Digital Inequality

This study interrogates the algorithmically mediated construction of khawaja sira (transgender) identity within Pakistan’s rapidly evolving YouTube ecosystem. Moving beyond legacy broadcast stereotypes, it explores how digital platforms simultaneously amplify transphobic comedic tropes and facilitate emergent regimes of socio-political visibility. Anchored in Stuart Hall’s theory of representation and Robert Entman’s framing theory, the research employs qualitative content analysis to examine eight purposively selected high-engagement videos spanning entertainment and socio-political genres.

The analysis identifies a deep representational bifurcation. Entertainment-oriented content reproduces “Comedic Othering,” wherein trans bodies are rendered intelligible through exaggerated performance, linguistic ridicule, and spectacle-driven engagement, reinforcing normative heteropatriarchal ideologies while optimizing algorithmic visibility. In contrast, socio-political discourse enacts “Socio-Political Humanization” through constitutional framing, rights-based narratives, and intellectual discourse that repositions transgender subjects as political agents rather than objects of humor.

The findings suggest that Pakistani YouTube operates as a contradictory ideological apparatus—simultaneously reproducing structural violence and enabling counter-hegemonic articulation. The study underscores the urgency of situated digital governance frameworks and ethical content regulation to address algorithmic exploitation and representational harm in the Global South.

Keywords: Representation, Framing, Algorithmic Culture, Transgender Studies, Pakistani YouTube, Digital Inequality

I co-edited this special issue on Language, Law and Rights: Balancing AI-Driven Technology and Equity, which brings together interdisciplinary reflections on how AI-driven language technologies are transforming access, participation, and linguistic justice. The issue examines the promise of these technologies, while also addressing the risks they pose for equity, representation, and language rights, particularly for minoritized and under-resourced language communities.

This conceptual paper examines the transformation of human autonomy in the age of generative artificial intelligence. The project develops an ethical and philosophical framework focused on three interconnected concepts: the principle of dialectical alternatives (PDA) as a proposed right to both use and refuse AI systems; anti-disparity as a principle aimed at minimising technological and cognitive inequality; and conjugated cognition as a model of sustained human–AI cognitive interaction.

The study explores how generative AI systems increasingly function not only as tools, but also as cognitive mediators influencing decision-making, identity formation, emotional attachment, and epistemic autonomy. Drawing on AI ethics, philosophy of technology, postphenomenology, and digital rights discourse, the paper analyses the risks of cognitive dependency, mandatory AI mediation, and the emergence of technologically enhanced and non-enhanced social groups.

The proposed framework contributes to contemporary discussions on AI governance, digital autonomy, human–AI interaction, and the ethical boundaries of AI integration into everyday human life.

This article analyzes the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) in Brazil and its implications for social inequality and democratic governance. Drawing on the political manifesto "AI for the People," published by U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna and Senator Bernie Sanders in The Nation (May 2026), the author argues that AI's benefits are being

Connectivism and networked learning continue to resonate as important approaches for advancing digital education. What is rarely considered is how parasitism and semiology underwrite these approaches and how their actualization privileges interpersonal or human collaborations while undervaluing nonhuman actants such as data doubles. As our information surrogates, data doubles manifest as byproducts of the surveillance and datafication of our personal information. This reconstitution is made possible by many of the same technology companies that permit networked learning and all digital interactions, thus allowing these establishments to feed on and profit from data extracted from us. This conceptual study reimagines parasitic pedagogy as a form of governance to explicate this process and challenge popular thinking about the relationship among networked learning, surveillance, and datatexts. As the master trope in parasitic pedagogy, the datatext formulates all digital objects, particularly data doubles. Although many educators neglect data doubles because of their opacity and unfamiliarity, technology companies increasingly treat them and their semiology as sources of surplus value, control, and extractive learning. To reveal how we have arrived at this paradoxical impasse, this study explores the philosophical and pedagogical character of parasitism and the Cold War political incentives that inspired the creation of the internet and many of the surveillance practices and data concerns that many educators have today. Parasitic pedagogy integrates these perspectives by illuminating their overlapping imperatives and practices, thus evidencing the ways in which technology companies and government agencies in the West and beyond often use the same fundamental technologies and networks as professional educators to propagate what Basil Bernstein called the totally pedagogised society.

