Digital literacy and knowledge societies : a grounded theory investigation of sustainable development

• Main Authors: Sharma, Ravi, Fantin, Arul-Raj, Prabhu, Navin, Guan, Chong, Dattakumar, Ambica
• Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Digital Inclusion and Participation; Information Entitlement
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/87222; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/45230
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With a structurally entrenched digital divide on the one hand, and increasing ubiquity of the Internet in a techno-centric world on the other, the imperative to exploit information and knowledge for development remains a significant driver for equitable growth. It is posited that the silver-bullet for reducing this gap lies in increasing digital literacies within a society in order integrate segments who may be marginalized into the inclusive mainstream. In enabling greater and wider participation of digital citizens in their countries' socio-economic activities, the opportunities of a sustainable economy arise. This article is a study of ICT policies, applications and the resulting transformations in five mature economies committed to the vision of knowledge-based development with high levels of digital participation among their citizens. Specifically, using a multi-dimensional scorecard derived from prior work, we conduct a grounded theory investigation of how the five societies have applied digital literacies in knowledge-intensive public services such as education, healthcare and e-government, to derive best practices as well as lessons learned.