Bridging the Digital Divide
Dec 4th, 2009 by Oamo Culbreath
In this video the subjects speak out about “Bridging the Digital Divide”, meaning closing the gap between nations that do not have access to the iBridging the Digital Dividenternet compared to the nations that do. The subjects identify the need to construct a system that incorporates a global cooperation toward accessing information. Cooperation ensures that people all over the world are promised the same access to information which is representational of power. Anas Tawitch identifies the internet as an empowering tool for people who do not have a voice and were marginalized because of a lack of opportunity. Access to the internet will provide the ability for an undeveloped nation to develop.
The Digital Divide can be seen as a product of Harvey’s uneven development. Under developed nations are less likely to have access to information and technologies that developed countries often take for granted. Access to greater amounts of information allows under developed nations to have access to greater sources of knowledge, educating under privileged individuals, and improving education and economic institutions. Due to the expensive technologies and infrastructure involved it is difficult for people in an undeveloped region to join the “information highway”. Many NGOs such as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other non profit organizations have developed grants for under developed regions of the world to gain access to the internet and other information technologies. However with only 17.6% of the world’s population having access to these technologies it is a difficult endeavor to create enough funding to support the remaining populations. Bridging the Digital Divide between developed nations and under developed nations would bridge the gaps of global uneven development.
Video might not show up, here is the link:http://current.com/items/85666051_bridging-the-digital-divide.htm
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The digital divide is something that has always been for fun dinner table banter in my home. At first I understood that it was essentially the discrepancy of information available to less privileged and those more privileged. However it is far more than that.
After addressing the issues in the course about power-knowledge, the digital divide is more than the lack of knowledge. Without knowledge individuals don’t have power, and this allows for them to be coerced more readily into trusteeship relationships. I think that it is important that we spend more time focusing on the information that people in the developed world have access to. What it implies? And what ultimately they can do with it?
I have thought about this question of global internet access a lot.
While watching the video, I couldn’t help but think of all the other more important issues (e.g. access to food and water, poverty, human rights, environmental issues), and whether we should really be prioritizing internet access at all. These issues were mentioned towards the end of the video, but they weren’t really focused on a great deal. I also wonder whether the lifestyles of the parts of the world which don’t have internet have something to offer the “developed” world – this addresses the question of “overdevelopment,” and the potential drawbacks it encompasses that we talked about in class. The video assumes that “development” (in terms of becoming economically and technologically more like the “West) is a good thing.
Technology and the internet can also be oppressive and at times even dangerous, as well as helpful.
Alternatively however, it could be argued that internet access may help people improve more basic issues, so it’s not an disconnected issue.
In terms of the environment, while many other issues have become a part of mainstream discourse, there has been a severe lack of discussion around the proliferation of computers, and how this affects the world and the environment. I’m also not sure how global web pipe networks affect the environment and whether this has been researched very much.
On the more positive side, I’m not against improved access to the internet. I think access to information on the internet can be very helpful and at times empowering (as brought up in the posts). Perhaps it needs to be looked at with caution and with an aim to take in all the connected issues.