This master’s thesis examines how digital health literacy is experienced in everyday life by older adults in French-speaking Switzerland. Drawing on a sociological approach, the study moves beyond a purely technical understanding of digital skills and explores how access to digital health information is shaped by social contexts, trust, everyday routines, and support networks. The research focuses on people aged 65 and over, a group often presented as vulnerable to digital exclusion, but whose experiences reveal diverse forms of appropriation, resistance, and delegation.

The study is based on a qualitative methodology, using semi-structured interviews with thirteen French-speaking older adults living mainly in the cantons of Geneva and Vaud. The analysis examines their practices of online health information seeking, their perceptions of the Swiss Electronic Patient Record, their relationship with health professionals, and the role of family members, peers, and social networks in supporting or limiting their use of digital health tools.

The findings show that digital health literacy among older adults is not only a matter of individual competence. It is also a relational and situated process, strongly influenced by trust in institutions, previous professional or educational trajectories, health status, accessibility issues, and the availability of informal support. The thesis identifies several contrasting profiles, ranging from highly autonomous users with biomedical knowledge to more sceptical participants, basic users requiring occasional help, and individuals who delegate digital health tasks to close relatives. Overall, the research highlights the need for more inclusive, accessible, and socially grounded approaches to digital health in Switzerland.

Connectivism and networked learning continue to resonate as important approaches for advancing digital education. What is rarely considered is how parasitism and semiology underwrite these approaches and how their actualization privileges interpersonal or human collaborations while undervaluing nonhuman actants such as data doubles. As our information surrogates, data doubles manifest as byproducts of the surveillance and datafication of our personal information. This reconstitution is made possible by many of the same technology companies that permit networked learning and all digital interactions, thus allowing these establishments to feed on and profit from data extracted from us. This conceptual study reimagines parasitic pedagogy as a form of governance to explicate this process and challenge popular thinking about the relationship among networked learning, surveillance, and datatexts. As the master trope in parasitic pedagogy, the datatext formulates all digital objects, particularly data doubles. Although many educators neglect data doubles because of their opacity and unfamiliarity, technology companies increasingly treat them and their semiology as sources of surplus value, control, and extractive learning. To reveal how we have arrived at this paradoxical impasse, this study explores the philosophical and pedagogical character of parasitism and the Cold War political incentives that inspired the creation of the internet and many of the surveillance practices and data concerns that many educators have today. Parasitic pedagogy integrates these perspectives by illuminating their overlapping imperatives and practices, thus evidencing the ways in which technology companies and government agencies in the West and beyond often use the same fundamental technologies and networks as professional educators to propagate what Basil Bernstein called the totally pedagogised society.

This study addresses a critical gap in existing research by systematically comparing the performance of five popular large language models (LLMs) in supporting high-quality qualitative research. Our methodology combines a literature review of academic papers from 2020 to 2025 with a proof-of-concept experiment evaluating ScholarAI, ChatGPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, NotebookLM and Perplexity on key qualitative analysis tasks. We sought to determine how well these generative artificial intelligence (AI) models meet established standards of methodological rigor in qualitative analysis. Findings reveal significant variation in LLM performance: the models excelled at efficiently retrieving relevant literature, summarizing content and generating insights, but exhibited inconsistencies in contextual comprehension, coding accuracy and depth of critical analysis. These results informed a novel evaluation framework aligning LLM outputs with qualitative research quality criteria, contributing guidance for researchers and practitioners. We recommend that practitioners leverage LLMs to improve productivity while exercising critical oversight of their outputs, and that researchers address ethical concerns and refine evaluation rubrics to ensure responsible AI integration. Overall, this work establishes a foundation for responsible human-AI collaboration in qualitative research by highlighting both the opportunities and challenges of using generative AI to enhance methodological rigor and accessibility.

Meta-learning has become a societal imperative as accelerating complexity outpaces existing learning systems. This précis examines how education, governance, and digital infrastructures shape the conditions for lifelong and life-wide learning, and how systemic pressures-acceleration, overload, fragmentation, and inequity-undermine them. It highlights the equity implications of AI-mediated knowledge systems and argues that societies must cultivate meta-learning-through collective intelligence, adaptive institutions, and anticipatory capabilities-to remain resilient amid rapid technological and civic change.

