Digital Divide

1. Digital Divide Prepared by Joseph Leung

2. Background • In the new century, the digital economy is moving Hong Kong towards even greater prosperity by transforming traditional linear business flows into networks of integrated web links. Meanwhile, the Internet is rapidly becoming an increasingly indispensable tool in our “information society”.

3. Background (cont’d) • Globally, more and more people are going online to engage in routine activities such as education, business transactions, personal correspondence, research and information gathering. • Each year, being digitally connected is becoming increasingly a prerequisite for economic and educational advancement and community participation.

4. What is Digital Divide ? • The “digital divide” is defined as the gap between different individuals, households, businesses and geographical areas at different social-economic levels as regards their opportunities to access IT and their use of the Internet.

5. What is Digital Divide ? (cont’d) • As digital technologies become firmly embedded in everyday affairs, they enable many people to lead more productive and rewarding lives. • While they can help societies to solve long-standing economic and social problems, they also bring new challenges. • Those who have no access to IT skills and knowledge gradually become less and less capable of participating in an economy and society that is increasingly technology-dependent. • This has resulted in a so-called "digital divide" within our knowledge-based economy.

6. What is Digital Divide ? (cont’d) • Today, many countries acknowledge the "digital divide" as a real social problem resulting from a clash between cultural and social systems and newly emerging communications technologies. • Such disparities might be created by factors such as limited understanding and mastery of these technologies, or by limited opportunities to learn about and use new media. • While many countries are striving to bridge the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor, there are still great differences in access and usage, as well as social behavior between developed and less developed countries, and within these countries.

7. What is Digital Divide ? (cont’d) • Technologies can exert a powerful influence on the lifelong learning process, as well as to help overcome various inequalities in society. • Ready access to IT enables people to increase their potential income, and therefore enables them to afford still newer technologies. • The already well educated, in general, have access to better services. • There is thus a risk that the educated and information-rich may become richer while the less educated and the information-poor become poorer, thus widening the "digital divide" .

8. Global Digital Divide • The "digital divide" is becoming more of a recognized reality as technology makes phenomenal progress in the new information age. The United Nations Human Development Report 2001 illustrates that: • high income (OECD) countries, with only 14% of the world's population, are home to 79% of all Internet users; • only 0.4% of people in South Asia are online although the region is home to one-fifth of the world's population. • The International Labour Organization estimates that up to a third of the world's population is "technologically disconnected" and that little more than 5% use the Internet.

9. Global Digital Divide (cont’d) The following diagram depicts the global scenario in respect of the various economies' Internet diffusion rate. Hong Kong stands among the top three in Asia and top five globally. Household Access to the Internet Source: Nielsen//NetRatings GNETT Q2001

10. Digital Divide in Hong Kong • The "digital divide" is less of a problem in Hong Kong because many of our people have already surpassed most countries in their use of IT. • In order to maintain our competitiveness, the Government is committed to strengthening IT knowledge in the community so as to facilitate the exploitation of opportunities in the digital world, as well as to ensure that people in Hong Kong can readily make use of IT in their daily lives.

11. Digital Divide in Hong Kong (cont’d) • For this purpose, various task forces have already been set up in different government departments, and with the participation of NGOs, to deal with the issue and to implement appropriate measures in specific areas. These include the following: • The Social Welfare Department Joint Committee on IT for the Social Welfare Sector will promote the use of IT in this sector; • The Home Affairs Department Central Coordinating Committee on the Promotion of IT Usage among Women will coordinate and promote the use of IT among women at grass-roots level; and • An Education Department task force will implement plans for applying IT in education for schools.

12. Digital Divide in Hong Kong (cont’d) • The ultimate aim is to drive the wider use of IT in the community and to build a digitally inclusive society. • The Government has also solicited views from concerned organizations in formulating policies and measures to build a digitally inclusive society in Hong Kong.

13. Digital Divide in Hong Kong (cont’d) • Hong Kong is supported by an excellent infrastructure - including a fully digitized telecommunications network that has been under rapid development since 1995. • Broadband coverage reaches all commercial buildings and over 95% of households. This has served as an important foundation on which the digital economy can prosper. Our personal computer (PC) and Internet penetration rates are directly comparable to that of other advanced economies.

