the study could be useful in the digital divide monitoring and in the developing government measures to reduce it.