César Barona Ríos. Profesor investigador de tiempo completo del Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, México. Doctor en Educación, especialista en política educativa, evaluación institucional y procesos educativos. Miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores del CONACyT. Perfil PRODEP. Correo electrónico: cbarona@uaem.mx
Maricarmen Abarca Ortiz. Profesora de tiempo completo de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, México. Doctora en Educación, especialista en procesos educativos y análisis de información. Correo electrónico: maricarmen.abarcaoub@uaem.edu.mx
Regina Arellano González. Asistente técnico de nivel superior de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, México. Doctora en Educación, especialista en alfabetización y competencias digitales; ha participado en la gestión y diseño de planes de estudio. Cuenta con experiencia en la docencia y la administración escolar. Correo electrónico: regina.arellanog@uaem.edu.mx
This article presents the results of a research aimed at diagnosing the digital divide among users of cybercafes in Morelos (Mexico) in terms of access to Internet services (determinants) as well as the identification and management of information. For this purpose, a survey was designed and applied to 116 informants in 14 municipalities of Morelos. Results indicate that cybercafes function as access points to information, technological devices, and Internet navigation, thus reducing the digital divide, particularly in rural areas. It was also found that cybercafes allow users to access several services, users attend to obtain printing services, carry out governmental procedures and information searches, which would not be possible without the existence of cybercafes.
The access and use of digital technologies are an unavoidable public policy agenda
issue and if the aspirations to have a better country with sustained economic
growth, a more egalitarian society, among other elements of the well-being of the
population are no longer seen only as good intentions and instead, a public policy
agenda is launched to take advantage of the information superhighway that is
available today (
One level of the condition of inequality is the technological infrastructure, which
affects more markedly the rural population. This means that the rural sector uses
digital technologies and being left out of the information superhighway accentuates
its vulnerability. Currently 70% of the Mexican population are Internet users (
No company, and now we say it with precise knowledge, no company by itself will
be able to connect the country. It requires the cooperation of all the
telecommunications companies and a very active part of the State because it is
very evident that there are areas that are not going to be profitable for the
companies and they cannot be condemned. Said David Pantoja Meléndez, general
director of CFE Telecommunications and Internet for All (
Connectivity at home with broadband access is still not a reality for the poorest
entities in the country, for which Internet access from cybercafes represents an
alternative. Connectivity at home obtained from a cell phone with determinate
capacity, for example for to send an e-mail, does not mean that the user has
computer equipment for web sites for visualized images graphically complex (
In addition, the Internet user is not a 100% autodidact, given that requires the guidance of colleagues or trained personnel. For these reasons although cybercafes is decreasing as mobile connectivity increases they are still a space for gathering mainly for young people.
Another level of the digital divide less studied in México corresponds to obtaining useful information. Coverage facilitates access, but this does not result in having reliable information, that’s minds, if a user on Internet search a product for consumption there are many offers with the same sound, but the product is another thing or false.
The population that has more access to the Internet at home refers to the fact the
expansion of coverage, as well as the penetration of digital media in homes,
schools, commercial transactions, and recreation to mention some spheres of daily
life. It will finally end certain inequalities at least certain tendencies of
coevolution with education and income (
The research question posed in this article is the following: Do cybercafes contribute to closing the digital divide in terms of technological infrastructure and allow users to obtain information from primary sources? To answer this question, the research objective remains to diagnose the role of cybercafes in bridging the digital divide, both in terms of technological infrastructure and digital skills in municipalities of Morelos, Mexico.
According to data from National Survey on Availability and Use of Information
Technologies in Homes ENDUTIH, by its acronym in Spanish, tabulates that the:
“Internet users, according to places of access, 2015 to 2021” (
In a note from El Financiero newspaper (
A year earlier, in 2013, a reform in the telecommunications sector was carried out,
resulting in the participation of more companies to provide telecommunications
services that until then were exclusive to two private sector companies (
Almost two decades ago,
According to
The study by
The authors concluded that home users have more frequent and extensive computer use and have more years of Internet experience than cybercafes users. Regarding the use of the Internet, home users develop a greater variety of online activities concerning cybercafe users, except for online games in which cybercafes users stand out; and home users stand out for the diversification of their knowledge in computer resources.
