Globalization Bytes: Exploring the “Digital Divide”and the “Global Technological Revolution”

Dr. Robert J. BeckUniversity of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Overview

What is the “global technological revolution?”What is the “digital divide?”How have international institutions responded to the digital divide?

BB’s “3 B’s”

BitsBoxesBandwidth

The Global Technological Revolution

Whence?2 exemplary “laws”Some manifestations of those “laws”5 effects

The Global Technological Revolution - Whence?

Major advances in “information and communications technologies” (“ICT”)

Digital storage and processing of information (information)

Satellite and optical fiber transmission of information (communications)

Two Exemplary “Laws”

Moore’s law predicts the doubling of computing power every 18–24 months Gilder’s law predicts the doubling of communications power every six months

10,000,000

1,000,000

1,000

10,000

100,000

Pentium Pro(5.5 m transistors)

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

Intel 4004(2,300 transistors)

Intel 8080

Intel 8086

Motorola 68000

286

386

Sun SPARC

486

Pentium(3.1 m)

Some Manifestations …

In 2001 more information can be sent over a single cable in a second than in 1997 was sent over the entire internet in a month.

Some Manifestations …

The cost of transmitting a trillion bits of information from Boston to Los Angeles has fallen from $150,000 in 1970 to 12 cents today.

Some Manifestations … A three-minute phone call from New York to London that in 1930 cost more than $300 (in today’s prices) costs less than 20 cents today.

0

50

100

150

200

250

1930 1950 1970 1990

Cost of a three-minute telephone call New York - London (1990 dollars)

Some Manifestations …

E-mailing a 40-page document from Chile to Kenya costs less than 10 cents, faxing it about $10, sending it by courier $50.

Optical Fiber Transmission cost per M bit/s x km (relative)

10000

1000

100

10

1

0.11980 1990 2000

45 M bit/s90/135 M bit/s

400 M bit/s

1.2/1.7 G bit/s

2.5 G bit/s

10 G bit/s40 G bit/s

Cost of information processing(100 = $1 per instruction per second)

19801975 1985 1990 1995

0.1

1

10

100

0.01

IBM mainframe

Digital VAX

Cray 1

IBM PC

Sun Micro

Pentium

Source: AT&T

Effect 1: Businesses and Markets Transformed

In 1999 in Costa Rica, Malaysia and Singapore, high-tech exports exceeded 40% of the total

Effect 2: Learning and Knowledge-sharing Revolutionized

From 1995–97, scientists in the United States co-authored articles with scientists from 173 other countries; Scientists in Brazil with 114, in Kenya with 81, in Algeria 59.

Learning and Knowledge-sharing Revolutionized

The six largest internet-based distance-learning universities in the world are located in developing countries -- Turkey, Indonesia, China, India, Thailand and Korea

Effect 3: Global Information Flows

Effect 4: Citizens and Communities Empowered in Novel Ways

Governance redefinedGlobalization of civil society

Citizens and Communities Empowered in Novel Ways

The Philippines: electronic advocacy network set up in response to impeachment trial

Effect 5: Significant Wealth and Economic Growth Created

“E-commerce,” business conducted over the Internet, totaled $45 billion as recently as 1998 and an estimate in January 2000 projected it could explode to over $7 trillion as early as 2004.

What is The “Digital Divide?”

Between countries – the global digital divide

Between groups of people within countries - the domestic digital divide

The Digital Divide: Phones and Electricity

2 billion people lack access to reliable electricity As much as 80% of the world's population has never made a phone call

The Digital Divide: Phones and Electricity

More telephones in New York City than in all of rural AsiaIn the entire continent of Africa, there are a mere 14 million phone lines -- fewer than in either Manhattan or Tokyo.

The Digital Divide: Internet Accounts and Hosts

More Internet accounts in London than all of AfricaOne in two Americans is online, compared with only one in 250 Africans. 

The Digital Divide: Internet Accounts and Hosts

Of all the Internet users worldwide, 60 per cent reside in North America, where a mere five per cent of the world's population reside  Wealthy nations comprise some 16 per cent of the world's population, but command 90 per cent of Internet host computers.

The Digital Divide: PCsDeveloped states: 311.2 per 1,000 Globally: 70.6 PCs per 1,000South Asia: 2.9 per 1,000Sub-Saharan Africa: 0.75 per 1,000

Bandwidth and Speed

The vast capacity of the Internet is distributed highly unevenly throughout the world. By late 2000 the bulk of Internet connectivity linked the US with Europe (56 Gbps) and, to a lesser extent, the US with the Asia-Pacific region (18 Gbps). Africa had extremely little bandwidth reaching Europe (0.2 Gbps) and the USA (0.5 Gbps)

The Digital Divide: CostsInternet access costs (as a percentage of average monthly income)

US: 1 to 2 percentUganda: over 100 percent Bangladesh: 191 percent

The Digital Divide: Costs

Access costs (ISP, and telephone call costs) are almost four times as expensive in the Czech Republic and Hungary as in the United States

In Bangladesh a computer costs the equivalent of eight years average pay

Technical Training

McConnell International "E-Business report”

Europe (including Eastern Europe) and Latin America rated well Middle East and Africa needed to significantly develop their human capitalAsia had a mixed scorecard

International Institutional Responses

infoDevSDNPDOIDOT Force

infoDev

The Information for Development Program (infoDev)Global program managed by the World Bank

infoDev

Seeks to help developing economies fully benefit from modern information systemsProgram Manager, Bruno Lanvin, is a senior World Bank official

SDNP

Sustainable Development Networking Programme of the UNDPSeeks to assist developing countries in acquiring the capacity to access and to contribute to solutions for sustainable development via the medium of information and communication technologies

SDNP

Assistance in National IT Policy FormulationIT Project Development, Monitoring, and EvaluationConsultancy AssistanceConnectivity, Website Hosting & Mirroring

DOIThe Digital Opportunity Initiative

A public/private partnership ofAccentureThe Markle FoundationUN Development Program

DOI

Launched at the G-8 Okinawa summitSeeks to identify the roles that information and communication technologies can play in fostering sustainable economic development and enhancing social equity

DOT Force

The “Digital Opportunity Task” Force Established pursuant to the “Okinawa Charter on the Global Information Society” drafted at the G-8s’ Okinawa Summit43 members from public, private and not-for-profit sectors and including participants from developed and developing countries

DOT Force

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank provide the Secretariat for the Task Force.

DOT Force

Met in 3 plenaries – in Tokyo (11/00), Cape Town (3/01), and Sienna (4/01)

Published “Digital Opportunities for All” in May, 2001.

Action Pan secured G-8 endorsement in Genoa (July 2001)

Resource Page

http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjb3v/digitaldivide.html