Evaluation of Indicators for ICT Development Index using an Integrated Entropy Weighting Method

Abstract

The ICT Development Index (IDI) is an established tool which is used for 
measuring the digital divide and facilitating the comparison of ICT 
performance within and between countries. Information entropy, which 
reflects the level of uncertainty in a random variable, can be applied to a 
range of fields, including information and communication technology 
(ICT). When designing a data analysis using information entropy, metrics 
derived from this method must be observed, evaluated, and utilized. The 
methodology proposed aims to assign weights to the indicators within 
the ICT development index and sub-indexes, enabling their global, 
regional, and country-wise ranking. To test the effectiveness of this 
methodology, we examined its potential applications for evaluating 
indexes. Our model integrates a novel approach that combines the 
entropy weight coefficient method, bootstrap method, correlation 
coefficient weighting method, and S-shaped diffusion stages of ICT. We 
present the evaluation results of the integrated calculation method.