Page 86 - Communication Cultural and Media Studies The Key Concepts

DIGITAL DIVIDE

It was estimated that in 2001, 429 million people around the world
were online, the equivalent of 6 per cent of the world’s population. Of
these 429 million people, 41 per cent lived in North America. In
contrast, only 4 per cent of the world’s online population lived in South
America, 27 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa combined
and, despite the large population of the area, only 20 per cent of the
online population logged on from the Asia Pacific (although this will
soon change as China boots up) (Benton Foundation, 2001).
The communications technologies interconnect people into a
network of ideas, information, e-commerce and virtual communities.
Those who are excluded are not able to participate to the same degree
in the network society or be placed in a position of advantage within
its economy.
The evidence suggests that the distribution of connectivity is tied
to the allocation of resources and education. For instance, in the US
nearly 65 per cent of college graduates have home Internet access,
whereas only 11.7 per cent of households headed by persons with less
than a high school education are online (Rohde and Shapiro, 2000).
Thus, the digital divide also includes, or follows, differential levels of
literacy and education.
As Castells (1996: 34) writes: the ‘speed of technological diffusion is
selective, both socially and functionally’. The digital divide is the result
of strategic flows of information that are not bound by nation-state
territories. The digital divide is just as likely to be experienced
between two neighbourhoods within the same city as between age
groups or between language groups. It can even separate different
individuals in the same family or household.
As with other areas of development theory and practice, strategies
for overcoming the digital divide can be contentious (see Wilkins,
2000). It is widely accepted that inequitable access to information and
communications technology (ICT) must be overcome. But there are
always political questions about how to do this. For instance, is
information dissemination (on issues such as the prevention of the
spread of HIV/AIDS) the ultimate goal in a given area, or should
development programmes be looking at ways to empower commu-
nities to develop their own strategies through ICT use? If so, who
within that community should be responsible for the allocation of
resources and the creation of useful programmes? Furthermore, is it
acceptable to assert the importance of online communication in areas
that are in urgent need of basic resources such as food and water?
The digital divide is important to public policy because an
‘underclass’ of the digitally poor is not only likely to prove electorally

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