Jiaying Shen
The Digital Divide Bliss or Misery? — Contemplating the Engagement of Cultural Forms and Economic Progress Challenges & Opportunities — the Global Economy in the Transition Phase
Global Initiatives Symposium Taiwan 2009
Jiaying SHEN City University of Hong Kong LLB Year 2
Contact No.: (852) 6674 3257 E-mail: michelle.ying0824@gmail.com Website:http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=716575585&ref=n ame
Jiaying Shen
TABLE OF CONTENTS I.
INTRODUCTION
II. CURRENT SITUATION: THE DIGITAL DIVIDE A. EXPLANATION B. GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE C. FROM THE CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE GAP D. HONG KONG IN FOCUS III. RISKS: THE GRAVE POLARIZATION IV. RECOMMENDATION A. DIGITAL SOLIDARITY FUND B. SOUTH KOREA’S EXPERIENCE C. GLOBAL AWARENESS D. THE “GIVE ONE, GET ONE” PROGRAMME E. OTHER SOLUTIONS V. CONCLUSION VI. REFERENCES
Global Initiatives Symposium in Taiwan 2009
The Digital Divide I.
INTRODUCTION Nowadays, we are experiencing the highly development of digital age. In this
age of computer and the Net, we tend to believe knowledge is spread because information is open to the public, and individuals now have the power to influence the world from in front of their computers. Undoubtedly, the engagement of digital culture and economic process has been a heated issue. The recognition of the Increasing interaction between digital culture and economic progress has led various parties, e.g. political entities and economic organizations, to treat this issue seriously.
II. CURRENT SITUATION: THE DIGITAL DIVIDE A. EXPLANATION The term ‘digital divide’ refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalances in physical access to technology as well as the imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen. The digital divide may be classified based on gender, income, and race groups, and by locations.
Bliss or Misery? Contemplating the Engagement of Cultural Forms and Economic Progress
Jiaying Shen
There was once an interesting advertisement about a certain movie chain which launched its online ticketing service. The advertisement was mainly about two boys who plan to date the same girl for the movies. One of them goes to a cinema to buy tickets only to find a long queue. It is clear who wins the contest at last. But the loser does not lose because he is passive or unaggressive. It is not even related to his looks, personality or wealth. He loses just because he does not know how to buy a ticket online. It is an invisible digital divide that makes the difference.
B. GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE
The global digital divide is an existing problem, which reflects the existing economic divisions in the world. This global digital divide widens the gap in
Global Initiatives Symposium in Taiwan 2009
economic divisions around the world. At present there are up to 600 million Internet users whereas the same figure in 1993 was just 1 million. We can see how considerably it has grown. These 600 million of people constitute just one tenth of the world population and concentrate in developed countries. One third of them are in the United States. As is provided by The Global Digital Divide image above, the global digital poverty is especially acute in Africa. According to data in 2001, out of the 800 million African population, only 1 in 4 individuals own a radio, 1 in 13 a television, 1 in 40 a phone and 1 in 130 a radio. By the end of 2002, only 1.7 million people can get access to the Internet, among who only 1 out of 250-400 people has Internet access. However, in North America and Europe every other person can use the Internet.
There goes the sentence “knowledge changes fate�. The uneven distribution in knowledge and information has deprived people in developing countries of a chance to change their fate. The importance of the interaction between digital culture and economic progress should draw more attention of the society.
C. FROM THE CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE GAP In 1970, Phillip J. Tichenor, C.N. Olien and G.A. Donohue, well-known communication scholars, proposed the hypothesis of the culture and knowledge gap. According to the hypothesis, whenever a new medium arises, people with higher economic statuses have a higher chance of getting knowledge than those lower Bliss or Misery? Contemplating the Engagement of Cultural Forms and Economic Progress
Jiaying Shen
statuses. The former is more capable of adapting to, using and controlling the new medium. As time goes by, the difference between their knowledge will widen, forming a knowledge gap.
Once you use the internet, the information floods in. As a result, there come two groups of people: the ‘information rich’ who master information technology and enjoy all the convenience and benefits generated thus; the ‘information poor’ who do not get any advantages from information technology, which increasingly marginalizes them as it develops. In fact, age, gender, race, education level, economic condition and regional development are all factors that cause the great diversity of digital culture.
