An analysis of the digital literacy of people with disabilities in Korea: verification of a moderating effect of gender, education and age

This study compares the digital literacy of people with and without disabilities in Korea, using data from the 2011 Information Divide Index Data of the National Information Society Agency (NIA). We extracted Internet and smart device users from the NIA samples and examined the main effects of disability, gender and age, as well as their interaction effects on Internet and smart device use and production literacy. Of the 1500 public individuals examined, 1190 (79.3%) were Internet users and 535 (35.7%) were smart device users. Of the 5300 with disabilities, 2110 (63.9%) were Internet users and 324 (8.8%) were smart device users. Generalized linear modelling showed significant main effects of disability, gender, age and education on Internet use and production literacy. The disability x age and disability x education interaction effects on Internet use literacy were statistically significant. We also observed a significant disability x age interaction effect on Internet production literacy. However, the main and interaction effects of disability, gender and education on smart device use and production literacy were not significant.