Przestrzenne zróżnicowanie jakości Internetu w aspekcie wykluczenia cyfrowego w Polsce
Spatial differentiation of the Internet quality in terms of digital divide in Poland

Summary/Abstract: Nowadays society is becoming increasingly dependent not only on access to the Internet, but also on its quality, assessed by the speed of data transfer. Therefore, identify regularities in this regard particularly in spatial terms is an important issue both from cognitive and application point of view. The aim of the study is to identify the spatial differentiation of the Internet quality on a local scale in Poland. This phenomenon is considered in the context of digital divide, on two levels of interpretation: symmetry of Internet access and its substitution. The basic source of data used in the study is crowdsourcing data generated by Internet users via Ookla’s Speedtest tool. The data allow to determine the real – experienced by the users – speed of the Internet. As a result of the analysis of the typologies for municipalities prepared in the study, several regularities were identified with regard to the digital divide. Firstly, in the case of the Internet performance, the core-periphery dimension is not universal and obvious, as regional patterns are strongly visible. Secondly, looking at digital divide mainly through the lens of Internet access is definitely an insufficient approach in this research area.

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