D. HONG KONG IN FOCUS According to the 2007 Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) published by the International Telecommunication Union in 2001, Hong Kong was ranked 8th in 191 economies. The percentage of Hong Kong people with personal computers and Internet access are respectively 74.2% and 70.1%, multiples of the same figures 10 years ago. However, Hong Kong is no exception of the digital divide problem. The digital divide in Hong Kong is occupied by the majority of citizens (especially youngsters and high-income earners) who benefit from telecommunications on one end, and minorities such as low-income families, the old and retired people are on the other end.
Global Initiatives Symposium in Taiwan 2009
Such a wide gap easily marginalizes the weak. For example, when a teacher asks the class to do an online research, those who do not have computers at home may find it hard to express their difficulty. Similarly, when internet promotions become more popular, those companies who do not use the online resources for their business will not be able to attract consumers easily, reducing their competitiveness.
III. RISKS: THE GRAVE POLARIZATION The digital divide has been recognized as an immense problem by scholars, policy makers, and the public, who have come to understand the potential of the Internet to improve everyday life for those on the margins of society and to achieve greater social equity and empowerment.
There remains a great risk due to the digital divide, i.e. the grave polarization. Along with the increase of the divide, the segregation within a society becomes more serious, resulting in such differentiation that would consist of various social groups, from high-income to low-income. Therefore, there comes a vicious circle, which has been shown below.
Bliss or Misery? Contemplating the Engagement of Cultural Forms and Economic Progress
Jiaying Shen
IV. RECOMMENDATION A. DIGITAL SOLIDARITY FUND In order to narrow the digital gap, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service established the Digital Solidarity Fund on 15 Dec 04 to subsidize different digital solidarity programmes. It has also established contact with people from all walks of life in order to formulate and carry out strategies for digital solidarity. The Fund depends mainly on donations from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the business sector. It supports mainly the following three kinds of plans.
B. SOUTH KOREA’S EXPERIENCE In fact, South Korea has provided a very good example in resolving the digital divide problem. In spite of the great attack suffered in the 1997 financial tsunami, South Korea has experienced a high development in the past few years, especially the development in science and technology. For example, the Korean Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), provided by the government, has widely popularized the education of science and technology in the past years, and established more than 900 training centers. According to the relevant data, more than 13 million people have been involved in this programme, constituting one third of the total population.
C. GLOBAL AWARENESS The United Nations is aiming to raise awareness of the divide by way of the
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World Information Society Day and international conferences. It held two world conferences related to information and telecommunications in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis (Capital of Tunisia) in 2005 respectively. Heads of state and ministers from more than 50 states, international organizations and elites from different fields attended them. They signed agreements such as the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action, aiming to act as a bridge between information-rich and information-poor countries.
D. THE “GIVE ONE, GET ONE” PROGRAMME Furthermore, many civil organizations also strive to narrow down the digital gap in the world. The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) organization, for example, is advocating give each child a computer. It wants students of the right ages in developing countries to own an inexpensive laptop computer with Wi-Fi each so that they can learn on their own, engage in creation, entertain themselves and widen their horizons. OLPC launched its ‘Give One, Get One’ programme on 17 Nov. You can use US$399 to buy a laptop computer (the XO Laptop produced by OLPC) for yourself and another one for a child in a developing country.
E. OTHER SOLUTIONS Apart from the solutions mentioned above, there are various other solutions to deal with the digital divide issue. And any solution is try to better understand the lifestyle of a minority or marginalized community in order to figure out what is Bliss or Misery? Contemplating the Engagement of Cultural Forms and Economic Progress
Jiaying Shen
meaningful to them [minorities and marginalized users] and how they use (or do not use) different forms of the Internet for meeting their objectives.
V. CONCLUSION Nowadays, the digital divide has been a rising concern, especially the interaction between digital culture and economic progress. However, the existence of a digital divide is not universally recognized. It is therefore an important job for the United Nations, international organizations and other non-governmental organizations to narrow down the international digital divide.
VI. REFERENCES 1
The Digital Divide in Hong Kong
http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr00-01/chinese/panels/itb/papers/a1143-3c.pdf 2
2007 C&SD Household Survey on IT Usage and Penetration
3
World Summit on the Information Society, WSIS
http://www.itu.int/wsis/ 4
One Laptop per Child
5
Digital Divide – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide
Global Initiatives Symposium in Taiwan 2009