Measuring Australia's digital divide: the Australian digital inclusion index 2017

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) has been created 
to measure the level of digital inclusion across the Australian population and to monitor this level over time. Using data collected by Roy Morgan Research, the ADII has been developed through a collaborative partnership between RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology, and Telstra. The ADII was first published in 2016, providing the most comprehensive picture of Australia’s online participation to date. The ADII measures three vital dimensions of digital inclusion: Access, Affordability, and Digital Ability. It shows how these dimensions change over time, according to people’s social and economic circumstances, as well as across geographic locations. Scores are allocated to particular geographic regions and sociodemographic groups, over a four-year period (2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017). Higher scores mean greater digital inclusion. Access is about how and where we access the internet, the kinds of devices we have, and how much data we can use. Affordability is about how much data we get for our dollar, and how much we spend on internet services as a proportion of our income. Digital Ability is about our skill levels, what we actually do online, our attitudes towards technology, and our confidence in using it. Taken together, these measures give us a unique, multi-faceted picture of digital inclusion. The ADII compiles numerous variables into a score ranging
 from 0 to 100, with 100 representing a hypothetically perfect level of digital Access, Affordability, and Ability. Australia’s overall national score has increased from 52.7 in 2014 to 56.5 in 2017 (a 3.8-point increase over four years). Australia’s overall performance indicates 
a moderate level of digital inclusion, with mixed progress across different ADII dimensions, geographic areas, and sociodemographic groups.