Measures taken to bridge the gap

ICT can be a money making process particually targeting employment and education. If you were to put an IT centre in the middle of a village and taught a number of people there how to work it, a large number of people would have the abilty and oppurtunity to use the internet and access mobile telephony. This can transform lives.

Daknet is an example of mobile internet. It has been used and develped in India and Cambodia and has been proved successful. A vehicle is drove round picking up signals sending out wireless signals. When the vehicle arrives within a villages ICT centre it transmits and recieves signals at a fast rate uploading and downloading form the internet. This is a solution to there not being a permenant electricity supply or internet connection. Thanks to systems like this in India there is evidence to suggest villages have saved money in certain aspects of there lives.

Digital Broadcasting is another aspect of the digital divide that is being tackled the benefits of it mean that people living there now have access to education, entertainment and imformative benefits that they didn't have before. The use of mobile phones and the introduction of there technology has improved the quality of life in places like Bangledesh and Pakistan. In rural Asia for example had to rely on low quality unreliable equipment but they now have access to high quality images and sound a range that would have previuosly been unimaginable.

Political initiatives are another way of decreasing the digital divide. The United Nations organised two summits as part of the plan. One of the summits was called the Information Society and was considered a mixed success. The action plan was intended to ensure that more than half of the world has access to an electricity supply or electronic media. Many people argued that words don't change things and it is money and resources that are generally needed.

The extent of the digital divide and the current situation

The digital divide is the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technlogies and those without. The term digital divide referes to those who can benefit from it, and those who don't, as opposed to just talking about who has direct access to technology, and those who don't.

It is difficult to measure the the size of the digital divide particully as it is changing so frequently. It has been suggested that to some extent there has been progress in closing the gap everywhere a few example of quickly progressing countries include; Botswana, Malaysia, Croatia and Poland. Differences between some countries shrink and others row over time. The differetn bases from which contires sart also inevitably affect any measure ments made. The difficult in measuring anything absolutely means that it is very hard to make definate claims about to what extent the digital divide is at and whether the gap is shrinking or widening.

There is a clear digital divide betweent he developed and developing countries and it has been said by many that bridging this gap is one of the essential steps of abolitiing world poverty all together. It would solve many problems that exist at the moment. It isn't jus a divide that has formed globally it is one that effects use locally aswell.The problems ae very different but the potentially could have the same detrimentl impact on economic equality, social mobility and economic growth. In many less developed areas in the UK there is in some cases very little or no electricity suppl so thereofre it is impossible to support the infrastructure for ICT. The USA who have seen similar problems occuring have started dealing with the issues. In the UK it is said that there is a clear devide between socio-economic classes. There are alos clear divides between age, geographical situation and gender. Information to support this statement is as follows:-

1. 71% of working people have used a computer.
2. 32% of those not working have also used a computer.
3. 52% of working people have a computer at home.
4. 23% of people not working do not have a computer at home.
5. More owner-occupiers are online than people who rent their homes.
6. Only 4% of council tennants spend time online.
7. While 22% of residents in high income areas spend more time online.
8. In 2001 the average levels of internet acces varied enormously with the average being 37%.
9. Connectivty in London and East was 45% (in 2001)
10. In Northern Ireland and the North East only 26% of households have interent access and rural areas were particularly poorly served often with poor infrastructure.
11. Over 65s now stand as 20% of the population but they are the least likely out off everyone to have digitl TV connections or internet access.

Economic and social impact of the divide

Bridging the gap of the digital divide would have benefits for the rest of the developed world as it is a powerful force that can harness the global search for world peace and development. It could mean that the differences between more economically developed countries and less economically countries gets smaller with the income into both countries becoming more similar and therefore the gap closing.

There are great benefits to the poorer nations as it is bringing people together and there technology is advancing, but the gaps between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' is widening and the very poor nations are being left behind as there is no way that they can be developed to the standards of other countries of whom are becoming knowledge-based global economies.

In 1999 Bill Clinton held a confrence in order to argue that the internet was the key to wealth around the world. He claimed that reducing the size of the digital divide would reduce poverty in the world.

Digital technologies can be used to help people overcome problems and barriers that they made be facing. They are able to achieve things in order to make themselves more successful. Each individual person that has access to electronic media contriutes to closing the gap. Examples of ways which it can help include:-

• the unemplyed being able to use the interent to help find work and generally have more access.
• people and business in rural places being able to communicate with people further away to shops for example.
• the elderly and infrim with restricted mobility being able to get a great deal out of things such as shopping, banking and contacting others.