hi Gaston, phone access is certainly a factor, but by most surveys, it is quite secondary or tertiary when compared to more widely accepted indicators like the availability of the internetat home or in the community and a community's literacy levels. unless you have a smartphone, you can't use most phones for full internet access. Unless the ICT in question can provide a person with the ability to further their education or career, participate in civic life, or help develop their community, then it's not contributing significantly to bridging the digital divide as it's usually defined. It may be expanding a person's use of basic ICTs, but that's different.
Andy Carvin acarvin @ edc . org -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 17:36:13 -0500 Subject: Re: [DDN] 'Digital Divide' Narrowing Fast, World Bank Says Now that this assertion has caused so much diverse reaction from the digital divide warriors, I think it is time to go back and to clarify what is the common understanding of ''Digital Divide''. Though I have not seen the WB-quoted report, I am inclined to concur with the report findings as long as the digital divide is understood on the provision of simple voice communication enabled-facilities. Indeed, it cannot be denied that the reforms in the telecom sector through privatization and liberalization of the data and the mobile segments have resulted in a fast penetration of these tools in Africa and as recent statistics from ITU highlight. Mainly, thanks to the contribution of the private sector. OK, from this angle, no doubt that the digital divide is narrowing, though the speed at which the gap is being closed may be discussed. In addition, the DD is not an only African issue as proved by the current controversy of ''municipal wireless broad band facilities'' in the USA. Unfortunately (at least on my view), the DD-debate focuses to much on access to telephone and the Internet (with the over-used words: ''haves and have nots''). But , if the digital divide is understood in the framework of the possibility of LDCs and their communities to apply the potential of ICT for development in a holistic approach, then much remains to perform. An other positive effect of this report is that it calls for a review of what the international community is targeting in the fight to bridge the DD. Gaston Zongo ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Carvin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 8:22 AM Subject: re: [DDN] 'Digital Divide' Narrowing Fast, World Bank Says > Does anyone have the URL of this report? I can't find it anywhere on the > World Bank website. But from reading the article, they seem to equate > bridging the digital divide with the spread of mobile telephony, which > strikes me as very misguided. Unless all of those mobiles are offering > Internet access, then they're not addressing the issue of ubiquitous > Internet access, not to mention universal literacy and local language > content needs. Saying that the digital divide is being bridged rapidly > makes no sense when many countries still have Internet penetration rates of > less than one percent. And it does a huge disservice to policymaking and > public understanding of the issue, because it suggests the job is done, > let's not worry about it, and takes pressure off all these policymakers > here in Geneva who are debating how to finance bridging the digital divide. > I mean, if I were a policymaker or a donor and the world bank just told be > the digital divide is becoming a non-issue, do you think I might put my > resources elsewhere? It's already happened in the US, and the American > digital divide isn't as severe as the international digital divide, so the > impact international could be devastating... > > ac > > ------------------------------------------------- > Andy Carvin > Program Director > EDC Center for Media & Community > acarvin @ edc . org > http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org > http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/ > ------------------------------------------------- > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. --- message truncated --- _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
