Bridging the Gap in the Global Digital Divide - Research Paper Example

? Bridging the Gap in the Global Digital Divide Daniel L Boehm of Missouri-St. Louis The Global Digital Divide The global digital divide refers to the global disparities between developing and developed countries relating to access to information and computing resources such as the internet and various opportunities that come with such access. This idea is different to the traditional understanding of the digital divide that was based on disparities on the lines of social classes. This paper aims at discussing the global digital divide from the perspective of developing countries and what can be done to curb the effect of the global divide. The growth of information technology in a country highly depends on the extent to which policy makers in the country recognize the importance of information and communication technology to the country. The policy makers might come in handy when it comes to things like regulations, taxation, incentives and many others. Some developing countries impose a lot of taxes on ICT related companies thinking that, through taxation, the country’s economy is likely to grow (Brooks, Donovan & Rumble, 2005). One thing that they tend to forget that high taxation can hinder the entrance of new players into this industry. Therefore, the country’s economy lacks the contribution of ICT to its economy. Most developing countries lack the appropriate infrastructure that can enable effective application of information and communication technology in the country. This leads to low level of accessibility of services that ICT can offer to the countries’ economy. The ultimate result of this is a scenario in which developing countries are unable to have the complete advantage of ICT being used in their economic sectors. Poor infrastructure also leads to poor performance of the ICT related industries which in a way reflect to the general economic performance of the countries. The poor infrastructure and poor policy making also mean that the countries are unable to make the ICT service affordable in their countries. Being expensive, small businesses in these countries might see the use of ICT in business as an economic luxury. This means that these businesses operate without having to make use of information and communication technology in their day to day activities. The result of this is that their performance turns out to be lower than the performances of the same types of businesses in developed countries (Norris, 2003). The high prices not only affect the economic sector but also other sectors such education and even social life. Being that most developing countries are always in the struggle of trying to attain economic stability, financial resources that are required for development of ICT infrastructure might in some instances be unavailable. The unavailability is always makes it hard for developing countries to invest highly in ICT infrastructure. The eventual outcome of this is economic, educational, and social institutions that have limited or no access to ICT services and resources (Yu, 2006). The effect of this lack of access to ICT resources is heightened by the ignorance of the level to which ICT can improve the effectiveness of these institutions. In the developing countries, language can also be a hindrance to the application of ICT. Television programs, radio programs, computer software, and on line sites always use languages used in the countries in which these appliances have been developed. Given that very few of these appliances are developed in the developing countries, the local people might have a hard time trying to conform to technological assimilation. This factor makes the application of ICT in almost all aspects of human life in developing countries very hard. Studies have even proved that the low rate of growth of ICT is contributed to by stereotypes that have depicted ICT as a highly complex thing. People from developing countries have the tendency of associating ICT to people with affluence and not just everybody. In most developing countries, ICT facilities are always centralized. This means that they are not available in some parts of the counties. People and organizations in areas with less access to these facilities are, therefore, not able to make use of these facilities. For instance, in most developing countries ICT facilities are easily accessible in the major cities while remaining scarce in the remote area. This is always a result of excess emphasizing on the development of the major towns and cities at the expense of the rural areas. Technological knowhow is another major challenge of the use of information technology in developing countries. When ICT facilities are put up, there is always a need for technological expertise in the maintenance of these facilities. This is something that has proved to be scarce in developing countries. Due to this problem, developing countries always find them in a situation where they have to depend on developing countries for technological expertise. This will highly affect the use of information technology because of the overdependence on the development. Some countries might also consider doing without the technology instead of depending on developed countries for technological expertise. The result of such an occurrence will be an underdeveloped national ICT system. There is also a big difference in computer literacy between developed countries and developing countries. Developing countries have recorded a very high number of computer illiterate individuals as compared to developed countries. This makes it very hard for these countries to completely make use of ICT in their day to day activities. For instance, how will a country’s education system introduce the use of ICT in learning institution if a good number of the teachers and lecturers have not attained the technological knowhow that is required in the day to day use of ICT in the learning institution? This will only result in a situation in which there are ICT