Genel Kamu Hukukunda E-devlet kitabı içinde yer almaktadır. dijital eşitsizlik kavramı irdelenmiş ve devletin dijital eşitsizliği önlemeye yönelik olarak sosyal devlet ilkesi kapsamında ne gibi önlemler alınması gerektiği incelenmiştir. TÜİK verileri detaylı biçimde analiz edilmiştir.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into professional domains represents a fundamental transformation in how professionals conceptualize their identities, develop competencies, and engage in collaborative work practices. This comprehensive review synthesizes empirical and theoretical literature examining AI's impact on professional identity and skills evolution across healthcare, law, education, and engineering. Drawing from 60 peer-reviewed studies published between 2017 and 2025, this article analyzes how AI technologies reshape professional self-concepts, redefine core competencies, and establish new paradigms of human-AI collaboration. Key findings reveal that AI integration triggers identity tensions characterized by concerns about autonomy, expertise devaluation, and role displacement, while simultaneously creating opportunities for augmented practice and hybrid professional roles. The evolution from specialized technical skills toward human-centric competencies-including critical thinking, ethical judgment, creativity, and emotional intelligence-emerges as a central theme across all professions examined. Healthcare professionals experience AI as both diagnostic augmentation and identity threat; legal practitioners navigate tensions between efficiency gains and professional jurisdiction; educators redefine pedagogical roles from knowledge transmission to mentorship and ethical guidance; and engineers embrace AI-augmented design while maintaining human oversight. This article contributes to professional identity theory by proposing a framework of "AI-extended professional self " that conceptualizes identity transformation as dynamic negotiation between technological augmentation and human expertise preservation. Implications for professional education, organizational culture, and workforce development strategies are discussed, emphasizing the necessity of continuous learning ecosystems, ethical AI literacy, and institutional support for identity adaptation in the age of intelligent automation.

A digitális technológiák mindennapi életben betöltött szerepének erősödésével párhuzamosan a digitális egyenlőtlenségek kérdése egyre hangsúlyosabb társadalmi és esélypolitikai problémává vált. A digitális megosztottság nem kizárólag az eszközökhöz vagy az internethez való hozzáférés hiányában ragadható meg, hanem szorosan összefügg a digitális kompetenciák szintjével, a társadalmi kapcsolatokkal, valamint az intézményi és egyéni bizalom kérdésével is. A tanulmány az SM10-MIN-PC2 azonosítószámú Digitális Esélyteremtési Program elnevezésű projekt empirikus tapasztalataira építve vizsgálja, hogy a digitális kompetenciafejlesztés milyen módon járulhat hozzá a társadalmi részvétel bővítéséhez a hátrányos helyzetű csoportok, köztük a romák körében. Az elemzés kvalitatív módszertanra támaszkodik, fókuszcsoportos és szakértői interjúk feldolgozásán keresztül tárja fel a program megvalósítása során kirajzolódó tapasztalatokat, dilemmákat és korlátokat. Az eredmények rámutatnak arra, hogy a digitális esélyteremtés nem pusztán technikai vagy képzési kérdés, hanem komplex társadalmi folyamat, amelyben a kulturális és társadalmi erőforrások, valamint a támogató intézményi környezet meghatározó szerepet játszanak.

Despite global progress in reducing inequality, disparities persist and worsen in certain regions. While wealthier countries experience unprecedented human development, poorer nations, including South Africa, struggle. Digital innovations have transformed sectors like business, education, healthcare, and finance, yet the gap in digital access mirrors the gap in development. This study focuses on Gauteng Province, South Africa, a region highly prone to inequality. Using data from 1993 to 2022 and applying the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), the study reveals that digitalization significantly reduces inequality across Gauteng's regions. The Human Development Index (HDI) is negatively correlated with inequality, showing that improvements in human development help narrow disparities. However, regional output disparities intensify inequality, with the impact growing from lower to higher quantiles. These findings underscore the dual role of digitalization as both a means of reducing inequality and a marker of deeper economic and social divides. Given the limited research on digitalization and inequality in developing economies, particularly in South Africa, this study offers critical insights and policy implications for fostering inclusive growth in the region.

The intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and public policy represents one of the most consequential governance frontiers of the twenty-first century. As governments worldwide confront mounting complexity in regulatory environments, resource constraints, and escalating citizen expectations, AI technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to augment policy analysis, accelerate evidence synthesis, and enhance public participation in the democratic process. Yet, this transformative potential coexists with profound challenges: algorithmic bias threatens to entrench systemic inequalities; black-box decision architectures undermine democratic transparency; and the asymmetric distribution of data infrastructure risks deepening the digital divide between high-income and low-income nations. This paper advances a comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis of AI adoption across all four phases of the public policy cycle agenda setting, policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation drawing on comparative case evidence from OECD member states, emerging economies, and subnational jurisdictions. Through a critical review of the scholarly literature and institutional reports from the OECD, the United Nations, the European Commission, and RAND Corporation, the study identifies three dominant governance frames: (1) harnessing AI's operational potential; (2) capacity-building and institutional readiness; and (3) ethical regulation and democratic oversight. The paper further develops an original integrative framework the TRACE model (Transparency, Responsiveness, Accountability, Capacity, and Equity) as a principled scaffold for governments seeking to adopt AI in policy making without sacrificing democratic values or public trust. Implications for legislators, public administrators, and AI practitioners are discussed.

Questa tesi propone una lettura critica del digitale come spazio di potere, in cui retoriche meritocratiche, meccanismi algoritmici e disuguaglianze epistemiche si intrecciano, influenzando visibilità, legittimazione e conservazione dei saperi.
Il primo capitolo analizza le logiche novecentesche della meritocrazia, intesa come sistema di selezione sociale basato su criteri di presunto “merito.” Vengono esplorati la genealogia di questa distopia selettiva, da Young in The Rise of the Meritocracy fino all’evoluzione delle politiche neoliberiste, la naturalizzazione delle disuguaglianze sociali e la falsa promessa di mobilità, insieme all’architettura e ai meccanismi della selezione, fino all’ascesa della tecnocrazia che completa il discorso meritocratico. Si evidenzia come, pur sotto l’apparenza di libertà e autonomia, la meritocrazia operi una gerarchizzazione sociale e atomizzi l’individuo, confinandolo in dinamiche competitive isolate.
Il secondo capitolo mostra come, nell’era digitale contemporanea, la logica del merito sia stata superata e trasformata in un sistema di esclusione algoritmica. Attraverso l’analisi del potere cognitivo globale delle GAFAM, dei Big Data come nuova moneta della sorveglianza e dei gatekeeper digitali, si evidenzia come gli algoritmi determinino cosa è visibile, rilevante e legittimo, invisibilizzando lingue, saperi e soggetti marginalizzati. Tale esclusione, pur sotto l’apparenza di neutralità tecnica, produce effetti concreti sulle comunità e sui saperi, coerenti con la gerarchizzazione globale descritta da Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Vengono approfonditi concetti quali bias predittivi e oblio programmato.
Il terzo capitolo esplora forme emergenti di resistenza attraverso reti e infrastrutture comunitarie, software liberi e piattaforme Sud-Sud, capaci di costruire sovranità cognitiva, pluralità dei saperi e inclusione epistemica. Queste pratiche dimostrano come comunità locali possano creare spazi digitali più equi e sostenibili, dove lingue, culture e conoscenze marginalizzate trovano riconoscimento e continuità.
La tesi si propone così di offrire una riflessione critica sul rapporto tra tecnologia, disuguaglianze e conoscenza, evidenziando la necessità di costruire un’ecologia dei saperi in grado di contrastare l’esclusione algoritmica e valorizzare pratiche di inclusione epistemica.

This thesis proposes a critical reading of the digital sphere as a space of power, where meritocratic rhetoric, algorithmic mechanisms, and epistemic inequalities intertwine, shaping the visibility, legitimacy, and preservation of knowledge.

The first chapter examines the twentieth-century logic of meritocracy, understood as a system of social selection based on criteria of presumed “merit.” It explores the genealogy of this selective dystopia, from Michael Young’s The Rise of the Meritocracy to the evolution of neoliberal policies, highlighting the naturalization of social inequalities and the false promise of social mobility. The chapter also investigates the architecture and mechanisms of meritocratic selection, culminating in the rise of technocracy as the completion of the meritocratic discourse. It demonstrates how, despite its appearance of freedom and autonomy, meritocracy operates as a system of social hierarchization, atomizing individuals and confining them within isolated competitive dynamics.

The second chapter argues that, in the contemporary digital age, the logic of merit has been transformed into a system of algorithmic exclusion. Through an analysis of the global cognitive power exercised by GAFAM corporations, Big Data as the new currency of surveillance, and the role of digital gatekeepers, the chapter shows how algorithms determine what becomes visible, relevant, and legitimate while rendering marginalized languages, forms of knowledge, and subjects invisible. Although presented as technically neutral, this exclusion produces tangible effects on communities and knowledge systems, consistent with the global hierarchization described by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Particular attention is given to concepts such as predictive bias and programmed oblivion.

