CS5038 The Electronic Society

1. CS5038 The Electronic Society • Geography of Internet and Digital Divide • Lecture Outline • Telework • Why Urbanisation? • The Geography of the Internet • Internet users worldwide • Rate of diffusion – Internationally/Intra-nationally • Production of Internet • The Digital Divide • Lasting Consequences of initial divide • Gap Between Countries • Why is the Internet Widening the Divide?

2. Telework • What happened to telecommuting/working from home? • Survey results: • Electronic homeworking limited to 1-2 days per week and usually part time • Most homeworkers still needed to commute to the office most days • Other forms of teleworking: • Call centres concentrate workers with sophisticated equipment, but handle calls from all over the world • Mobile teleworking: worker in the field, with clients and partners, but keeps in contact with office via phone and Internet • Modern worker has multiple workplaces: office, train, plane, airport, hotel • NOTE: this changes the nature of work very much - it mixes with home life • Firms relinquish tight hierarchical control • Firms increase work extraction • See PDF: "where home is the office" • General features: • Traditional modes of operation often not replaced, but supplemented • Continue work at home after the day in the office • Videoconference for extra interactions in addition to travelling to traditional conferences • Check prices online before going to high street shops

3. Why Urbanisation? • Agricultural activities: few jobs generating little wealth • Metropolitan areas: Higher value generating activities • Higher income => greater opportunity for provision of services: education, health • Human development opportunities • Spillover of wealth even for those at bottom of society • Why does information age favour metropolitan concentration?? • Dependence on (1) Innovation and capacity to diffuse innovation • Centres of innovation appear in large metropolitan areas • Milieux of innovation • milieu n : the environmental condition [syn: surroundings] [also: milieux (pl)] • Not just technological innovation but also (2) Innovation in business and financial services • (3) Cultural industries: media; entertainment; art; fashion etc. • (4) Source of innovation = highly educated workers and entrepreneurs… attracted to vibrant urban areas • Centre of cultural creativity and entrepreneurial innovation

4. Working Over Internet • Internet should allow people to work remotely • Within country • Work from home? • Across countries • Allow citizens of poor countries to access same resources as rich? Work remotely for big company? • In practice: • Within country • Need to meet people face to face • Do extra/special work remotely • Across countries • Control production effectively across countries

5. E-Society in Poor Countries • We have focused on e-society in UK and other rich countries • What are the special issues, barriers, and benefits to e-society in poor countries? • I’ll discuss in general, then ask class members to discuss their own countries

6. Issue: Diversity • Poor/third-word/developing countries are very diverse • Rich countries more homogenous • Diversity inside a country as well as between countries

7. Between countries • “Poor” countries very diverse • Low income: < $1K/yr GNI/person • Peaceful (more or less): Bangladesh • Civil war, unrest: Congo, Zimbabwe • Lower-middle: $1-4K GNI/person • India, China, Egypt • Upper-middle: $4-12K GNI/person • Chile, Poland, Turkey • High income: eg, Kuwait • Mexico: Human Development Index • Some parts like Italy • Some parts poorer

8. Inside a country • Countries internally very diverse • Usually higher income inequality than rich countries • Brazil (upper-middle) is combination of • Spain (40M high-income people) • Bangladesh (150M low-income people) • E-society affects “Spanish” Brazilians very differently from “Bangladeshi” Brazilians

9. Other things that vary • Education level • Infrastructure (power, telecoms) • Political stability • Corruption levels • Etc, etc

10. eGovernment in the Developing World

11. eGovernment in the Developing World

12. eGovernment in the Developing World • Case study in Sri Lanka (by Geeth de Mel): • Difficulties • Lack cash flow – encourage assistance of 3rd parties • Vested Interest by 3rd parties can change project goals • Corruption by high ranking officials • Schools starting to get computer labs • But not all villages have electricity • IT literacy • City: 35% • Rural: <10% • Computer ownership • Urban: 10% • Rural: 3% • Estate: 0.3%

13. General Barriers to E-Society • Poor, expensive infrastructure • Power, post, roads, telecoms, spare parts • Indian IT companies often have own generators, satellite uplinks, etc • (slowly) getting better • Poor bureaucratic infrastructure • Getting things done is slow, complicated, may require bribes • Rulers may not want improve life for citizens