The studies identified on a national and international scale share the concern of the
issue of the digital divide at the level of individuals and its relationship with
technologies (
The approach underlying these studies corresponds to one of the waves of the digital
divide, that of infrastructure. In the international arena, the study of the digital
divide had been oriented to the technological-individual perspective, which goes
hand in hand with the theoretical approach of human capital (with a hint of social
capital). This perspective highlights studies of the determinants of the digital
divide: age, sex, schooling, economic status and native language (
The determinants are independent variables, which, with the use of procedures for
quasi-experimental investigations segment the user population by sociodemographic
traits, mainly. A common denominator of these study methods is that they are based
on surveys with representative samples of the population and techniques for data
analysis that are processed with econometric models. An expression of this approach
can be found in the study of determining factors of the digital divide, which is
based on the ENDUTIH of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI
for its acronym in Spanish) (
The orientation of human capital faces a dilemma: a person may know how to turn on a
computer and search for information, but this does not imply that the answers
reflected these activities performed. This distinction between what is prescribed
and what is performed made it possible to identify a different level of digital
divide, which is oriented towards a more in-depth study of the digital skills (
Digital skills are not about the use of equipment or knowing how to navigate, these
are activities embodied in the person, in their performance in specific situations
which are interdependent on the context, not only technological but also - and above
all - social and cultural. The emphasis is on learning more than on the condition of
the digital divide. From this point of view, it does not matter so much how or where
digital skills are acquired since they can be taught formally at school or
informally at work or in civic life. The relevance of public access sites then lies
in the fact that they can assume the role of learning environment (
This level reveals the seriousness of the digital divide that affects those who have
access to digital technologies and adds to persistent conditions of inequality
(
A rural place is defined by its relationship with agricultural activity and areas
with a population of fewer than 2,500 inhabitants. On the other hand, an urban
sector is defined by a population greater than 2,500 inhabitants, economic
activities in the service sector, and industrial activities. An urban sector
functions as a central point for economic activities, serves as a political capital,
and concentrates state services (
The inhabitants of the rural area engage in development activities that alternate
between agriculture and a service-based economy, as is the case in Tepoztlan,
Morelos. This population is considered rural in terms of land ownership, but it is
also characterized as “modern”, due to the population's skills to participate in
definite cultural projects, as well as in political and economic projects of the
government (
Currently, three waves of the digital divide are recognized: 1) technological
infrastructure, which properly refers to having an Internet connection, including
the necessary means for said connection such as devices, software, and peripheral
equipment; 2) digital skills, the use of the Internet requires more than having the
connection itself, since it is necessary to have skills to interact with keyboards,
screens, programs, etc.; and 3) obtaining tangible benefits, which has to do with
the ability to use the sources of the network for a particular objective, be it
personal or professional, this includes decision-making, since the user must be
critical and analytical (
The backbone of this study is a survey of cybercafes users. The online questionnaire contains structured questions in four groups: 1) sociodemographic data: age, sex, education; 2) technological infrastructure and Internet use: Internet access, time to connection at Internet, use of cybercafe; 3) information sequences that do not imply the execution; 4) an execution question, where informants are asked to navigate in pre-established links to obtain information from the network.
For its design, the ENDUTIH of the INEGI was reviewed, a survey designed by a
research group from Spain (
It was decided to submit each question to a new validation process to achieve a more compact version of the questionnaire (the first version of the questionnaire was 40 questions), without losing sight of internal patterns of the study phenomenon of cybercafes users. As a result of this validation, we got a 20-question survey.
The sampling criterion was convenience, non-randomized, and yes aligned with the research objectives. A total 116 users from 28 cybercafes located in 14 municipalities of Morelos were surveyed, distributed across 6 regions: Cuernavaca, Cuautla, and Puente de Ixtla (urban zones); Tepoztlan, Jonacatepec, and Tetela del Volcan (rural zones). However, is important to note that the typical distinction between rural and urban zones becomes problematic in the context of Internet services in Morelos.
The survey was mounted on the platform Survey Monkey (
The processing of sociodemographic data, connectivity and devices was carried out
with normalized distributions. The search for information was realized using tables
with simple distribution data or accumulated percentages event so the graphic data
of correspondence (
For the processing of question 20 (links about the Independence of Mexico),
correspondence analysis was used (
In the
n= 116 Source: compiled by authors.
