Digital Divide

Digital divide can best be described as the fact that the world can be divided into people who do and people who don't have access to ,and the capability to use, modern information technology, such as the telephone, television, or the Internet. The digital divide can exist between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, between the educated and uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global scale between more and less industrially developed nations. For example, a 1999 study showed that 86% of Internet delivery was to the 20 largest cities. The digital divide also exists between the educated and the uneducated, between economic classes, and, globally, between the more and less industrially developed nations. According to figures from the International Telecommunications Union, Sweden has a mere 12% of its population offline compared to 56.5% in Greece.

Hungary Case study

Countries such as Hungary are investing heavily in high-speed fibre-optic cables. Hungary has no national e-inclusion policy and there are concerns that the networks will be far more sophisticated than citizens' understanding or use of them. There are some efforts to conquer the problem and a wi-fi village programme is reaching out to those of its population living in rural poverty, 80% of whom are Roma or Gypsies. So far 115 rural villages have been provided with wi-fi, offering internet access to 2,000 families living below the poverty line. The target for this year is to reach 30,000.

Global Divide

As computers become more pervasive in the western world, it can be easy to forget that not every country has equal access to key digital resources and infrastructure. Broadband speed Internet is almost considered a necessity in many developed countries today, and yet many people in parts of the developing world do not have any ability to go online at all. This difference in ability of accessing digital and information technology is commonly referred to as the digital divide as countries that are well connected reap enormous benefits while leaving other parts of the world trailing behind. Developed nations who have the economic ability to invest into digital infrastructures are reaping rewards due to fast communication speeds and complex networking. The countries that can’t afford to invest are not keeping up and are missing out, leaving the developed world to forge ahead. In terms of internet speed Western Europe, North America, Australasia and a few parts of Asia like South Korea and Japan are those on the right side of the tracks, digitally speaking. While much of South America, Africa and South East Asia are the ones currently struggling.

The global divide is a problem and one which will not be sorted out anytime soon. The main reason is down to lack of money and, developing countries require computers and they need ways of linking them together effectively. This is a problem of resources. People also need to be trained in order to access and be able to use digital information and to understand the default language of the Internet, English; this is a problem of education. Furthermore there is also the problem of urban areas having a lot slower internet speed compared to rural areas. From research I have found out that London enjoys faster broadband than anywhere else in Britain with download speeds nearly double that of those in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Local Divide

In addition it is also clear that there is a problem on a local scale, Richer families can enjoy a more faster and advanced connection speed whereas families that cannot afford to opt for the best high quality connection speeds can only enjoy the basic connection speeds which sometimes can result in poor internet connection which can result in struggling to use the internet.  ICT Is now part of everyday life, and children are taught ICT from a young age, primary school is where ICT begins to be introduced therefore the modern generation ICT is becoming a lot easier to use however, for the older generation there can be an age problem, with the older generation struggling to use the computer software this can result in them blocking out ICT and using technology that is now “out of date” which they have used all their life i.e. the typewriter, 55% of people aged 65-74 have access to the internet 45% do not and only 26% of people aged 75+, leaving a massive 74% without the web. In addition there is also a problem with the fairness of the distribution of ICT. In countries like Africa, only the rich parts of the country are being faced with ICT the poorer parts to the countries have no contact with ICT, therefore there is a clear distribution problem that is reflected by money.  In similar situations another huge problem of the local divide is the comparison between rural areas and urban areas, the differences in connection speeds in rural areas compared to urban areas is indescribable.  Furthermore, the difference between technologies, some say now computers are becoming “unfashionable” and being described as old technology, whereas laptop connecting to the internet is a lot easier, and quicker. In England there is also a problem with the spread of the broadband the government’s new £128 million invention to create quicker broadband speeds in rural area like London has impacted heavily on urban areas like Cornwall w here Internet speeds are highly low, therefore this shows that there is a clear affected spread of broadband within England that has impacted on certain urban areas suffering with poor internet connection.

Bridging the divide

There are a wide range of ideas on a global and local scale to prevent a digital divide from becoming out of hand.  The first bridge that can be taken to prevent Digital divide is sending out old computers that are no longer useful to us to less economically developed countries such as Africa, this will enable their ICT infrastructure to be built and will prevent a digital divide. Furthermore, develop more centres like the outreach centre a place for the elderly to go to learn the basic fundamental skills to use a computer, this will help increase the older generation percentage as they will become more familiar with how to use a computer. In addition they could also make the distribution of IT infrastructure fairer and give urban areas better internet connection speed by distributing out the spread of broadband to areas where the connection speeds are poor, this will result in more people being able to use the internet. The government also needs to promote the use of ICT especially to the older generation, by using practical examples such as emails that are easier and free to send instead of using letters.