14. Policies of Digital Divide in Hong Kong • As part of the 2001 "Digital 21" Strategy promulgated in May 2001, which is the overall blueprint for developing Hong Kong into a leading digital society • The Government is committed to enhancing the community’s awareness and knowledge of IT, promoting the wider use of IT in the community and improving public access to online services.

15. Policies of Digital Divide in Hong Kong (cont’d) • In order to avoid the emergence of a potential "IT gap" between certain sectors of the community, the Government has implemented appropriate policies and measures to tackle this issue. • However, the rate of IT adoption depends on a number of factors, including the awareness of new technology, the affordability of that technology, adaptations to the technology to widen its potential market, and the motivation to use the technology as its usage becomes widespread.

16. Policies of Digital Divide in Hong Kong (cont’d) • So far, various government departments, in collaboration with the relevant associations and NGOs where necessary, have implemented specific initiatives, including: • Conducting surveys to monitor IT adoption in Hong Kong; • Enhancing the use of IT in education; • Providing free computer facilities for public use; • Offering free IT awareness courses; • Providing free e-mail accounts; • Enhancing web accessibility; and • Making telecommunications connections available at affordable prices.

17. Policies of Digital Divide in Hong Kong (cont’d) • In the social welfare sector, welfare services clients and socially disadvantaged individuals are encouraged to use IT through the provision of IT skills training and by making IT readily accessible to them. • As regards people with disabilities, the Government recognizes the potential of IT in enhancing their employability and enriching their lives, and supports the use of technology-assisted devices to increase IT accessibility and the use of IT by people with disabilities. • Elders are also encouraged to learn about and use IT so as to enrich their lives by exploring opportunities in our increasingly knowledge-based and technology-oriented society.

18. Policies of Digital Divide in Hong Kong (cont’d) • The establishment of Community Cyber Points and opening of the Super Cyber Centre have increased the opportunities for the community to access IT and to use the Internet for the exploitation of opportunities in the digital world. • The Government has invested some $2.2 billion in the past few years in various activities to address "digital divide".

19. Education and Training Initiatives • IT teaching in schools • Digital technologies are changing the role of teachers as well as our understanding of the learning process. These technologies give learners direct access to vast bodies of knowledge, as well as the necessary tools to search for and analyze information as well as to teach students. • To eliminate the potential risk of a "digital divide" in future generations, IT teaching in schools is crucial.

20. Education and Training Initiatives (cont’d) • The Government is actively pursuing a five-year strategy (1998-99 to 2002-03) centred on "Information Technology for Learning in a New Era". Capital spending of $3.2 billion and annual recurrent spending of over $550 million were approved in November 1998 for the promotion of IT education in schools. • The main objective is to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning by harnessing the power of IT.

21. Education and Training Initiatives (cont’d) • Increasing the number of Internet connections for schools • Children are a society's future assets. In addition to the traditional curriculum, the Government is now encouraging continuous learning through different media such as the Internet, interlaced with proper guidance from teachers.

22. Education and Training Initiatives (cont’d) • To encourage and enable students to use the Internet for self-learning at school, the Government has provided recurrent grants to enable schools to connect to the Internet. • This enables teachers and students to share information, and to tap into the wealth of knowledge available from various electronic networks worldwide.

23. Education and Training Initiatives (cont’d) • Improving computer access for the under-privileged • The Government now also provides other means of increasing computer access for students who cannot afford to buy computers for use at home. • A sum of $200 million from the Quality Education Fund has been allocated to provide funds to secondary schools for the purchase of portable computers bundled with the necessary software and Internet access, which can then be placed on loan to needy students.

24. Education and Training Initiatives (cont’d) • In addition, by providing schools with an incentive grant, the Education Department (ED) is encouraging schools to make their computer facilities available to students after normal school hours. • During the 2000-01 school year, about 560 schools applied for and received such a grant. In the 2001-02 school year, 1,072 schools (including 400 secondary, 614 primary and 58 special schools) received the incentive grant.

25. Education and Training Initiatives (cont’d) • Professional IT training for secondary school students • The Government also collaborates with the IT industry in providing professional IT training to students at secondary level. Between April and mid-July 2001 • The Government secured the support of Microsoft, Sun Microsystems of California Limited and Hewlett-Packard in providing free training to secondary school teachers.