Sociodemographic
Men
Women
Total
Number of informants
65 (56%)
51 (43.9%)
116 (100%)
Average age:
22.89 years
26.02 years
24.45 years
13-20 years
36
23
59 (50.9%)
21-30 years
19
13
32 (27.6%)
31-40 years
3
8
11 (9.5%)
41-50 years
5
2
7 (6.0%)
51-61 years
1
3
4 (3.4%)
Missing data
1
2
3 (2.6%)
Primary Education
2
1
3 (2.6%)
Secondary Middle School
19
9
28 (24.1%)
Technical career
6
2
8 (6.9%)
High School or equivalent
28
21
49 (42.2%)
Bachelor’s degree
9
16
25 (21.6%)
Graduate School
1
2
3 (2.6%)
Study
26
23
49 (42.2%)
Work
26
19
45 (38.8%)
Both
13
7
20 (17.2%)
None
0
2
2 (1.7%)
Urban (Cuernavaca, Cuautla, Puente de
Ixtla)
47
35
82 (70.7%)
Rural (Tepoztlan, Tetela del Volcan,
Jonacatepec)
18
16
34 (29.3%)
The
Disaggregating the informants by the activity they realize, 44.2% study, 38.8% work, 17.2% study and work, and 1.7% answered “none”. Distribution by areas, 70.7% are in urban areas, 29.3% in rural areas (this distribution is proportional to the distribution of inhabitants in Mexico: 75% of the inhabitants live in urban areas, and 25% in rural areas).
The digital access divide is one of the first situations that occur with
cybercafes users, 38.8% do not have Internet access at home, 61.20% do have
access. The digital access divide affects more than a third of users. The
foregoing is aggravated, because Internet access will depend, as shown in
This condition of the lack of access, a third without Internet at home and more
than half without a computer places of the users at a disadvantage that forces
them to use cybercafe. In other words, people use the cybercafe for a
“functional motivation” (
As for the cell phone, 90.5% have it, 9.5% do not have it, 76.7% do not have a digital tablet, 23.2% do. Digital TV, 56.9% have it, 43.1% do not. The video game console 82.8% of users do not have it, 17.2% do. The fact that more than 90% of users have a cell phone does not mean that they have connectivity at home, because they do not necessarily have the computer equipment to get the Internet signal.
Let's now look at the connectivity service, devices, time spent on the Internet
and use of cybercafe, introducing the variables in a binary logistic regression
model. The dependent variable is Internet service.
n= 116 Source: compiled by authors.
Technological resources
Subtotal
Men
Women
Total
Internet
No
29
16
45 (38.8%)
Yes
36
35
71 (61.2%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44.0%)
116 (100%)
Landline phone service
No
34
23
57 (49.1%)
Yes
31
28
59 (50.9%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44.0%)
116 (100%)
Pay-Tv service
No
32
23
55 (47.4%)
Yes
33
28
61 (52.6%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44.0%)
116 (100%)
Desktop computer
No
42
36
78 (67.2%)
Yes
23
15
38 (32.8%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44.0%)
116 (100%)
Portable computer (laptop)
No
37
22
59 (50.9%)
Yes
28
29
57 (49.1%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44.0%)
116 (100%)
Cell phone
No
5
6
11 (9.5%)
Yes
60
45
105 (90.5%)
Subtotal
65 (56%)
51 (44%)
116 (100%)
Tablet
No
51
38
89 (76.7%)
Yes
14
13
27 (23.3%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44.0%)
116 (100%)
Digital TV
No
20
30
50 (43.1%)
Yes
45
21
66 (56.9%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44.0%)
116 (100%)
Video game console
No
51
45
96 (82.8%)
Yes
14
6
20 (17.2%)
Subtotal
65 (56%)
51 (44%)
116 (100%)
Just a few minutes
(1)
5
4
9 (7.8%)
Half an hour
(2)
5
8
13 (11.2%)
1 to 2 hours
(3)
28
15
43 (37.1%)
3 to 5 hours
(4)
12
7
19 (16.4%)
5 to 8 hours
(5)
10
6
16 (13.8%)
Up to 10 hours
(6)
5
11
16 13.8%)
Subtotal
65 (56.0%)
51 (44%)
116 (100%)
1. Once a week
(1)
29
26
55 (47.4%)
2. 2 times a week
(2)
22
9
31 (26.7%)
3. Diary
(3)
14
15
29 (25.0%)
Missing data
1
1 (0.9%)
Subtotal
65 (56.1%)
51 (43.9%)
116 (100%)
*p ≤ 0.10, ** p ≤ 0.05, *** p ≤ 0.001 Note: Age is not a determining factor for having Internet
service, nor is dedication, level of education, sex or time
spent using the Internet, therefore, these independent variables
were excluded from the regression model. Source: compiled by authors.
