The WV Digital Divide Index

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About the Digital Divide Index

Purdue University’s Center for Regional Development created the original Digital Divide Index (DDI) to show, in one number, how hard it is for a place to get good internet and actually use it.

I borrowed their two‑part formula; Infrastructure/Adoption (INFA) + Socio‑Economic (SE); because it balances supply (Is broadband even there?) and demand (Can people afford and use it?).

Because the inputs use different units (percentages, Mbps, ratios), each is converted into a z-score: how far above or below the state mean each location lies, in standard-deviation units.

In the supply/adoption component, more weight is given to access and devices than to mere speed—because availability is a bigger barrier than “how fast” once you’re connected. The socio-economic component treats its variables equally.

After each region has a supply/adoption score and a socio-economic score (both standardized), they are summed so each contributes equally. That total is then rescaled to a 0-100 range where higher values mean a larger digital divide.

A single number (0-100) for each region that reflects both:

• the lack of infrastructure or devices, and

• the socio-economic barriers to adoption.

Higher scores mean deeper gaps—places where broadband is harder to access and harder to use.

This index offers policymakers and planners a unified gauge of digital equity, combining “is internet there?” with “can people use it?” into one manageable metric.