Digital Divide Executive IMT 550

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Digital Divide Executive IMT 550

• Dr. Karine Barzilai-Nahon
• The Information School,
• University of Washington
• karine_at_u.washington.edu

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(No Transcript)
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The Classical Definition of the Digital Divide

• The Digital Divide refers to the perceived gap
  between those who have access to the Internet and
  those who do not

Have and Have-not Is it the whole story?
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Towards a Modern Definition

• A proposal for four dimensions of inequality
  (Dimaggio et al., 2003)
• Infrastructure (the classical have and
  have-not)
• The cost of joining the network
• Skills of usage
• Social and institutional (governmental) support

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A Comprehensive Definition?

• Comprehensive Measures DIDIX, NRI, DAI and so
  on..
• E-Readiness assessment tools comparison
• See also - http//wireless.ictp.it/simulator/

Vanessa Gray. Tackling the statistical divide to
help bridge the digital divide - ITU?s role and
activities. International Telecommunication
Union, 2004. (vanessa.gray_at_itu.int)
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Measures of Digital Divides Digital Access Index

Note a) Because of the large spread of values
among economies, a logarithm is used to calculate
this value (LOG (1867) LOG (0.01)) / (LOG
(10000) LOG (0.01))
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A Comprehensive Definition?
Measures of Digital Divides e-readiness
methodology

In 2005, the ranking model consisted of nearly
100 separate quantitative and qualitative
criteria, which were scored by Economist
Intelligence Unit country analysts and organized
into six primary categories. These were, in turn,
weighted according to their assumed importance as
influencing factors.
0.25 Connectivity 0.20 Business environment
0.20 Consumer and business adoption 0.15
Legal and policy environment 0.15 Social and
cultural environment 0.05 Supporting
e-services Sourcs Economist Intelligence Unit
in co-operation with The IBM Institute for
Business Value The 2005 e-readiness rankings. A
white paper.
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A Comprehensive Definition?

• A proposal for multi-dimensional inequality
  layers (Barzilai-Nahon, 2006)
• Infrastructure Access (channels and capacity,
  ISPs, regular measurements)
• Affordability (physical, logical and content
  layer)
• Use (frequency, time online, purpose, skills,
  autonomy)
• Social and governmental constraint/support
  (training, active help, support/suppression,
  investment)
• Socio-demographic factors (gender,
  socio-economic, age, education, ethnicity,
  religiosity, language, geographic dispersion)
• Accessibility

See also - http//wireless.ictp.it/simulator/
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1. Infrastructure Access

• World Internet Access
• Internet Traffic Report
• The Backbone Visualization

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1. Infrastructure Access
Distribution of Internet Use Across the States,
2001 and 2003(Internet Use by State Population,
Ages 3 and Over
U.S. Department of Commerce. A Nation Online
Entering the Broadband Age. September 2004
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The Global Digital Divide
Domain Name Density
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The Global Digital Divide
Digitally endowed
Digitally deprived
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2. Affordability
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2. Affordability
International Telecommunication Union, 2004
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3. Use

• Intensity of use (time online and frequency)
• Types of use - what do they do online (games,
  instant messenger, communication)
• Users skills
• Confidence in Internet ability
• Autonomy of use

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4. Socio-Demographic Factors

• Socio-economic status
• Gender does it exist?
• Age who are the heavy users?
• Ethnic and race diversity
• Religiosity
• Education
• Geographic dispersion
• Language

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Language Divide
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5. Social and Governmental Support/Constrain

• Training
• Active help
• CTCs and community help can the
  non-governmental sector do it alone?
• Support/suppression/ apathy
• Democratic vs. Authoritarian regimes
• Communitarian norms
• Investments and fundings

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6. Accessibility

• Definition
• access to the Web by everyone, regardless of
  disability
• Web sites and applications that people with
  disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate,
  and interact with
• Web browsers and media players that can be used
  effectively by people with disabilities, and that
  work well with assistive technologies that some
  people with disabilities use to access the Web
• Web authoring tools, and evolving Web
  technologies that support production of
  accessible Web content and Web sites, and that
  can be used effectively by people with
  disabilities.

