Bridging the Digital Divide in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Communities in the South

The Southern Rural Development Center in partnership with the Purdue Center for Regional Development received funding from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to document digital exclusion among disadvantaged groups in the South, gauge the digital inclusion capacity of Cooperative Extension personnel, and design and implement programs and resources to tackle digital exclusion. As part of this effort, a survey was conducted to better understand the depth and breadth of digital exclusion among disadvantaged groups in the South. The following sections discuss the methodology as well as survey findings across three main themes: Internet and device access, reliability, and affordability; digital interactions, resourcefulness, and internet use; training interests & access to support networks. Key takeaways include:

• While there are differences between Whites and minorities as well as metro and nonmetro, the larger and more notable differences took place between lower/higher earning, less/more educated individuals and, to a slightly lesser extent, between younger and older respondents.
• The analysis and findings of another group—mobile-only users—supported existing research that has found that these users do not benefit as much and/or leverage the technology to its fullest potential.
• Additionally, exclusively mobile users were less interested in training topics and their support networks were more limited compared to other groups.
• More importantly, exclusively mobile users tend to be lower-earning and less educated individuals, more so than minorities or younger respondents.