The Digital Divide

1. PSI 2007 Kaido Kikkas The Digital Divide This document uses the GNU Free Documentation License (v1.2 or newer).

2. Some definitions • Wikipedia: "The digital divide is the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technologies and those without.” • UNDP 2001 report on new technologies: "The digital divide is a reflection of broader socioeconomical inequalities"

3. Generations of IT • 1st - the great machines • 2nd - the minicomputer • 3rd - the PC • 4th - the local area networks • 5th - the Internet

4. Transition costs • At every transition, the IT has • Infiltrated from machine rooms to offices and homes • Reached new users, whose needs have quickly begun to guide and dominate the development of the technology • Destroyed and given birth to whole professions and industries • Transformed and shaped organizations and communities, management and power, control and free speech • Shaped both work and leisure • Shaped the foundations of the economy • Split the world more deeply between winners and losers

5. IT as the knife • killers have knives, surgeons have too • IT has both inclusive and separative potential – it is up to users and decision makers which side prevails (“Use the Force, Luke!”) • The current divide has its roots in all the mentioned aspects of transition – but it does not need to be that way

6. Dimensions of the DD: physical access • UNDP 2001: • 79% of all Internet users lived in OECD countries, which contained only 14% of the world’s people • Africa had less international bandwidth than São Paulo. Latin America’s bandwidth, in turn, was roughly equal to that of Seoul. • In October 1997, Africa had 267 times less Internet hosts than North America, by October 2000, this had grown to a multiple of 540. • And even in the developed countries, the disparities exist (remember Manuel Castells talking about the "Fourth World").

7. ... • On the positive side: • in OECD countries excluding the United States the share of Internet users quadrupled from 7% to 28% between 1998 and 2000. • The numbers also went from 1.7 million to 9.8 million users in Brazil, from 3.8 million to 16.9 million in China and from 2,500 to 25,000 in Uganda. Yet because they are starting from very low bases, the percentage remains small. • NB! electricity had not yet reached about 2 billion people (1/3 of the world's population) in 2001 => the digital inclusion needs some prerequisites!

8. Dimensions of DD: Legal issues • UNDP 2001: • In 1998 the 29 OECD countries spent $520 billion on research and development - more than the combined economic output of the world’s 30 poorest countries • OECD countries, with 19% of the world’s people, also accounted for 91% of the 347,000 new patents issued 1998 (and in the United States, the number of claimed patents went up from 77,000 in 1985 to 169,000 in 1999) • Other examples: • proprietary research • abandonware

9. Dimensions of DD: Affordability • Liberalisation of telecom markets => competition => lower prices? • In 1998, major changes were made in telecommunication policies in Europe, resulting in more free market, more competition and dropping prices • At the same time, in many developing countries, telecommunication is still centralised and often strictly controlled by the state • Probably not the main factor, but still has its influence

10. Dimensions of DD: Gender disparity • UNDP 2001: • men make up 86% of users in Ethiopia, 83% in Senegal, 70% in China, 67% in France and 62% in Latin America • Meanwhile in other places, the gender gap is closing. In Thailand, the share of female users jumped from 35% in 1999 to 49% in 2000. In the United States, women made up 38% of users in 1996 but 51% in 2000. In Brazil, where Internet use has increased rapidly during the recent years, women account for 47% of users. • Strongly influenced by overall equality

11. Dimensions of DD: Age disparity • UNDP 2001: • In Australia 18–24-year-olds are five times more likely to be Internet users than those above 55 • In Chile 74% of users are under 35; in China that share is 84% • It is likely that in developed countries, the age reflects more choices and attitudes than necessities and obstacles

12. Dimensions of DD: Education • UDNP 2001: • In Bulgaria the poorest 65% of the population accounts for only 29% of Internet users • In Chile 89% of Internet users have had tertiary education, in Sri Lanka 65%, and in China 70% • in many places, this may reflect rather the income level than the education as such • However, the problem becomes much more visible in developing countries – no access to elementary infrastructure

13. Dimensions of DD: Rural vs urban • UNDP 2001: • In China the 15 least connected provinces, with 600 million people, have only 4 million Internet users while Shanghai and Beijing, with 27 million people, have 5 million users • In the Dominican Republic 80% of Internet users live in the capital, Santo Domingo • In Thailand 90% live in urban areas, which contain only 21% of the country’s population • Among India’s 1.4 million Internet connections, more than 1.3 million are in the five states of Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai • Failures in regional politics (ct Estonia!)

14. Dimensions of DD: other issues • Ethnic disparity: • in the US, Asian Americans have the highest penetration rates, a little ahead of white citizens. Hispanic and African American citizens have considerably lower access • A report from Finland (a top country in terms of networked society) cites problems with • elderly people • immigrants • => education and language skills

15. Pekka Himanen 2001 vs 2004 • 2001 – 3 models, Finland as a positive example • 2004 – 4 models, Finland in front of choice • Word of warning: if we go on with “business as usual”, inequality and marginalisation will continue to become aggravated both globally and nationally – the wealth gap between the top and bottom 20%-s is about 75:1

16. The models • Silicon Valley • "leaving the weak behind", the neo-liberal model. High price paid in California (growing inequality and crime rate, the largest prison population in the US etc). Ct. Estonia! • Singapore • ”race to the bottom”, tax-competition model. Depends on cheapness of labour force! • Europe • ”the dead hand of passivity”, welfare-state model. The main problem is the threat of stagnation - trying to maintain the industrial-era welfare state without allowing the changes. ”society of envy”

17. The fourth model • Ubiquitous computing in a networked society – proactive society based on community/hacker ethic. But this is the topic of the next lecture... • "It is often thought that people gain access to technological innovations - more effective medicine or transportation, the telephone or the Internet - once they have more income. This is true - economic growth creates opportunities for useful innovations to be created and diffused. But the process can also be reversed: investments in technology, like investments in education, can equip people with better tools and make them more productive and prosperous. Technology is a tool, not just a reward, for growth and development." (UNDP 2001)