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8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org

DIGITAL DIVIDE

Impact of Globalization on Digital Divide


DEFINITION

• Digital Divide refers to the gap between people witheffective access to digital and information technologyand those with very limited or no access at all.

(Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide)

• Globalization describes the process by whichregional economies, societies, and cultures havebecome integrated through a global network ofcommunication, transportation, and trade.

(Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization)


W5?• WHAT it really is?

Uneven pace of progress in access and a devastating lack of awareness vis-à-vis ICT for many of the developing countries in comparison to those developed ones.

• WHERE it takes place?

Between countries – Global Digital Divide

Between different groups within the country – Domestic Digital Divide

• WHY?

Primary reason behind the digital divide is poverty, but a digital gap also exists along gender and ethnic lines as well.

• WHO “pays” the price?

Usually those “not well informed”.

• WHEN?

Now!


WILL IT SHRINK IN 2010?

• The term digital divide was not even present in our lexicon just two decades ago, but with the popularity of the Internet and the influx of technology, the term has become omnipotent in today's jargon.

Source: Kareem Simpson, The Digital Divide: Will it Shrink in 2010? – Associated Content

• In New York City, a whopping 98% of residents have cable service available to them. Yet only about 46% of the city's households subscribe to the broadband Internet that cable can provide. The cost of being hooked up to broadband simply is too high for many low-income New York residents. A 2006 American Community Survey indicated that in New York City, a mere 26% of low-income households had the high speed service at home, compared to the 54% of moderate-to-high income households --indication of a very clear "digital divide."

Source: Technology by Ethan Taylor - Gotham Gazette



“TWO LAW” PREDICTIONS

• Moore’s Law

Doubling of computing power every 18–24 months

• Gilder’s LawDoubling of communications power every 6 months


MOORE’S LAW IN PRACTICE


GILDER’S LAW IN PRACTICE

• 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.

• The cost of transmitting a trillion bits of information from “coast –to-coast” has fallen from $150.000 in 1970 to cca 5 cents today.

• 3 min phone call from New York to London that in 1930 cost more than $300 (in today’s prices) costs less than 10 cents nowadays.


KEY AREAS FOR POLICY FOCUS

e-Business

e-Learning

e-Health


e-Business

• e-Business rather than trade-oriented e-Commerce e-Business goes far beyond e-Commerce or buying and selling over the Internet, and deep into the processes and cultures of an enterprise.

• Communications and Transport Services are considered to be the National Backbone Services which determine to a significant extent the trade competitiveness of the country’s businesses.

logistics, real-time tracking systems, just-in-time production and delivery, knowledge management, as well as intelligent transport systems


e-Learning• Access to knowledge is essential for development.

While the formal education system per se provides access to knowledge, its reach has been limited in disadvantaged parts of many developing countries, owing to economic and human resource constraints and other factors.

Interactive distance learning and service networks seem to be promising tools in ensuring both cost-effectiveness and the minimum human resource requirements for knowledge-sharing.

• The challenge for Governments is to find the most cost-effective and efficient ways of bridging the corresponding knowledge gaps in the countries and to optimally leverage the resources and skills available in the more developed areas of the country in order to help the other areas to catch up.


e-Health

• Live consultations between ambulance or remote clinic and

medical centres of excellenceReal-time communication, plus file transfers of data, including diagnostic imagery, to facilitate teleconferencing on diagnosis and treatment.

• Major objective is to narrow the gap between rural and urban medical services

• Excellent opportunity for establishing PPP (Public Private Partnership)


NOTE

• Even as the developing countries try to bridge the emerging digital divide and overcome the negatives of globalization by seizing the emerging ICT opportunities to provide their population with universal education and improved skills, theyrequire cooperation, assistance and support from the international community, including the private sector, to enable them compete and grow in a networked and globalized world.


SUMMARY

• ICT is one of the driving forces of globalization and providesdeveloping countries with opportunities for rapiddevelopment.

• Unfortunately, access to information, communication andtechnology is not evenly distributed between communitiesand among regions/countries world-wide.

• To bridge the Digital Divide, appropriate policies, capacity-building and related issues (infrastructure, technology,…)need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner.