정보 격차 논의에 대한 비판적 고찰 : 집단 수준의 논의에서 개인 수준의 논의로

This article is to analyze the discussions on the digital divide. By reading through the discussions which have been going on so far, the author tries to suggest the alternative policy to overcome the shortcomings of most analyses on the topic of digital divide. The study about both trends and reasons of digital divide started with whether or not people could access the information technology or information network. The simple and binary approach of access/or not could not propose the suitable policy to solve the digital divide. After realizing that dichotomy approach of access cannot divulge the complexities of the phenomena of digital divide, various discussions of demographic variable approach, social capital, culture capital, and even individual capability have been forwarded by many scholars. Even though most discussion on digital divide have found out that people have to take divers approaches to study digital divide, most discussions have a critical weakness in terms of defining the concept of information. This article tries to supplement the discussions on digital divide through both the in-depth analysis of the definition of information and the understanding the arguments of the distribution of resources by Amatyr Sen.