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Published July 31, 2025 | Version v1
Book Open

Bridging the Digital Divide: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Digital Literacy and Equity in the EU

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Description

This book chapter has received financial support from the Horizon Europe Research & Innovation Programme under Grant agreement N. 101092612 (Social and hUman ceNtered XR - SUN project). The SUN project project aims at investigating and developing extended reality (XR) solutions that integrate the physical and the virtual world in a convincing way, from a human and social perspective. The virtual world will be a means to augment the physical world with new opportunities for social and human interaction.

It will apply in three pilots: XR for rehabilitation, XR for work safety, and XR for communication of people with disabilities. VUB is the legal and ethical partner of this project, working on compliance with legal and ethical requirements for both technology development and pilot implementation. This book chapter is based on the research work of T7.4 Legal and Ethical Issues. While assessing the implementation of the pilots, the author also observes how digital technologies could be designed and applied to benefit all population groups, especially vulnerable groups. This book chapter investigates the digital divide through a legal and human-rights-based lens, exploring the intersection of digital rights, literacy, and equity. It employs a theory-building methodology to build a human-rights-based framework to mitigate digital exclusion. The framework critically examines international and EU digital rights legislation, evaluates state and corporate obligations, and advocates for regulatory approaches that integrate digital literacy as a fundamental right.

Files

Final-Bridging the Digital Divide A HumanRightsBased (2025-07-30 19_50_49) (1).pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

URL
https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1224294

Related works

Is published in
Book chapter: 978-1-83635-468-0 (ISBN)

Funding

European Commission
SUN - Social and hUman ceNtered XR 101092612

Dates

Available
2025-07-31

References

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