14. Barriers • Limited English in many countries • English is dominant language of Web, for better or for worse • Limited support for non-Latin alphabets, especially if not left-to-right • Getting better • Famine, Crime, HIV, civil war, … • Make it difficult to concentrate on e-society

15. The Geography of the Internet • Two perspectives: • Technical geography • Routers, telecommunications lines etc. • Geography of users Geography of Internet users: www.zooknic.com

16. Poor international infra • [Map of undersea fibre optic cables]

17. 93% of world population not online In 1999 over half the people on the planet had not made or received a telephone call – but this is changing fast Highest density of users: Scandinavia North America Australia South Korea Note: Asia-Pacific has 2/3 of world population, but only 23.6% of Internet users

22. Diffusion • Internationally: • Internet is diffusing fast • BUT: According to wealth, technology and power • Intra-nationally: • Large cities/towns first - rural areas lag considerably • Contradicts with futurologists’ image of working and living in countryside • Divide exists in western countries, but even starker in developing countries • In China Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou accounted for 60% of Chinese Internet users (Sept. 2000) While penetration for whole country was less than 2% of population

23. Production of Internet • Use of Internet is diffusing broadly, but not production… • Hardware/technology • Producers of hardware/technological innovation concentrated in USA/Japan • Content • Top sites… pageviews in 2000: • USA 83% • South Korea 5.6% • UK 2.9% • Germany 1.1%

24. The Digital Divide • = Gap between those who have and those who do not have the ability to use the technology • Facts: • In 2000: 9/10 hosts in developed countries (<1/5 world population) • In 2000: City of New York had more Internet hosts than the whole continent of Africa Gap exists both within and between countries • Governments try to close gap within countries by supporting education and infrastructure • Gap narrowed in US from 1998 to 2000 • Exception: ethnic gap; esp. Afro-Americans • International organisations try to close gap between countries - but it is widening Some complex issues: Are people excluded by being disconnected? OR Is it by being connected that they become dependent on economies and cultures which cannot give them a path to material well-being or their own cultural identities?

25. The “World White Web”

26. EU Statistics Office 2005 • Use of Internet during the first quarter of 2004: • 85 percent of students • 40 percent of the unemployed • 13 percent of the retired • With regard to education: • 77 percent with a tertiary education • 52 percent with a secondary education • 25 percent with a lower secondary education • In general (not just EU) Gaps in the use of ICTs depending on • Age • employment status • educational level • degree of urbanization of the area where one lives • Family (single/unmarried parents => less access) • Disability - vision or mobility problems

27. Lasting Consequences? • The gap within countries is narrowing • BUT… Rise of Internet took place in conditions of social inequality • …possible lasting consequences of initial divide • Users shape the Internet to a greater extent than any other technology • First users may have shaped the Internet for latecomers – both in terms of content and technology • Recall how libertarian pioneers shaped Internet in early days • Commercial uses followed the model of consumption and social organisation of the affluent social groups • Internet may be biased towards them

28. Gap Between Countries • During 1990s, coinciding with Internet growth, the world experienced a substantial increase in income inequality, polarisation, poverty, social exclusion • 20% of world population dispose of 86% of wealth • Overall gap in productivity, technology, income, social benefits, living standards between developed and developing world increased during 1990s • Environmental conditions deteriorated in terms of natural resources and mushrooming of cities • These cities are projected to be the home of half the population of developing countries shortly • Simultaneously increasing wealth and poverty • Why is the Internet Widening the Divide?

29. Why is the Internet Widening the Divide? • Dynamic, flexible global management systems and mobility of resources • Sources of value can easily be connected (increasing value for them) and disconnected (cutting the out of loop) • Education, information, science, technology more important than ever for value creation • But extremely unevenly distributed • e.g. telecommunications infrastructure missing – financial and human resources to address this are missing • Connection to global economy makes developing countries increasingly vulnerable to financial crises • Traditional agriculture being eliminated => rural exodus overloading overcrowded cities => ecological catastrophe • Criminal economy penetrates politics and institutions • Destabilises societies, corrupts and disorganises states • Large scale banditry and civil wars • Internet increases ability of leaders in poor countries to extract whatever is valuable in country – marginalising unskilled masses