I would like to confirm the information of Amy Mahan in the last para below. The information in the Economist was wrong: The voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund (voluntary DSF) is not a UN Fund. The Fund has been launched by a number of African Governments (Senegal, Nigeria, Algeria) together with some cities and regional authorities (cities of Geneva, Torino, Lyons, Paris, the Basque Region etc.) and has the support of France and the Francophonie. Legally, the fund is a foundation of Swiss private law, and its headquarters are in Geneva. A launching ceremony took place last Monday 14.3. here in Geneva. More info on the new fund is available at http://www.dsf-fsn.org/ . The fund is not operational yet, and only the future will tell if the fund will be really able to contribute to bridging the digital divide (once operational,the fund will concentrate, if my understanding is correct, on telecentres and community access).
At PrepCom-2 of WSIS, which took place from 17-25 February 2005 in Geneva, Governments welcomed the creation of the voluntary DSF. This does not mean that by "welcoming" a Fund, that the Fund becomes a UN Fund. I do not want to comment on the idea that phones outrank the computer for economic development (I think both the telephone, the computer, but also radio and TV have their specific role in development and I may, at a later stage, come back to the question of using ICTs for empowerment, opportunities and security of poor people). But saying that 77% of the World's population already live within the range of a mobile network, and taking this as proof that the digital divide is narrowing, is like saying that because there are airplanes flying over your village you are connected to the world (courtesy Tim Kelly for this nice metaphor). Charles Geiger www.itu.int/wsis -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of A. K. Mahan Sent: mercredi, 16. mars 2005 14:53 To: Tom Abeles; The Digital Divide Network discussiongroup Subject: Re: [DDN] phone vs net > As many know, the Economist printed a nice summary on the idea that > the phone out ranks the computer for economiic development. Rather than "nice" this was a horribly reductive, anecdotal summary of ICTs and economic development - and indeed, yet another Economist call for privatisation and market based approaches when these have been shown to not always work. Even the World Bank acknowledges that regulation is necessary to address market failure. Mobile service providers are not particularly interested in providing expensive coverage to poor, rural regions. Sure, mobile phones are great - as the article and others have documented. But more robust infrastructure is necessary for future development of the network. Why should the possibility of participation in the information society be precluded unnecessarily? There are many other new and emerging technologies which can be used - and many of these provide access to a more rich range of services (including telephony). The article doesn't consider these. The article did mention the effectiveness of mixing old and new technologies (eg ICTs and radio) and this is more to the point given scarce resources and limited human capital development. The author notes that the digital divide is a symptom of other more deeper divides. Yes, and this is why it is so important to consider development strategies across the broadest contexts possible - rather than focus on one particular technology for all. Also, the article's reference to the United Nations support for the Digital Solidarity Fund is incorrect. The DSF is not formally supported by the UN - but was "welcomed" by the participating governments at WSIS. The fund is fully voluntary - and mechanisms for running it have yet to be determined. We shall see. End of rant. -- Amy Mahan <www.lirne.net> <www.regulateonline.org> _______________________________________________ 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.
