The Economist Magazine did a cover story on the global digital divide, and I found their article (see below) interesting.
I think their article has a lot of good points that to think about in the global CTC movement, but even more important it has some points that we need to respond to. The main points I take from their article are: 1. Cell phones may be more important than computers in addressing the global digital divide. My Comments: I think this is something we really need to think about, and it might be true. I do think that they miss the point that there are a lot of developing countries where computer related technology is very helpful--especially in countries where there are significant office jobs using computers as well as technology jobs. 2. Addressing the digital divide is not as helpful with people who do not have basic needs met like food, shelter and basic literacy. My Comments: I think that this point is extremely important, and we need to be careful to listen to the needs of the community and respond to that rather than saying that computers are the solution. 3. The market with take care of everything. My comments: I also think that their standard attitude (which is in all their opinions) is that the market with take care of everything is very na�ve. Most of their case is based on the assumption that cell phones can address the digital divide by themselves and are equivalent to computers. This misses the fact that cell phones can address parts of the digital divide (like access to information), but not other aspects of the digital divide (like computer skills needed for jobs). Anyway, I would love to hear other's thoughts on this article. Andrew Sears Executive Director TechMission: Association of Christian Community Computer Centers www.techmission.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] (617) 359-0394 (cell)��� (617) 282-9798 x4��(office)�� (617) 825-0313 (fax) ---- - AN ARTICLE FOR YOU, FROM ECONOMIST.COM - Subscribe to Economist.com now and save 25% by clicking here now http://www.economist.com/subscriptions/offer.cfm?campaign=168-XLMT THE REAL DIGITAL DIVIDE Mar 10th 2005 Encouraging the spread of mobile phones is the most sensible and effective response to the digital divide IT WAS an idea born in those far-off days of the internet bubble: the worry that as people in the rich world embraced new computing and communications technologies, people in the poor world would be left stranded on the wrong side of a "digital divide". Five years after the technology bubble burst, many ideas from the time--that "eyeballs" matter more than profits or that internet traffic was doubling every 100 days--have been sensibly shelved. But the idea of the digital divide persists. On March 14th, after years of debate, the United Nations will launch a "Digital Solidarity Fund" to finance projects that address "the uneven distribution and use of new information and communication technologies" and "enable excluded people and countries to enter the new era of the information society". Yet the debate over the digital divide is founded on a myth--that plugging poor countries into the internet will help them to become rich rapidly. THE LURE OF MAGIC This is highly unlikely, because the digital divide is not a problem in itself, but a symptom of deeper, more important divides: of income, development and literacy. Fewer people in poor countries than in rich ones own computers and have access to the internet simply because they are too poor, are illiterate, or have other more pressing concerns, such as food, health care and security. So even if it were possible to wave a magic wand and cause a computer to appear in every household on earth, it would not achieve very much: a computer is not useful if you have no food or electricity and cannot read. Yet such wand-waving--through the construction of specific local infrastructure projects such as rural telecentres--is just the sort of thing for which the UN's new fund is intended. How the fund will be financed and managed will be discussed at a meeting in September. One popular proposal is that technology firms operating in poor countries be encouraged to donate 1% of their profits to the fund, in return for which they will be able to display a "Digital Solidarity" logo. (Anyone worried about corrupt officials creaming off money will be heartened to hear that a system of inspections has been proposed.) This sort of thing is the wrong way to go about addressing the inequality in access to digital technologies: it is treating the symptoms, rather than the underlying causes. The benefits of building rural computing centres, for example, are unclear (see the article[1] in our TECHNOLOGY QUARTERLY in this issue). Rather than trying to close the divide for the sake of it, the more sensible goal is to determine how best to use technology to promote bottom-up development. And the answer to that question turns out to be remarkably clear: by promoting the spread not of PCs and the internet, but of mobile phones. Plenty of evidence suggests that the mobile phone is the technology with the greatest impact on development. A new paper finds that mobile phones raise long-term growth rates, that their impact is twice as big in developing nations