facilities but very few or no one to use them. Such a situation is almost just as bad as not having the ICT facilities at all. There are also some political factors that can contribute to the use of ICT in developing countries. For instance, there are some countries that hinder the access of some online sites for political reasons. The result of this is a situation in which some aspects of ICT cannot be used in these countries. The most affected aspects of human life that might be affected by such regulations are social and educational (St & Olaniran, 2011). For instance, there are learning institutions in developing countries where they restrict the access to sites such as YouTube, forgetting that the students can also get material of educational value from these sites. Educational systems might also be a contributing factor to the global digital divide. This is because many developing countries have not incorporated ICT into their curriculums. This incorporation would have played a very important role in making sure that these countries are not left behind in terms of developments in ICT. With education not emphasizing on the importance of ICT, all the other aspects of a country’s existence are likely to see no importance of ICT. Another contributing factor to the global digital divide is the low standards of democracy in the developing countries. This specifically touches on countries that still have dictatorial regimes. This kind of leaders pays little attention to the growth of ICT in their countries with the fear that the development will sensitize the citizens in their countries into fighting for their democratic rights in the most appropriate ways. This leads to a situation in which the use of ICT in these countries is very minimal. There are various ways in which a government can corruptly limit the use of ICT within their territories. This is always done with the aim of making sure that citizens get or use information in a way that it will bring to the public the ills the government is involved in. This is a very common scenario in most developing countries. Such activities are always done under the pretense of ensuring national security. For instance, some developing countries have blocked the use of some online sites with the aim of making sure that the public does not gain access to some very important information (Law, 2004). The government might also prevent some ICT and mass communication organization the freedom of collecting and conveying critical information to the public. This has led to the ineffectiveness of very many ICT and miscommunication in developing countries. This lead to poor digital democracy in developing countries and thus contributing further to the wide gap in ICT development between developing countries and the developed ones (Steyn & Johanson, 2011). Higher levels of unemployment and youth dependency can also be said to one of the contributing factors to the increase in the global digital. In developing countries, it is clearly evident that unemployment rates in developing countries are very high. With a country with a very big percentage of its citizens being unemployed, the growth of the use of ICT is likely to very low. This is because the unemployed group will lack the capability of acquiring these services due to the high levels of unemployment. Youth dependency is also going to reduce the amount of resources that are available to be invested in the development of ICT in developing countries. Global digital divide can also be as a result of the nature of how ICT resources are accessed in developing countries. As opposed to developing countries, developed countries have institutionalized ICT resources access, a factor that makes it easier and cheaper for the public to access these resources. In developing countries, the access of such resources is individualized, making these resources unavailable to a greater percentage of the population (Rigobert, 2010). This means that only a small number of people in developing countries have the privilege of having full access to ICT and its related services. In bridging the digital divide in the least developing countries, certain issues need to be addressed first. Certain obstacles need to be cleared first before setting new standards and goals. These obstacles need to be looked into deeply in case the divide is to be closed effectively (Compaine, 2001). The obstacles are as discussed herein. Most of the least developing countries have very wrong economic priorities. They tend to channel most of their economic strengths towards wrong economic activities under sourcing others of greater importance. Governments need to channel their resources towards developmental sectors such as the ICT sector. They need to understand that with technological development, countries can be able to realize great economic achievements (Blau, 2002). They need to give universal internet access attention together with other important sectors such as preventive medicine and food. Developing countries should also wave social and legal constraints, including denial of access and censorship. The use of proxy servers with strict control of internet access affects performance and the access of current data. It also inhibits the range of resources accessed. Some countries even limit the number of people accessing the internet. In bridging the digital divide, this should be done away with to create a fair platform for internet access. Most developing countries lack power generation and distribution facilities that are sufficient to run network infrastructures and computers throughout the computer with the exception of large cities with a larger percentage of the population living in areas with very poor building infrastructure. The governments should encourage alternative sources of energy for those who are not supplied by the national grid. These alternatives could include the use of solar energy, development of biogas systems and fuel powered generators (Fantin & Girardello, 2008). These local power infrastructures could provide