Global digital divide

In general, the digital divide is a phenomenon wherein the rich in technology get richer with the rapid foray into the information age of the late twentieth century, while the technologically poor get poorer—if not absolutely poorer, at least relatively so, as the gap between the technological haves and have-nots widens. The term “digital divide” was popularized in reference to the disparity in Internet access between rural and urban United States of America. This perspective is treated in a separate article, titled "the digital divide". This article treats the global digital divide, referring to “great disparities in opportunity to access the Internet and the information and educational/business opportunities tied to this access … between developed and developing countries” (Lu 2001 p. 1).

Unlike the case in many classical economic arguments of income disparity, there is no claim in this case that the advances in information and communication technologies, which developed nations have been enjoying, have fed off the labor or resources of developing nations. Conversely, there is generally no claim that developing nations are faring absolutely worse because developed nations are doing better. However, it is clear that developed nations with the resources to invest in and develop ICT Infrastructure are reaping enormous benefits from the information age, while developing nations are trailing along at a much slower pace. This difference in rates of technological progress is widening the economic disparity between the most developed nations of the world (primarily Canada, the United States, Japan, and Western Europe) and the underdeveloped and developing ones (primarily Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia), thus creating a digital (that is, digitally fostered) divide. This global divide is often characterized as falling along what is sometimes called the north-south divide of "northern" wealthier nations and "southern" poorer ones.

The Internet has been hailed as a “great equalizer” (Brynjolfsson and Smith 2000), a revolutionary technological tool that enables efficient transfer of information on a global scale. This global information could be used for international trade, online digital libraries, online education, telemedicine, e-government and many other applications that solve vital problems in the developing world. The fundamental commonality of this class of problems is the realization that the developed nations have in abundance many of the resources that the developing ones could use to solve some of their problems, but geographical, political and cultural barriers exist that make it difficult or impossible for these solutions to be transferred effectively.

Other proposed solutions that the Internet promises for developing countries are the provision of efficient communications within and among developing countries, so that citizens can effectively help each other to solve their own problems. Sources of widespread public information such as television broadcasting, telephone services, educational institutions and public libraries are taken for granted in developed countries. In developing countries, however, such infrastructure is seriously deficient, and this cripples citizens’ ability to gather information and coordinate with each other to solve their problems. Through efficient information dissemination, the Internet promises a quantum-leap boost in internal communications in and among developing countries.

An interesting point is that Internet use, and especially broadband access, is now soaring in Asia compared with other continents. Within a few years some commentators predict that the Internet will be dominated by Asian users. Yet Asia would be classed as part of the "South". So the lines of the global digital divide (particularly in reference to the north-south divide) will be become less clear-cut; many users of the Internet in the supposedly rich "North" will be more disadvantaged than many users in the supposedly poor "South".

References

• Brynjolfsson, Erik and Michael D. Smith (2000). The great equalizer? Consumer choice behavior at Internet shopbots. Journal article, July 2000. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
• Lu, Ming-te (2001). Digital divide in developing countries. Journal of Global Information Technology Management (4:3), pp. 1-4.