26. Education and Training Initiatives (cont’d) • Vocational education/training and employee retraining • There is also a demand in the market from employees in various industry sectors for basic IT skills. This opens up IT-related job opportunities to the unemployed as well as the employed. • At the vocational education level, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) has offered over 2,500 full-time IT sub-degree training places in 2000-01 and more than 3,000 places are being offered in 2001-02.

27. Technology Diffusion in the Community • Affordability of telecommunications services • The Government's policy is to provide a favourable environment in which information and communication technologies may become widely adopted in the Hong Kong community. • The Government has already put in place pro-competition and pro-consumer policies in the telecommunications sector.

28. Technology Diffusion in the Community (cont’d) • In the mobile phone sector, the market presence of six operators and eleven networks has enabled Hong Kong to become an economy with one of the highest mobile phone penetration rates at 84% in the world. • In the fixed-line sector, Hong Kong has achieved universal coverage for fixed-line telephone networks. In addition, some 260 Internet service providers have been licensed with altogether 2.6 million Internet accounts. • Broadband networks now cover all business premises and over 95% of households in Hong Kong.

29. Technology Diffusion in the Community (cont’d) • Free access to IT facilities • The Government has provided the general public, including the disadvantaged, with free access to IT facilities. • With the Community Cyber Points project and through subvention of NGOs, the Government at present provides about 4,900 public PCs with Internet connection for free use by the public at convenient locations including community halls/centres, district offices, public libraries, post-offices, government-subvented organizations and other NGOs.

30. Technology Diffusion in the Community (cont’d) • In addition, a Super Cyber Centre with over 100 personal computers providing free broadband Internet access has been set up at the Canton Road Government Offices. Distribution of public PCs in Hong Kong. • District Cyber Centres will also be established in locations where public demand for free access to IT facilities is strong.

31. Other Technology Diffusion in the Community • Funding of personal computers for people with disabilities. • Availability of software products to people with disabilities. • Enhancing computer and Internet accessibility for the disadvantaged.

32. Other Technology Diffusion in the Community (cont’d) • In collaboration with the concerned organizations, the Government will pursue the following suggestions: • Encourage more mobile telecommunications network operators to provide concessionary service charges to those with hearing disabilities. • Encourage the provision of e-banking facilities and services to elders and people with disabilities. • To provide different payment methods for electronic/Internet services.

33. IT Knowledge and Awareness • IT Hong Kong Campaign • In September 2000, the Government launched the "IT Hong Kong" campaign to promote the awareness of IT in the community. • The campaign includes the provision of free IT awareness courses to all sectors of the community, the organization of district activities, the establishment of an IT Hong Kong web site and the recruitment of IT pioneers.

34. IT Knowledge and Awareness (cont’d) • The campaign aims to assist socially disadvantaged groups in their application of IT, educate the public in appropriate IT ethics, and promote the healthy development of the digital environment.

35. IT Knowledge and Awareness (cont’d) • Enhancing IT awareness in the community • The Government is committed to encouraging all sectors of the community to gain access to and widely use IT through the process of learning. Subsidies are being provided to NGOs through various funds such as the Lotteries Fund, the General Chinese Charities Fund, the Sir Robert Ho Tung Charitable Fund and the Queen Elizabeth Foundation for the Mentally Handicapped, for the promotion of the use of IT among needy persons.

36. IT Knowledge and Awareness (cont’d) • IT Volunteers • In partnership with the Government, various groups have organized a number of activities aimed at enhancing the IT awareness of the community. • To benefit members of the community in a more cost effective manner, a “train-the-trainer” approach and the use of voluntary service in the provision of IT awareness programmes have been adopted. • Volunteers from different organizations, associations and the community have been recruited and trained who in turn would provide free IT-related services to the needy.

37. Other IT Knowledge and Awareness (cont’d) • Community IT Ambassador • Computer Literacy Talks • IT assistants • IT Summer Camps • E-community Ambassador • IT bus • IT Files • PC donation programme • Web Care Campaign • IT Easylink

38. Conclusion • In Hong Kong, some 60% of households have installed computers, and some 49% of households are connected to the Internet. • The use of IT in the Hong Kong community compares favourably with and surpasses many other advanced economies. • For this reason, “digital divide” is less of a problem in Hong Kong than in other places in the world.