fast solutions for bootstrapping computer use even though the internet access speeds would be usually very low. Illiteracy is also a big challenge. For the use of computers and network facilities, the people will need to have basic language knowledge since most computers operate with several primary languages. Countries will literacy rates as low as 16% need to invest much in this for digital knowledge to grow in a country. Furthermore, the countries need to develop basic computer education within their primary education systems so that the population is computer literate when it gets to its maturity age. This could be done by initiating computer projects at lower class levels. At these levels, they could ensure the children know how to boot a computer, and to use its basic programs such are the Microsoft packages and the internet. This would increase their morale and their urge to learn the much that they do not know. With the population highly acknowledged in the computer, the development of the ICT would be very easy for the government as people will also be pushing for the same from below (AL-Fahad, 2008). Network infrastructure and connectivity are another problem that faces these countries. This one can be attended to by encouraging Network Service Providers to interconnect localized networks such as schools, businesses, government fraternities and local internet service providers. The local internet service providers could then take the connectivity to the grassroots by providing end users and small businesses with several varieties of connectivity options such as the dial-up modem access, radio frequency network access, broadband cable network access and many more. These end users and the small business could then help connect several smaller networks of computers through LAN (Local Area Network) connections (James, 2003). Another way of bridging this gap is by introducing e-learning in the institutions of education in these countries. This is where the institutions of learning, especially the higher institutions, will be able to offer courses of learning online. This would push the development of the ICT sector upper. It will also act as a check on the government. Furthermore, it will ensure that before people enrol in the programs, they have computer knowledge thus widening the level of computer knowledge in the country. Liberalizing markets for computer hardware and other related devices could work in handy in the digital development process. If the governments allow cheap computers into their countries, it could enable a larger part of their population to be able to acquire them thus aiding in the bridging process. The government could also provide subsidized computers and computer related devices to its citizens. If a large percentage of a country’s population has readily available computers, the process of bridging the digital divide could be fastened (Kuttan & Peters, 2003). Experts are of the opinion that competition in the computer production industry would aid in the development of ICT in the least developing countries. With the likes of OLPC and INTEL competing for market for their products in the least developing countries, they will both strive to produce better and cheaper computers that would attract market in these countries. Moreover, they will indulge a lot in the process of creating awareness in these countries and providing subsidized computers so as to widen their market and to make a ‘name’ for better service provision. This could be pushed for by the international society during the “World Information Society Day” which is normally used for the process of checking how far the world has reached in technological development. The governments of the least developed countries could also solicit for funds from international NGOs and developed countries. The funding could not necessarily be in monetary value. The interested organizations and countries could donate computer hardware to these countries for use in schools for the purpose of education. Furthermore, these countries and NGOs could provide expertise in the ICT sector which could help impart knowledge to the students and help in the technology development process. The governments of the least developing countries, related agencies and other stakeholders should also invest in creating collective awareness amongst the people about the importance and advantage of using the internet. The governments could invest widely in developing the ICT sector yet the people are not aware of the effort and its relevance. They say you can take a donkey to the river, but you cannot force it to take water. Therefore as the process of widening the sector is ongoing, process of enlightening the public on the same should also be underway (Chan & Kirsop, 2001). This will ensure a double impact and the result yielded will be of high importance and impact. It is clearly evident from all these that a global digital divide does exist and the least developing countries are most affected in this. It would be good to go through my recommendations for these countries to understand the problems, their bases and possible solutions for the same. It would be very good to live in a world with a small divide in technology, if any at all. As shown above, there are various steps that developing nations would take to reduce the digital-divide. References AL-Fahad, M. (2008). Bridging the Global Digital Divide: Internet Diffusion in Muslim Countries. Saarbru?cken: VDM Verlag Dr. Mu?ller. Blau, A. (2002). Access Isn't Enough: Merely Connecting People and Computers Won't Close the Digital Divide. American Libraries, 33(6), 50-52. Brooks, S., Donovan, P., & Rumble, C. (2005). Developing nations, the digital divide and research databases. Serials Review, 31(4), 270-278. Chan, L., & Kirsop, B. (2001). Open archiving opportunities for developing countries: towards equitable distribution of global knowledge. Compaine, B. M. (2001). The digital divide: Facing a crisis or creating a myth?. 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