Dependent variable: Internet service (0=No,
1=Yes)
B
Wald
Exp (ß)
Landline
2,351***
12,768
10,499
Pay-Tv
1,513**
4,615
4,542
Tablet
1,646*
3,028
5,187
Desktop computer
3,003**
9,269
20,151
The variables that are included in the model, considering their significance and the exponential of the ß value which is the number of times that the independent variable represents the ß value in the regression. The determinants in Internet access are, first of all, the laptop (exponential value ß of 21,182), in second place the desktop computer (exponential value ß of 20,151), in third place the landline telephone (exponential value ß of 10,499), Pay-Tv (exponential value ß of 5.542) and the digital tablet (exponential value ß of 5.187).
The cell phone was excluded from the model, because the number of users who do not have it (or who do). It has a distant correlation to the cut-off value of the regression which is 0.500. If the correlation is lower (if the variables "Internet service" and cell phone are taken, the Pearson's Correlation Coefficient is ≤ 0.100, not significant) it does not reach sufficient representation to approach the cut-off point, instead, the other devices do achieve a distribution of at least 23.3%.
From the point of view of a normalized distribution of cybercafe users, with the
variables excluded from the model, the
If the "frequency of Internet use", question 8 of the survey: “How much
time do you spend on the Internet daily, both inside and outside the
cybercafé?
However, if the model considers the Internet connection time from cybercafes and
contrasts it with those who connect once a week, it yields a ß value of 11.5515,
neither the Wald value nor the exponential of the value of ß, the reference
parameter "0" is equal to "connection once a week", the
value is significant at 95% confidence (
*p ≤ 0.10, ** p ≤ 0.05 Source: compiled by authors.
Dependent variable: Internet service (0=No,
1=Yes)
ß
Wald
Exp (ß)
Internet connection from a cybercafe (Once a
week)
-
8,552
-
Internet connection from a cybercafe (Twice a
week)
-1 326*
2 889
.265
Internet connection from a cybercafe
(Daily)
1 724*
3 715
5 608
The location of the cybercafe is in a rural or
urban área (Parameter 1=urban area)
1 551**
4 164
4 718
If connectivity from the cybercafe is done twice a week, the Wald value is 2.889, the ß value is 0.326 (compared with connection once a week), significant at 90% confidence and an exponential of 0.265. If the connectivity from the cybercafe is daily, the difference is obvious. The Wald value is 3,715, the ß value is 1,724, significant at 90% confidence (it is contrasted with the parameter 0 = "Once a week") the exponential ß is 5,608 times with respect to connecting once a week.
With these data, cybercafe have the greatest contribution in two aspects: the devices they do not have (in this case the computer) and the frequency with which they connect to the Internet per week. The relationship between connectivity and the lack of computer equipment reveals that the connectivity of Internet users at home, in the best of cases, is carried out by telephone, but not for processing textual, numerical information or multimedia.
As regards rural and urban areas also shown in
The browser used is considered. The main one is Google Chrome. The use of email less than half of the users use it due to that it has been incorporated into a social network such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter. A similar situation occurs with file sharing. This activity is carried out with WhatsApp, Messenger or Facebook, and security measures in Internet browsing, that is, they handle cyberspace with relative fluency, but not necessarily because of the in-depth knowledge of the platforms which they have access, but because of the determinations of the devices used, which are PC in its almost totality, Windows operating system, pre-installed browsers such as Google Chrome, and social networks such as Facebook and WhatsApp.
But digital skills go hand in hand with the use of browser. For this purpose, three questions were raised to explore whether the tools fulfill a task of obtaining of primary source information: a) obtaining the CURP; b) Information search strategy; c) consultation of pages on the Independence of Mexico. The principal reason for selecting three questions at not only one, is the difficulty to measure the digital skills at declarative level.
a) Obtaining the Unique Population Registry Code (CURP for its acronym in Spanish)
In the question about searching for the CURP, informants were provided with an
image with three links (
The three response options allow us to get the CURP, but each one implies different characteristics. The purpose was to know the ability of informants to discriminate which page they would select by reading the URL links (Uniform Resource Locator).
