1.3: The Digital Divide

The Digital Divide
ICT has transformed the way may of us live. It has brought enormous educational, social, cultural and indeed economic benefits to those with access to it. The information age has, however, touched as unequally. It will be apparent that in some parts of the world it has had almost no impact for a variety of physical, social, political and economic reasons. In Africa it is estimated that in July 2005 less than 1.8% of the population used the Internet in contrast to over 68% in North America. The United Nations has, as part of its landmark document The Millennium Declaration, committed member nations to “ensure that the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies are available to all.” In this chapter I will examine the factors creating the divide, and the impact the divide has on individuals and societies. I will investigate the extent of the divide and review critically the many measures being taken to eradicate or reduce it.

Factors Creating The Divide
Compared to places such as India, Britain has one of the best computer rates, Places such as India, have to pay double the amount for one single computer, in fact a computer can cost up to six years salary, even then once they have brought it, finding someone to work on it is a difficult task, as not many people are computer literate.

"Some economies in the Asia-pacific have more mobile phones than citizens, in other parts of the region, fewer than one in twenty have access to information and communication technologies. In the republic of Korea, as many as 80% of households have broadband Internet access. But not across the region as a whole, around three out of every four families have no Internet access at all!"

Economic and Social Impacts of the Divide

What difference does a global divide in terms of access to ICT make? There are some people who argue that it is not a fact of economic life, that there are some ‘haves’ and some ‘have nots’, and that market forces will dictate the balance between these. On the other hand there are those that feel that the digital divide is a massive problem for the economic, political and social destiny of the world, both rich and poor.

Kofi Annan-, Secretary of the united nations said: “Information Technology is a powerful force that can and must be harnessed to our global mission of peace and development, this is a matter of both ethics and economics; over the long term, the new economy can only be productive and sustainable if it spreads worldwide and responds to the needs and demands of all people. I urge everyone in a position to make a difference to add his or her energies to this effort”

Information is one of the major determinants of economic and social development, and that one of the major reasons for Africa’s underdevelopment is the inadequate use of data. However, you should notice she also concludes that merely providing ICT without changing the underlying skills, knowledge and social circumstances of the population may have a negative effect on the situation, rather than improve it.

Tackling the divide: On the ground
ICT is capable of being very empowering. Unlike steel or car manufacturing, for example, ICT can be extremely cost-effective. Targeting investment in basic education and access to ICT can yield slightly great returns. Putting a community IT centre or IT kiosk in a central point in a village community, and teaching villagers how to use the facilities can give masses of people access to information and communications through the Internet and mobile technology that can transform lives. Information kiosks, cybercafés and community telecentres are now commonplace in places as varied as Egypt, Kazakhstan and Peru. In Bolivia, Internet centres are used to provide rural workers with up to date information on crops, markets and polices and regulations that might affect them.

Mobile phone users in Pakistan will double next year to more than 7 million outnumbering fixed line customers for the first time and marking a new era of communications.

Tackling the divide: political initiatives

There have been numerous political initiatives intended to find ways of reducing the digital divide. The United Nations has organised two summits as part of its global plan, the first of these, the world summit on the Information Society in December 2003, was considered a mixed success. Delegates did endorse what some have called the first constitution for the Information Age. This amounts to a statement of principles and an action plan intended to ensure that more than half of the world has access to some form of electronic media by 2015. On the other side, however, many people argued that words do not change things, and that it is money and resources that are really needed. Some also argue that debate and policy making on the digital divide were undermined by discussions on political issues.

Conclusion

There is a clear digital divide between the developed and developing countries. It has been said by many world leaders that bridging this divide is one of the essential steps towards the ending of world poverty, and would be the precursor of a great economic age. There is clearly some truth in this proposition but it should be treated with caution. For example, remember that half of the world’s population has never even made a telephone call! 70% of the worlds poor live in remote, rural areas with almost no telecoms links to the outside world. There have been some new technical and political solutions to the problem causing, and caused by, the divide, but we are at the start of a very long process which is as much a socio-economic and political one as a technical one.

Evaluation