Coğrafi Dijital Uçurum: Türkiye’de Dijital Dönüşümün Kentsel-Kırsal, Bölgesel ve Cinsiyet Eşitsizlikleri
Gelişmiş ve gelişmekte olan ülkeler arasında dijitalleşmenin neden olduğu eşitsizliklerin varlığı bilinmekle birlikte, ülkelerin farklı bölgelerinde, şehirlerinde hatta bir şehrin farklı mahallelerinde İnternet ve bilgisayar erişimi konusunda ciddi eşitsizlikler bulunmaktadır. Bu makalede, Türkiye’deki dijital uçurumun coğrafi boyutlarının ortaya çıkarılması amaçlanmıştır. Dünya Bankası, OECD, Eurostat, TÜİK, Speedtest, BTK ve Google Earth’ün veri kaynaklarından; İnternet erişimi, İnternet hızı ve bilgisayar erişimi konularıyla ilgili elde edilen veriler harita ve diyagramlarla görselleştirilmiştir. Bulgularımıza göre Türkiye’deki dijital uçurumun dört coğrafi boyutu bulunmaktadır. Birincisi, küresel dijital uçurumda Batı Avrupa ve Kuzey Amerika ülkeleri gelişmiş dijital altyapıya sahipken Türkiye gibi gelişmekte olan ülkeler bilgisayara erişim, fiber bağlantı ve sabit geniş bantlı İnternette konularında yetersiz kalmaktadır. İkincisi, şehirlerarasında batı ve doğu yönlü keskin dijital eşitsizlikler bulunmaktadır. Özellikle kıyı kesiminde ve sanayileşmiş kentlerde İnternet hızı ve bilgisayar erişimi yüksekken kırsalda oldukça düşüktür. Üçüncüsü, şehirlerarasındaki dijital gelişmişlik farkı bölgeler arasında da bulunmaktadır. Dördüncüsü, eğitim seviyesinin düşük olan Doğu bölgelerinde kadınların bilgisayara erişimi erkeklere göre oldukça yetersiz kalmaktadır. Sonuçta, dijitalleşmede gelişmiş ülkelerin gerisinde olan Türkiye’de kent-kır ve bölgeler arasında altyapı ve düşük gelir nedeniyle artan dijital eşitsizlikler bulunmaktadır. Özellikle doğu bölgelerde kadınların erkeklere göre dijital teknolojiye erişememesi, Türkiye’deki dijital uçurum sorununun düşük ekonomik gelirin yanı sıra kültürel bir boyuta sahip olduğunu da göstermektedir.
The Geographical Digital Divide: Urban-Rural, Regional and Gender Inequalities of Digital Transformation in Turkey
Although the existence of a global digital divide between developed and developing countries is well-known, there are crucial inequalities in internet and computer access in different regions, cities, and even in different neighborhoods of the same city. This article aims to map the geographical digital divide in Turkey by using data about internet access, internet speed, computer ownership, and internet cafe access from the World Bank, OECD, Eurostat, TurkStat, Speedtest, BTK, and Google Earth. According to our findings, the digital divide in Turkey has four geographical dimensions. First, in the global digital divide, Western European and North American countries have developed digital infrastructure, while developing countries such as Turkey fall short in fiber connection and fixed broadband internet. Second, there are sharp digital disparities between cities to the east and west. Especially in coastal areas and industrialized cities, internet speed and computer access are high, while in rural areas it is quite low. Third, the difference in digital development between cities also exists between regions. Fourth, in the Eastern regions, where the education level is low, women’s access to computers is considerably less than that of men. As a result, in Turkey, which is behind developed countries in digitalization, there are increasing digital inequalities between urban-rural regions due to insufficient infrastructure and low income. The fact that women have lower access to digital technology compared to men shows that the digital divide problem in Turkey has a cultural dimension in addition to low income.
Countries need access to and use of digital technology in order to transition from traditional industrial society to the information society. Societies deprived of the possibilities of this technology are doomed to stay out of the developed world system. Although the exclusion in question has tried to be explained by socio-economic structure and cultural reasons, the root of the problem is based in geography. While the most obvious geographical dimension is the global digital divide, which represents the gap between developed and developing countries, persistent digital inequalities exist even within developed countries. The global digital divide was examined in the early 2010s with subscription criterion to the Internet. Although the Internet spread to the less developed parts of the world towards the 2020s, the digital divide has not been resolved. Digital inequalities are increasing as today’s digital economy and digital entertainment require high-speed Internet and high-performance computers. A similar gap exists between cities, between the rural and the urban, and between regions and genders. In order to reveal these digital inequalities, it is necessary to refer to criteria such as fixed broadband internet connection, internet speed, fibre connection subscription and computer access. In order to contribute to the gap in the literature, this study aims to reveal the geographical digital gap in Turkey, which targets Industry 4.0, based on global digital differences. This article aims to map the geographical digital divide in Turkey by using data about internet access, internet speed, computer ownership, and internet cafe access from the World Bank, OECD, Eurostat, TurkStat, Speedtest, Information Technologies and Communications Authority, and Google Earth. As a result of the findings, four geographical dimensions of the digital divide in Turkey have been reached. First, in the global digital divide, Western European and North American countries have developed digital infrastructure, while developing countries such as Turkey fall short in fibre connection and fixed broadband internet. Secondly, there are sharp digital disparities between cities in west and east Turkey. Third, the difference in digital development between cities also exists between regions. While Internet and computer access is high especially in industrialized cities, internet speed is very low in rural areas. Finally, in the eastern regions where education levels are lower, women’s access to computers is extremely inadequate compared to men. The low level of education, income and social life quality of the provinces, especially in the Eastern Black Sea, Eastern Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia regions, is also reflected in the digital divide. As a result, in Turkey, which is behind developed countries in digitalization, there are increasing digital inequalities between urban-rural and regions due to insufficient infrastructure and income. The fact that women have less access to digital technology compared to men shows that the digital divide problem in Turkey has not only an economic but also a cultural dimension. The results of this study show that the geographic digital divide is not only caused by low income levels, but can occur within cultural boundaries as well. This is particularly evident in the eastern regions, where women’s digital participation rates are low and women have limited access to the public sphere. Finally, it is clear that geography still matters in digitization. Access to quality Internet and computers is deeply conditioned by one’s location, and this is a reflection of wealth and power relations. The long-standing hierarchy of core and periphery is also very evident in cyberspace, as is the gap between developed and less developed countries or cities and rural areas. Many factors combine to produce the unequal spatiality of digital transformation. Differences in income, education, gender relations and telecommunications policies inevitably create a multi-scale geography of cyberspace. At this point, digitalization turns into a crucial social development problem as both the cause and the result of the unequal geographical order. National policies are needed in order to not exacerbate the inequalities brought by digitalization to the social inequalities that lie in issues such as economy, education, culture and social life. Otherwise, the unequal geographical texture of digitization may deepen inequalities in other areas. Moreover, this article contains innovations for the field of geography. The importance of geographical research and techniques in addressing social problems has also been demonstrated by addressing the issue of digitalization in Turkey for the first time from a geographical perspective. For further studies between geography and digitalization, quantitative and qualitative research methods can be developed on the basis of intra-city districts and neighbourhoods.
