Measuring ICTs

Measuring ICT usage quality for information society building
Bjarne Rerup Schlichtera, Lesya Danylchenkob

Definitions 

• Information Society:

“… Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life” (WSIS, 2003a).

“An information society is a society in which the creation, distribution, diffusion, use, integration and manipulation of information is a significant economic, political, and cultural activity” (Wikipedia, 2011);

“…a society in which information and knowledge will play critical roles in enabling the development of countries, communities and individuals” (Souter, 2010, p. 11)

“A new form of social existence in which the storage, production, flow, etc. of networked information plays the central role” (Karvalics, 2007)

But...
“The first challenge is to determine what it is that one is measuring. Is it information in society or an information society? Is it information or knowledge, or both, or ICT? Is it present state, or readiness, or potential, or outcomes?” (Menou & Taylor, 2006).

Information society indices

Index title/Developer	Subjects	Indicators, representing ICT usage
ICT Development Index	1) ICT infrastructure and access;	1) Internet users per 100 inhabitants;
(IDI)/ITU	2) ICT use;	2) Fixed broadband internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants;
	3) ICT skills	3) Mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

11 indicators

Networked Readiness Index (NRI)/World Economic Forum and INSEAD	1) ICT Environment;	Individual usage:
	2) ICT Readiness;	1) Mobile telephone subscribers per 100 population;
	3) ICT Usage	2) Personal computers per 100 population;
	Each subindex is divided into 3 pillars.	3) Total broadband internet subscribers per 100 population;
	Pillars of the Environment subindex: Market environment, political and regulatory environment, Infrastructure environment.	4) Internet users per 100 population;
	Pillars of the Readiness subindex: Individual readiness, Business readiness, Government readiness.	5) International internet bandwidth per 10000 population
	Pillars of the Usage subindex: Individual usage, Business usage, Government usage	Business usage:
		1) Prevalence of foreign technology licencing;
		2) Firm-level technology absorption;
		3) Capacity for innovation;
		4) Availability of new telephone lines
		5) Extent of business internet use;
		Government usage:
		1) Government success in ICT promotion;
		2) Availability of government online services;
		3) ICT use and government efficiency;
		4) Presence of ICT in government offices;
		E-participation Index
Digital Economy Rankings/Economist Intelligence Unit and IBM Institute for Business Value	1) Connectivity and technology infrastructure;	1) Broadband penetration as % of the total population;
	2) Business environment;	2) Mobile-phone penetration as % of the total population;
	3) Social and cultural environment;	3) Internet user penetration as % of the total population;
	4) Legal environment;	4) Consumer spending on ICT per head;
	5) Government policy and vision;	5) Level of e-business development;
	6) Consumer and business adoption	6) Use of internet by consumers;
		Use of online public services by citizens and business
Knowledge Economy Index/World Bank	1) Economic incentive regime;	1) Telephone penetration per 1000 people;
	innovation;	2) Computer penetration per 1000 people;
	education;	3) Internet penetration per 1000 people
	ICT

Bjarne Rerup Schlichter, Lesya Danylchenko, Measuring ICT usage quality for information society building, In Government Information Quarterly, Volume 31, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 170-184, ISSN 0740-624X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2013.09.003.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740624X13001226)
Keywords: (Responsive) information society (building); World Summit on the Information Society; Digital divide; (Actual levels of) ICT usage; e-readiness; Networked Readiness Index; ICT usage index

Towards Inclusive Knowledge Societies
A review of UNESCO’s action in implementing the WSIS outcomes

2.4 The Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development
WSIS Action Lines
C1. The role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs
for development
C2. Information and communication infrastructure
C3. Access to information and knowledge
C4. Capacity building
C5. Building con dence and security in the use of ICTs
C6. Enabling environment
C7. ICT Applications:
E-government
E-business
E-learning
E-health
E-employment
E-environment
E-agriculture
E-science
C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
C9. Media
C10.Ethical dimensions of the Information Society
C11.International and regional cooperation

Inequality in the network society: An integrated approach to ICT access, basic skills, and complex capabilities
Sandro Mendonça, Nuno Crespo, Nadia Simões 

While applying these indicators to the realm of ICT we distinguished between three dimensions, which have roots in the evolution of the literature for the past years: access to assets (devices and infrastructures), basic skills (lower-level individual know-how in operating ICT tools), and complex capabilities (higher-level literacy having to do with pro-active and interactive uses of digital technologies). We aggregated these dimensions into a single ICT index as a synthetic approach while retaining the analytical ability to unbundle them for the sake of analysis.

Sandro Mendonça, Nuno Crespo, Nadia Simões, Inequality in the network society: An integrated approach to ICT access, basic skills, and complex capabilities, In Telecommunications Policy, Volume 39, Issues 3–4, 2015, Pages 192-207, ISSN 0308-5961, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2014.12.010.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596114001992)
Keywords: ICT use; Inequality; Access; Skills; Composite index; Portugal