ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නව මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාප්තිය හා බෙදී යාමේ අසමානතාව

Abstract

The proliferation of new media has resulted in a rapid growth in the current society due to the promotion of new technology. However, there is no equilibrium in that division. Jan Van Dijk defines that discrepancy as the gap between those who have access to computers and the Internet and those who don't. Based on this factor, this research study was conducted on the topic of ‘New Media dissemination and digital divide in Sri Lanka’ for the completion of the Master of Social Science Degree. The research problem here was, what factors affecting for the new media dissemination and digital divide in Sri Lanka’.

This study was carried out on the hypothesizing that although there was a rapid increase in the new media dissemination, there was a discrepancy in its distribution. In this study, the data collection method was the quantitative method through the structured close-ended questioner for five selected districts while making a list from the highest population to lowest population in district wise then selected each sixth district for the data collection. The sample size was 200 by equally dividing to each district as forty for a district. This study research method was the quantitative method.

The main implication of this study is that there is a discrepancy in the distribution of new media in Sri Lanka due to the inconsistencies of the access of usage. The hypothesis was made in this study that although the rapid growth of the new media distribution has been observed in society, there has been an irregularity in its divided. Thus, it can be concluded that the discrepancy is a major factor in creating a global divide. Hence information gap, knowledge gap, and income gap are mainly influenced by the creation of the gap between who have and haven’t of new media.