There is a very widespread belief that the increasingly ubiquitous availability of mobile communication and through this, access to wireless Internet, is somehow the resolution of the “digital (and other) divide(s)”. Thus, a current news story from China: To ease people’s woes, the central government this year launched a new online “ticketing system to curb […]
Michael Geist, a frequent commentator on Canadian telecom and Information and Communication Technology related policy issues, has provided a list of issues he would like to see addressed in Canada`s upcoming national election. On looking at his list, especially in light of what I consider to be the major (policy and other) deficiencies in Canada`s […]
In an important article in the current issue of the Journal of Community Informatics , Hungarian Sociologists Csótó Mihály and Szilárd Molnár examine the development of the “Information Society” in Hungary from the perspective of those who are being left behind in its development and the impact that this is having on innovation and development in Hungary as whole. Their analysis and observations have relevance far beyond Hungary or even Europe and link quite directly into a similarly important newspaper article on the recurring Digital Divide among Afro-Americans and Hispanics in the US, by Jeffrey Washington of Associated Press and reprinted in USA Today and the Washington Post among other places.
Broadband is clearly (if somewhat belatedly) now on the global “development” agenda. The notion is that the Developing world has fallen behind the Developed world in obtaining access to Broadband and it is now necessary to find ways of catching up. In pursuit of this “Global leaders in government, business, civil society and international organizations (were) invited to serve on the Broadband Commission for Digital Development as Commissioners by Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with the strong support of the United Nations Secretary-General”.
So what do we miss if we don’t have the internet?
This isn’t a trick question. I’m currently in Sri Lanka, a country which has had a long and interesting history of telecentres/community technology initiatives (they call them Nenasalas).
In the context of my visits to various sites in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak I’ve now got a bit of perspective on the current situation in Malaysia and I see that in certain respects at least the goals of the 2005 Plan as evidenced by the document Bridging the Digital Divide in Malaysia have been […]
January 16, 2012
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