Framework to evaluate internet use and digital divide in firms

This article illustrates a framework that aims to examine and analyze Internet use and the resulting Digital Divide in firms. The framework is based on the extraction of .it domain names registered by Italian companies. The analysis includes a phase of automatic gathering of information of the firms registering a domain name and a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of firms that are starting to use the Internet. This approach provides a tool that can support the improvement of Digital Divide analysis, referring both to the territorial area of competence of the firms concerned, and to their socio-economic characteristics. This methodology can also be applied to other countries for the benefit of the scientific community, government institutions and the public.