Bridging the Digital Divide in Third World Countries

1. Bridging the Digital Divide in Third World Countries M. Mansour

2. BBC News.“Digital Divide’ hits third world health.” 29 September, 2000. 23 July 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk The developing world is not getting any benefit from the health information available on the internet. Women in third world world countries want to know how to care for their child when they are ill. Without a computer they do not know how to keep themselves and their children healthy.

3. “When the web is not worldwide.” 21 July 2001. BBC News. 26 July 2004. http://newsbbc.co.uk To bridge the digital divide, heads of the state at the G8 summit are expected to announce aid for helping developing nations catch up on technology.

4. IT Web. “Zimbabwe; Understanding the Digital Divide.” Africa News. 22 June 2004. Lexis Nexis. Plattsburgh State Library. 20 July 2004. http://lexis-nexis.com. • The digital divide is not just countries without computers it is also when you have a computer but you do not know how to use it. This is what happens in third world countries that do have little access to computers. They cannot use them because they do not have the means of education to learn.

5. IT Web. “South Africa; Tools to Measure the Digital Divide.” Africa News. 22 June 2004. Lexis-Nexis. Plattsburgh State Library. 20 July 2004. http://web.lexis-nexis.com The Digital Bridges Initiative is a project that has been developed with the aim of providing tools to measure the gap in access to technologies that exists between developed and developing nations. It will also provide policy and technical expertise to close the gap.

6. IT Web. “South Africa; Tools to Measure the Digital Divide.” Africa News. 22 June 2004. Lexis-Nexis. Plattsburgh State Library. 20 July 2004. http://web.lexis-nexis.com Before DBI was founded their were limited professionals. DBI is known to be the answer to the gap. The institute targets middle and top management and strategic planners, managers and decision makers. Nigeria has plenty of hands on people and professionals to try and cure the gap.

7. Servon, Lisa J. Bridging the Digital Divide : technology, community, and public policy. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2002. • Bridging the digital divide shows unequal access to information and technology. It also lays out what could happen if the digital divide exists. Digital divide is only one symptom of poverty. Servons book shows that the programs aimed at closing the gap are creating pathways out of poverty for low income technology users in third world countries.

8. Australian Banking & Finance. “India moving ahead with STP online: the Securities and Exchange Board(SEBI)…” STP News. Expanded Academic ASAP. SUNY Plattsburgh Library. 20 July 2004. http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com • India is moving ahead with STP online: the securities and Exchange Board of India now have straight through processing. It is known that India is the first country in the region to achieve STP in a short time. Financial Technologies says its solutions will, “provide online connectivity to market participants, along with online status and message flow.”

9. Kripalani, Manjeet. “Technology: Wired Villages; A plan to bring the net to rural India.” Business Week. 14 October 2002. Expanded Academic ASAP. Plattsburgh State Library. 20 July 2004. http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com • The Dhar district of central Madhya Pradesh state is a microcosm of India’s poverty. Dhar is the center of the grass roots technology revolution that could spread around the world. Gyandoot, a gov’t backed program, has installed 39 computers in different locations in Dhar. It has connected a million people or more. Villagers can know for a few cents more obtain land records, driver’s licenses, and even school exam results.

10. Frimpong, Victor. “UN adopts Third World wireless internet initiative.” 4 February 2004. IPTV: Broadcasting over Broadband. 26 July 2004. http://www.dmeurope.com. The United Nations ICT Task Force hopes to encourage the adoption of a wireless internet in third world countries. They are going to try this by using an unlicensed radio spectrum that can offer affordable internet services.

11. Pack, Thomas and Hoffman, Donna. “Bridging the Digital Divide: The Impact of Race on Computer Access and Internet Use.” 2 February 1998. Vanderbilt University. 26 July 2004. http://elab.vanderbilt.edu. • In third world countries most of the population consists of minorities. Whites are more likely to own a home computer than a minority would. The general point is that higher education levels correspond to higher possibilities to own a computer. If the minorities are not as educated than whites due to a lack of computers therefore they most likely will not own a computer. • This is a computer that the • Japanese are trying to get into Third World Countries.

12. Woolnough, Roisin. “Bridging the Digital Divide”.13 September 2001. IT Management: Politics and Law. 26 July 2004. http://www.computerweekly.com • The equalities of IT today are not balanced. They make rich countries richer and poor countries poorer. Third world countries are the poorer countries who do not have the privilege to access the internet. IT is not assisting in trying to make it so they can have access. Therefore IT is not doing its job.

13. Jones, Steve. Encyclopedia of New Media: an Essential Reference to Communication and Technology. Thousand Oaks California: Sage Publications. 2003. • The encyclopedia states that minorities would be more inclined to go online when they will be able to find web sites that interest them. Number of ethnically focused sites on the internet grow constantly both domestically and internationally. The goal is to make sites bilingual or multilingual to help bridge digital divide in third world countries.