However according to a World Bank report the Global Digital Divide “is rapidly closing”. Thereafter people in developing countries are increasingly getting access to technology. About 50% of the global population now has access to fixed-line telephone and almost 80% to a mobile network.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4296919.stm
Causes of Digital Divide
There are several causes of Digital Divide, where one of the major causes is definitely the income. It has been clearly proven that more people with high income have full access to computers and internet than those who have a low income. However it can even have educational reasons. So, even a wealthy household might not have any access to computer or the internet, because of not having the skills needed to operate a computer. Today this often happens to senior people, as it is hard for them to learn, how a computer works.
Globally the reason can be again the lack of education, knowledge and poverty, because of the countries economic development. Also there is the difference that in developed countries there is a need for a computer and the internet in almost every household, whereas this is not the case in developing countries.
The age also plays a major role in the Digital Divide. In the United States for example only about 30% of people aged 50 or more have regular full access to Internet or computers. However about 90% of people aged 50 or more that are in employment have access to computers.
There are also other factors that cause the Digital Divide, which however are not that common, such as disabilities, locations (rural/urban) and family status.
Source: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/parade/hq69/Protected/Features/Digital%20Divide.html
Technological
ECONOMY – Although the Global Digital divide is narrowing every year, there is still the problem that there will be still countries with very low percentage of IT users. The main reason for this is that in developed countries, which are usually wealthier than developing countries, Information Technology is being taught at schools. Now even primary schools in some developing countries have also started teaching children about IT (computers/internet), which clearly shows that in future more people will have knowledge and therefore access to IT equipment regularly. On the other hand the problem occurs in developing countries where IT is partially completely unknown. This shows that in those countries IT will not be that well-known even in future. So according to that, developing countries will most likely have a brighter future in this issue.
Within countries the problem is often that some schools have the facility to teach IT to its student, while others do not. The cause of this can be that some schools do not manage their finance properly or that they do not get enough finance. In extreme cases it can also be because of lack of IT teachers.
The Impact of the Digital Divide
The following will discuss the economic, social, educational and cultural impacts of the Digital Divide.
ECONOMIC -
How can the Digital Divide be narrowed?
There are several organisations and projects that are trying to reduce the Digital Divide. These are mainly focussing on the Global Digital Divide. One major example is the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Its slogan is “Give a Laptop Change the World”, which clearly shows that it is aiming to deploy laptops. Currently it is trying to deploy as many XO Laptops as possible. This is a laptop has been especially developed by OLPC association in order to distribute these to children in developing countries. According to the website their main mission is:
“To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.”
This is a non-profit association, which means that their aim is to fulfil their mission rather than making money with this.
This organization can help to reduce the Digital Divide because it gives children in poor countries access to IT equipment. As the children also learn how to use IT this is important for the future as when those children grow up they will most likely know how to use a computer and eventually buy one or get full access to it and the internet from their schools.
Source: http://www.laptop.org/en/vision/index.shtml
Apart from this and some other organization, the United Nations (UN) has also raised awareness of this divide and tries to narrow it. Also there is a Digital Divide Network, which was launched in 1999 and is since then trying to reduce this gap. This network works by volunteers, who want to be active in this field.
Source: http://www.digitaldivide.net/about/
WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?
Today there are a quite large number of organizations trying to provide developing countries with IT facilities and therefore trying to bridge the divide. However, for this to be successful people have to support these.
Another major problem is that in developing countries the world changes very rapidly. There are people that buy a new computer or laptop every year. Therefore the older ones get useless as everybody wants the latest technology. This often results in the very old computers being thrown away as they are no more of use in developed countries. However it has to be taken into account that these older computers can be customized and given to developing countries, where these are not seen as “useless”. This is something everybody can to decrease this problem.
Furthermore governments should raise more awareness of this problem, as the majority of the people in developed countries might have never thought about this and therefore could not for instance support any charity organizations and projects. These points also show clearly that everybody can help narrow the gap even without even having to pay any money.