as in developed ones, and that an extra ten phones per 100 people in a typical developing country increases GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points (see article[2]). And when it comes to mobile phones, there is no need for intervention or funding from the UN: even the world's poorest people are already rushing to embrace mobile phones, because their economic benefits are so apparent. Mobile phones do not rely on a permanent electricity supply and can be used by people who cannot read or write. Phones are widely shared and rented out by the call, for example by the "telephone ladies" found in Bangladeshi villages. Farmers and fishermen use mobile phones to call several markets and work out where they can get the best price for their produce. Small businesses use them to shop around for supplies. Mobile phones are used to make cashless payments in Zambia and several other African countries. Even though the number of phones per 100 people in poor countries is much lower than in the developed world, they can have a dramatic impact: reducing transaction costs, broadening trade networks and reducing the need to travel, which is of particular value for people looking for work. Little wonder that people in poor countries spend a larger proportion of their income on telecommunications than those in rich ones. The digital divide that really matters, then, is between those with access to a mobile network and those without. The good news is that the gap is closing fast. The UN has set a goal of 50% access by 2015, but a new report from the World Bank notes that 77% of the world's population already lives within range of a mobile network. And yet more can be done to promote the diffusion of mobile phones. Instead of messing around with telecentres and infrastructure projects of dubious merit, the best thing governments in the developing world can do is to liberalise their telecoms markets, doing away with lumbering state monopolies and encouraging competition. History shows that the earlier competition is introduced, the faster mobile phones start to spread. Consider the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, for example. Both have average annual incomes of a mere $100 per person, but the number of phones per 100 people is two in the former (where there are six mobile networks), and 0.13 in the latter (where there is only one). LET A THOUSAND NETWORKS BLOOM According to the World Bank, the private sector invested $230 billion in telecommunications infrastructure in the developing world between 1993 and 2003--and countries with well-regulated competitive markets have seen the greatest investment. Several firms, such as Orascom Telecom (see article[3]) and Vodacom, specialise in providing mobile access in developing countries. Handset-makers, meanwhile, are racing to develop cheap handsets for new markets in the developing world. Rather than trying to close the digital divide through top-down IT infrastructure projects, governments in the developing world should open their telecoms markets. Then firms and customers, on their own and even in the poorest countries, will close the divide themselves. ----- [1] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=3714058 [2] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=3739025 [3] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=3750606 See this article with graphics and related items at http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?Story_ID=3742817 Go to http://www.economist.com for more global news, views and analysis from the Economist Group. - ABOUT ECONOMIST.COM - Economist.com is the online version of The Economist newspaper, an independent weekly international news and business publication offering clear reporting, commentary and analysis on world politics, business, finance, science & technology, culture, society and the arts. Economist.com also offers exclusive content online, including additional articles throughout the week in the Global Agenda section. - SUBSCRIBE NOW AND SAVE 25% - Click here: http://www.economist.com/subscriptions/offer.cfm?campaign=168-XLMT Subscribe now with 25% off and receive full access to: * all the articles published in The Economist newspaper * the online archive - allowing you to search and retrieve over 33,000 articles published in The Economist since 1997 * The World in 2004 - The Economist's outlook on 2004 * The US Election 2004 - providing dedicated coverage of the election, including articles from Roll Call, Capitol Hill's leading political publication * Business encyclopedia - allows you to find a definition and explanation for any business term - ABOUT THIS E-MAIL - This e-mail was sent to you by the person at the e-mail address listed above through a link found on Economist.com. We will not send you any future messages as a result of your being the recipient of this e-mail. - COPYRIGHT - This e-mail message and Economist articles linked from it are copyright (c) 2004 The Economist Newspaper Group Limited. All rights reserved. http://www.economist.com/help/copy_general.cfm Economist.com privacy policy: http://www.economist.com/about/privacy.cfm _______________________________________________ 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.