The third chapter explores emerging forms of resistance through community networks and infrastructures, free and open-source software, and South–South digital platforms capable of fostering cognitive sovereignty, epistemic plurality, and inclusive knowledge production. These practices demonstrate how local communities can create more equitable and sustainable digital spaces in which marginalized languages, cultures, and forms of knowledge may find recognition and continuity.

The thesis ultimately offers a critical reflection on the relationship between technology, inequality, and knowledge, emphasizing the need to build an ecology of knowledges capable of countering algorithmic exclusion and promoting practices of epistemic inclusion.

This paper presents findings on the correspondence of levels of digital systems and media use with a range of socioeconomic and demographic measures in the U.K. Most research on inequalities in regard to digital systems and media has focused on access and skills. Building on prior work (Yates and Lockley, 2018; Yates, et al., 2015) we argue that inequalities in regard to digital systems and media are better understood around types of user and their correspondence to other key social variables-rather than solely individual skills and access. The analysis presented here covers a range of key demographic variables, especially those that are markers of distinct social disadvantage. We find that those not using the Internet have distinct characteristics-predominantly around age, education and deprivation levels. We also find that those undertaking limited uses (overall limited use or a very narrow range of uses) are all predominantly from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds with variations due to age and education. The data used for the analysis is the recent U.K. Ofcom 2018-19 (n = 1,882) media literacy survey. The paper uses latent class analysis methods to inductively define user types. Multinomial and binary logistic regression are used to explore the correspondence of latent class group membership to key demographic variables. These insights have direct U.K. and international policy relevance as they are key to the development of strategies to tackle ongoing digital inequalities in U.K. society.

As more of our everyday lives become digital, it has become crucial to include everyone in the digital society. This special issue is examining the different layers of digital inclusion and data literacy by drawing on research, policy, and practice developments around literacies in various regions and contexts. It highlights the politics around them so as to propose policies that are needed to include more people in datafied societies, and what types of literacies they should learn. This issue includes three commentaries by experts in the field and five peer-reviewed academic papers that go towards tackling digital inclusion. This means to find solutions to the fact that many people are left behind technological advancements, and that these create what is commonly called-the digital divide.

The chapter aims to summarize the main genealogies, characteristics, and parameters of the Digital Divide generated by the widespread deployment of telematic systems and democracy.

According to the author, it refers to a field of research concerned with the study of discourses and practices related to inequalities and disparities in access to computers, internet infrastructure, and the acquisition of knowledge and information, observable across social class, gender, age, educational attainment, ethnicity, language, place of residence (country), and political or religious beliefs, among others.

To capture this diversity of multiple “divides,” the term Digital Stratification is proposed. In the early 2000s, the Digital Divide was commonly framed as “the” digital divide, primarily focusing on “the” economic divide. This article acknowledges the existence of additional variables and argues for the presence of multiple “divides,” extending beyond age and gender, which some researchers have incorporated—albeit mainly from a quantitative perspective—over the preceding two years (2000–2001).

As a starting point, the author argues that the introduction of ICTs into political, economic, and social life enables the expansion of democracy (in its strict sense of rule by the people) into areas and possibilities previously inaccessible.

The article analyzes several discursive elements underpinning the social imaginary of Information Societies. In particular, it examines the Discourse of Progress. Special attention is given to the analysis of Digital Stratification (the Digital Divide), focusing on the study of discourses and practices associated with inequalities and differences in relation to democracy and digital governance within the Network Society.

The present study aims to offer a comprehensive presentation of the empirical results of the third wave of the World Internet Project (WIP) nation-wide survey in Greece, which was conducted from the 12th of April to the 23th of May 2019. It involves the main findings of this research wave and explores the development of internet penetration among the Greek population by providing comparative data on several aspects of the respondents' internet related behavior between all three WIP waves (2015, 2017, 2019). These aspects pertain to digital use, access and divides, online activities and social capital, internet reliability and fake news, online victimization and privacy, political efficacy and freedom of expression. Data were collected by 1,208 interviews over the phone on a structured questionnaire (based on WIP guidelines and included some additional national questions of theoretical interest) and manually transferred to an online platform using RM+ software and then to statist...