CHAPTER 7: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND THE GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE

Marshall McLuhan: The medium is the message

Introduction

ICTs – Information and Communication Technologies

ICTs can be an important tool in the fight against world wide poverty

ICTs and technology transfer can benefit and move a country ahead in economic development, human capital development, and social development

Introduction Continued

This chapter explores the global digital divide and discusses some of the conditions and circumstances that have contributed to its creation

A major issue is what are the basic conditions required in a country to facilitate technology transfer, application, and diffusion of ICTs

ICTs and Country’s Development

ICTs are general-purpose technologies and permeate production and consumption activities

ICTs cover a broad range of services, applications, and technologies using various types of contemporary equipment and software.

International businesses, local companies, and even governments see strong and highly developed ICT networks as requirements for investment, growth, and economic development

ICT Comparisons

The level of access to ICTs for LDCs is quite low according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

The OECD notes that at the international level the most basic and important indicator of the digital divide is the number of Internet hosts per 100 inhabitants

A host is a domain name that has an Internet protocol (IP) address record with it

ICTs and Poor Global Populations

ICTs are irrelevant to the three billion people in the world who live under two US dollars per day. Mainly these people are located in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

Poor populations in LDCs have several common characteristics: 1.)They live on less than two or three dollars per day or even less than one dollar a day; 2.) They live in rural areas; 3.) They are unemployed or subsist on farming wages; and 4.) They are part of a minority and do not speak the official language of the country in which they live

ICTs and Poor Global Populations Continued

For more costly ICTs, global poor populations are unable to afford telephones and personal computers

The telephone is the most basic and necessary tool for access to ICTs and it is the leading indicator for the level of universal service in telecommunications

The telephone is also a fundamental measure of the international digital divide

Chapter 7 Conclusion OECD countries have substantially higher

investments than LDCs in technological inputs

ICTs not only allow access to information and knowledge, they are also enabling and facilitating technologies and can be used to save time and money and improve the quality of both work life and home life, whether in developed countries or LDCs

It is important that LDCs eliminate or reduce several significant barriers that impede technological transfer and technology development with their borders