A reprocessing was done in the database. The “consisa.com.mx/curp” page was renamed “Associated with another site”, because concise is from a third-party supplier. For the “curp-gratis.com.mx/consulta-curp” page, it was renamed as “Advertising”; the page can be found advertised on different websites.
Finally, “consulta.curp.gob.mx/” was re-labeled as “Official with manifesto” because it is the page of the Mexican State that allows printing the seal of the Ministry of the Interior. 60.4% of the informants selected the official site to identify for the CURP. This shows that users distinguish between a reliable web page from others that go through advertising, but the difference, 39.6%, do not filter the site for use information. These results are independent of age, gender and level education.
b) Information Search Strategy
One of the most important aspects of using information is conducting proper online searches. In other words, it involves following an ideal set of steps to find the desired information. To explore this further the informants were asked about their information search strategies on the Internet, focusing on plausible sequences of actions defined for the research team.
The expected result that the search complexity corresponds to the highest level of schooling is not achieved. Some informants with a bachelor’s degree have a "basic search" -not related to primary source information-, while informants with secondary middle education appear with an “advanced search” -relied to primary source information-. This situation could be explained by the limitation indicated in the methodology, that it is not the same to ask a user about their declarative capacity than to ask a hypothetical situation to explore their search performance.
c) Consultation of Pages on the Independence of Mexico
To go beyond the declarative question, a query was formulated that implied its
reading: “Enter the links that are presented with information on the
Independence of Mexico...”. Unlike the previous questions, in this one it was
asked to check pre-selected pages chosen at the discretion before the survey. To
process the results, the links were subjected to a posteriori validation through
expert judgment based on the criteria developed by
Source: compiled by authors.
Link name
Internet browsing tools Web page
Values
Hierarchy
Rincón del vago
0
Nothing suitable
Cultura colectiva
1
Little adequate
Wikipedia
2
Acceptable
Academic portal College of Sciences and
Humanities (CCH)
3
Adequate
Unlike the questions addressed to the informants where they are asked to choose
images or instructions, in this part, they are asked to perform a task, access
the links, read a topic and answer according to the reading.
It is striking that the primary education group is found at this level of discrimination in terms of information quality. This is because the informants are people over 15 years of age (extra-age): one of them is a 16-year-old woman who studies primary education, and another is a 33-year-old man who work (two participants).
This result confirms that cybercafes are a space that promotes information
management in relevant contexts for life and work, in other words, here the
cybercafe functions as a “learning environment” (
[…] the complete physical, social and pedagogical context in which learning
is intended to occur. The term most often refers to school classrooms but
may include any designated place of learning such as science laboratories,
distance learning contexts, libraries, tutoring centers, teachers’ lounges,
gymnasiums and non-formal learning spaces. The components and attributes of
a learning environment are conceptualized in relation to their impact on
learning processes and outcomes in both cognitive and affective domains.
This term may also refer to the natural environment surrounding school
buildings when they are used as a learning space (
The concurrence is determined by the highest level of studies reached for a bachelor's degree, with users who study primary education and who work, respectively. Two of the three primary education users in the study do not have Internet service at home, under these circumstances, to get information for their studies or work could not be achieved apart from cybercafes.
The second level of quality in the information is Wikipedia (score of 2), its position is close to high school or equivalent. It is striking, in contrast to the first correspondence, the distance it has from the academic portal. This group includes the population that attends school, and it is inexplicable that precisely at this level quality information is far from references in accordance with the school context.
“Cultura colectiva” (score of 1) is close to secondary middle school. The proximity of the categories is not the same as a question in an exam on the Independence of Mexico, due to the setting of more privacy and a less structured environment than that of the school, the fact that this league is selected for consultation in middle school leaves see an access with little information richness, probably fast reading, far from consulting better quality information, such as Wikipedia and the academic portal.
“Rincón del vago” (score of 0) is an “inappropriate” site and close to a technical career. The information is not even from History, but from dates, which is a very poor way to understand events or concatenated processes of the country's reality, in addition to the fact that the environment in which the information is presented is practically advertising and other people’s homework copied and pasted as it is in this website.
