Digital Divide –
Professor Netiva Caftori – NEIU
&
Steve Teicher - UCF
Definitions
• Global Population Projections• Digitally Enabled
• What is it?• Why is it important?
• Digitally Disabled• What are the forms of disability?• Why is it bad to have digitally disabled
populations?
• RecommendationsDilemmas
Global Population Projections
• 1960-3Billion; 2005-6.5Billion; 2050-9.1Billion• Ratio less developed to more developed areas
• 1950-2:1; 2050-6:1• Between 2005 and 2050 population projected to triple
• Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, and Uganda
• Average number of children per female– 2.9 in poor countries– 1.6 in rich countries
• 51 Countries will experience population reductions– Includes Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation
• From 2000 forward old people outnumber young people
The population of digitally and economically disadvantaged is the group growing in numbers fastest
Highest Population Growth
5
Facts about Africa - from Nat Geographic Sept
2005
• Percent Population < 25 = 71%• Note rest of world Old People > Young People
• Number of refugees = 15M out of 900M people
• Avg African Income 50% < $365/yr• Israeli > $17,000
• American > $33,000
• Swiss > $36,000
• Literacy rate avg 60%• Seychelles 92%
• Burkina Faso 12.5%
• Computer Data
• 12 per thousand people in 2003
• Africans with reliable electric power • 1 in 5 overall
1 in 50 in rural areas
Benefit of Investment in Information Technologies• India and China (PRC) have made large
investments in Info Technologies• Indian IIT’s began in 1950’s
• At present GDP growth rates by 2050• China Income per capita = Swiss
India Income per capita = Israeli
Digitally Enabled
• Technical • Low cost broadband – same as voice phone
• May be free in US – Google has announced intent to offer free broadband in San Francisco and expects this to spread.
• Low cost computing - 1% of one year pay
• Infrastructure• Available and Reliable
• Legal – Political• Privacy protected• Identity Theft considered a crime• Contracts made over net enforceable
Monitoring requires notification
Benefits for Digitally Enabled
• Increased Opportunity• Work and results shipped via satellite
• India and China among others compete for high pay jobs with US engineers
• Worldwide market –• First on-line bookstore in Palo Alto, Ca. became
international supplier by surprise (will get this name)• Access to education (examples)
• MIT Open Courseware• O’reilly Bookshelf• ACM and IEEE on-line libraries
• Worldwide visibility• To the situations of the world
Blogs growing rapidly – up 3X+ in one year
Digitally Disabled
• Forms of Disability• Non-existent infrastructure• High cost computing
• Limited Local Supply• High import duties
• Government Restrictions• Bureaucracy restricts content
Government monitors what you see and threatens
Does it matter that large poor groups are Digitally Disabled
• Large Poor Groups are inefficient• More Pollution per person• Lower lifestyle per person per $
expended
• Large Poor Groups most subject to radical control• Breeding ground for terrorists
Large Poor Groups are not good customers
But does it matter to the rest of us that large groups are digitally disabled?
• We live on a small planet• Pollution from the poor affects the air of
the rich• Radicals can do much damage for small
costs if they do not value their own• Property• Lives
Yes – it matters -
Who has noticed in the past?
• Gorbachev said in Perestroika• Situation – Soviet Union locked in combat with
West, spending large funds on nuclear war materials while its people starved.
• Gorbachev noted that his bureaucrats were worried about doctrine and instead should worry about empty shelves
• Gorbachev also noted that a free press and free interchange of information were critical to economic progress.
• Nations Opened up to Internet• Not because of doctrine
But because of economics –
Greenspan has noted
The increase in productivity has allowed expansion without inflation
News Reports on China’s restrictions of Internet Traffic
NPR report in September 2005 noted that China’s recent restriction on Internet traffic might hamper innovation in that country which has been a land of innovation in the past.
Let’s Say it Again
• It is in the self interest of the Digitally Disabled to join the information highway
It is in the interest of the rich neighbors to assist the Digitally Disabled to join the information highway
If we are rich are we OK?
• We live in the US, we are rich and isolated, we are OK – Right• Wrong –
• Much innovation that drives our progress comes from:– Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Russia, South Korea, and
more
• Unfortunately• Many in the US act as if the civilized world ends East of
Boston and West of San Francisco
Why? Well the majority of views of Europe and Asia are movies of WW1, WW2, Vietnam War, etc
US enjoyed technology imported• Japan –
• Innovation in Hybrid cars
• Taiwan and South Korea – • Semiconductor memories• Application specific semiconductors
• Russia• Space• Software engineering
• Northern EuropeCell phones
Recommendations
• Get involved
• Work/Live for periods outside the US - • Authors of this report worked
– Israel, Benin, Korea, France, ---
– Ireland, Israel, PRC, Japan, India --
• Get your students/employees involved• Offer culture and language training
– Example – Apple Computer team trained in Chinese history and language prior to assignment in PRC
• Take Classes and Faculty on trips• Bring folks to the US that illustrate the art and innovation available
across the oceans
• Change the opinions of US colleagues
• The world of “there” is not a world of war
Dilemmas
• Fear that spreading technology creates low priced competition for good jobsFear that spreading technology allows for remote hacking and theft
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Sources
• http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_gro_nat_inc_cap
• Communications of the ACM, vol 48 num 10, Oct 2005
• National Geographic Magazine, Sept 2005
• Scientific American, Sept 2005
Various Presentations from Dr. Netiva Caftori