As defined by
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Why is it important to close the Digital Divide?
1. Economic equality (Wikipedia,
DigitalDivide.org)
2. Social mobility (Wikipedia)
3. Democracy (and Antiterrorism) (Wikipedia,
DigitalDivide.org)
4. Economic growth (Wikipedia, DigitalDivide.org)

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Examples of Programs Aimed at Bridging Digital
Divides in Korea
The Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and
Promotion is facilitating various programs in
order to fill in the digital divide. 1. Digital
Access Support Business enables the
information-impoverished classes to have access
to digital services regardless of their local,
economic or physical conditions. 2. National
Informatization Education Business. pursues
various and systematic digital education from
which every person in Korea can obtain useful
information anywhere and anytime. 3. Personal
Computer of Love. Set up as many as 986 local
information access centers across the nation by
the end of 2003 and provided as many as 41,906
computers at home and abroad under the
movement. 4. Until 2003 provided 5,657 digital
devices and 10 items of special software.
Organized digital education groups consisting of
171,552 persons and are running various tutorial
programs given to 154,958 people of 3,478
agencies.
Son Yeon-gi, President Korea Agency for Digital
Opportunity and Promotion (KADO) . Korea
Committed to Bridging Digital Divide. Korea
Times. 09-07-2004.
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Examples of Programs Aimed at Bridging Digital
Divides in Korea
5. Month of Digital Culture 6. Digital Life
Stimulating Business aimed at creating a
comfortable Internet world in which healthy
digital culture prevails by hosting events such
as the Information Olympiad. 7. Digital
Side-Effects Prevention Business geared
toward grappling with the side-effects of the
digital society, such as the spread of harmful
information, Internet addiction and cyber crimes,
which have emerged as nagging obstacles to a
stable information society. 8. 11th
International Cooperation Business helps
developing countries strengthen their IT
technology and digital communication business by
sending young volunteers to construct information
access centers. The importance of ICB is ever
growing.
Son Yeon-gi, President Korea Agency for Digital
Opportunity and Promotion (KADO) . Korea
Committed to Bridging Digital Divide. Korea
Times. 09-07-2004.
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Examples of Programs Aimed at Bridging Digital
Divides in the EU
Internet for all EU ministers commit to an
inclusive and barrier-free information society

• Brussels, 12 June 2006
• A pan-European drive to use information and
  communication technologies to help people to
  overcome economic, social, educational,
  territorial or disability-related disadvantages
  was endorsed by ministers of 34 European
  countries in Riga (Latvia) today. "e-Inclusion"
  targets include
• halving the gap in internet usage by groups at
  risk of exclusion,
• boosting broadband coverage in Europe to at
  least 90, and
• making all public web sites accessible by 2010.

http//www.qlinks.net/quicklinks/divide.htm
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Examples of Programs Aimed at Bridging Digital
Divides in UK

• Saturday, 2 April, 2005
• A seven-point plan to tackle Britain's "digital
  divide" has been unveiled by the government.
• Digital Challenge prize for local authorities
  giving universal online access to services
• Creation of a scheme to rent laptops and PCs to
  students under national scheme
• Combat online dangers through work with hi-tech
  industry and police and establish national net
  safety centre
• Expand UK Online centers that help adult learners
  get to grips with the web
• Encourage creation of content for broadband
  services through government and public bodies
• Make sure central government embraces ways of
  using net to deliver services
• Office of communication to see how to encourage
  broadband take-up in poorer homes

http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4401175.stm
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Examples of Programs Aimed at Bridging Digital
Divides in Africa
Statement of the Free and Open Source Software
Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) Preamble The
potential of open source will improve
productivity and quality of life in developing
countries. The process of transformation into
information societies requires the full
participation of all member states. Vision Our
vision is to promote sustainable, viable and
cost-effective software products for Africa
through education and local capacity
building. Principles Africa should investigate
how to leverage the opportunities presented by
the emergence of open-source software in the
context of limited financial resources and
expertise. Specifics Africa can bridge the
digital divide by adopting open source, thus
narrowing the effect of techno-colonialism. Plan
of action FOSSFA, in partnership with
Governments, intergovernmental organizations,
civil societies and other stakeholders, will
spearhead initiatives that build skills through
education and empowerment of women and
youth. Lobby all stakeholders to adopt open
source as the platform to engineer solutions that
meet the needs of the people.
United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development. E-Commerce And Development Report
2003. Chapter 4 Free And Open Source Software
Implications For ICTPolicy And Development. Annex
III.
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Issues Addressed by the Programs