With this information we can say that the atmosphere of the cybercafe is not a
passive instance, it encourages the user to go beyond being a client who comes
to check his mail or use social networks. What makes the cybercafe a particular
environment is the
Do cybercafes contribute to closing the digital divide in technological infrastructure and allow users to obtain quality information? The answer to the research question is yes. Without the presence of cybercafes, the user population would have no other way of accessing the Internet service and, in addition, there would be fewer opportunities to expand quality information consultations.
Specifically, do cybercafes contribute to closing the technological infrastructure lack? 38.8% of respondents indicated that they do not have Internet service at home, this situation determines that all those who do not have this service the cybercafe is the principal alternative to access to Internet.
It is not possible to separate the users who only connect through the Internet service at home, because all the informants were surveyed in cybercafes, but what is illustrative is that 27.8% of the informants with service of Internet in house visit these places more than once a week. The informants who use cybercafes less than once a week are probably a group of occasional users. If we add the two cases: those who go to the cybercafe, but do not have Internet service at home and those who go frequently but have Internet at home; the cybercafe is relevant for 67% of the respondents.
In terms of digital devices, 50.9% do not have a laptop computer, 67.2% do not have a desktop computer, and 76.7% do not have a digital tablet, while 90.5% have a cell phone. Based on this data, if cybercafe users have a cell phone they may only visit the cybercafe as occasional users if their Internet access needs can be fulfilled with their own devices. However, this perspective can be misleading as it equates having Internet access for basic device functionality, neglecting activities such as web sites graphically complex. It is important to note that having individual devices does not necessarily translate to better access conditions.
Do the informants need additional devices such as desktops, laptops, or tablets, in combination with Internet service? While the cell phone is not excluded, its role becomes more secondary when compared to other devices. The ideal environment for participants would involve a combination of a PC with Internet access, a screen, and headphones, but there may still be limitations such as slow broadband at home that could be slightly improved at the cybercafe. The main difference between the environments lies in the interaction with other users and the availability of privacy for activities.
The above situation is favorable if, together with the frequency of use, respondents are in urban areas (Cuernavaca, Cuautla and Puente de Ixtla) than in rural areas (Tepoztlan, Jonacatepec and Tetela del Volcan). The condition of unequal access is accentuated by the digital divide in infrastructure and Internet access in general and in this study, which certainly puts informants from rural areas at a disadvantage, but this condition also works against nearly half of the informants from urban areas.
The condition of disadvantage is palpable in the first level of the digital divide, but does the technological infrastructure divide has an impact on obtaining quality information? The data obtained by the survey do not show important differences if we consider the use of the browser, or search for information. In general, these aspects of information management can be classified as “adequate” in more than 70% of users. But the above was identified by prescribed questions, in which informants were not required to perform a task as close as possible to real situations.
When respondents were asked to perform a thematic search on the Independence of Mexico and were offered four alternatives to complete the activity, the object changed. The navigation could no longer be classified as “adequate”, but rather nuanced and with a correspondence between the link chosen and the level of schooling. What the correspondence analysis shows is that the links with information to copy and paste, such as "Rincón del vago", is used for informants of the technical career, secondary middle education frequent "Cultura general". The link that involves editing content, “Wikipedia”, is utilized for informants with high school and the academic link of "CCH of the UNAM", which is with structured content, corresponds to higher education, but also with elementary education.
If the results for obtaining quality information were correlated with the level of schooling, the result would be like that reported in the studies reviewed. The cybercafe is a routine type of instance, useful for search information. This line of interpretation cannot be sustained by the group of informants with primary schooling who study as adults or who work and only have this level of schooling. For this group, although small in comparison to the bulk of informants found to be schooled, the cybercafe offers tools that they would not be able to obtain without the contribution of learning environment found instead in cybercafes.
Three recommendations emerge from this study. First, cybercafes need greater visibility as contributors to bridging the digital divide at the user population level, both in rural and urban areas considering, as about mentioned, the inequality condition.
Second, to promote the training of operators or owners of cybercafes this aspect is of utmost relevance, because the repertoire of them is expanded in the management of software or platforms, users will have a wider menu to make queries or obtain quality information.
Finally, encourage schools to establish closer ties with cybercafes, beyond being seen as stationery stores that rent computers. The cybercafe can function better if it is planned as a learning environment.
Barona Ríos, C.; Abarca Ortiz, M. y Arellano González, R. (2023). Cybercafes as
Instances of Public Access to Information and Coadjuvant in Closing the Digital
Divide in Morelos, Mexico.