DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN NIGERIA: ROLES OF LIBRARIES AND OTHER INFORMATION SERVICE PROVIDING INSTITUTIONS
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Date
2019
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Library Philosophy and Practice
Abstract
Social exclusion is more or less a deliberate act of negligence, wherefore group of people in society are disengaged from mainstream culture because of their background, geographical location and other demographical characteristics that demarcate them from others. Social exclusion is an omnibus term, which encompasses many multidimensional social variables such as inequalities of opportunities, lack of access to basic amenities, digital divide and many more. However, for the sake of this current study, emphasis would be on digital divide existing between urban and rural settlers, in respect to their accessibility to information in today digital age. This study is a literature review that sought to enumerate the roles of information providing institutions in curbing and integrating the digital divides. Observation from the literature underscored poor information infrastructure in the rural area as the major causes of the digital divide between them and the urban area. Another impediment was because the vast majority of rural settlers are low-income earners and most are not literate, therefore, they are poverty driven and access to internet connectivity become luxury rather than a necessity of life.
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Keywords
Digital Environment, Social Exclusion, Digital Divide, Information Centers, Libraries, Rural Area, Urban Area, Nigeria