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THE RILEY REPORT - June 2004
from Thomas B. Riley 
www.rileyis.com
Following is the Riley Report for June
2004. Please feel free to pass this on as you see fit. If you wish to use any or part of the Report in an offline publication please acknowledge the author or contact the author if to be fully republished offline. If you are not currently subscribed to the Riley Report (there is no charge) you can email
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This month's Report is entitled "The Digital Divide in the Developed World"
The Digital Divide in the Developed World.
INTRODUCTION
According to the Digital Divide Network in the United States,
".. economic development and the digital divide go hand-in-hand for many
reasons. Communities with the tools and skills to compete in the digital economy
are at a distinct advantage over communities that don't. In many ways, the
situation in a given community can build upon itself, for better or for
worse." http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/sections/index.cfm?key=6
Most of the literature on this subject of the digital divide agrees that
well-educated, technology-literate communities can be successful in developing
new and innovative businesses and community initiatives in their areas through
the implementation, and productive use, of information and communications
technologies. It is recognized that while there are economic,
information and knowledge benefits to be had by having easy access to the
Internet, there are many sectors of society that are not part of this growing
culture.
The concept of the digital divide is based on the hypothesis
that there are "information-haves" and "information have nots"
in the Internet Age, and that the basis for that division may include any or all
of such demographic characteristics as age, gender, income, education,
ethnicity, region, and locality. From a public policy perspective, the
questions about this hypothesis are: (1) Is it true? and (2) Does it
matter?
Government officials at all levels in Canada and many other developed countries
such as the USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union
countries, to name a few, recognize that there is a digital divide within the
population of those who have both opportunity and ability to access the ICTs.
This digital divide in the developed world has important ramifications for
the delivery of e-government services.
It is worthwhile to explore the key issues regarding the problems of this
digital divide, and seek out solutions, especially for governments wishing to
move towards a widespread delivery of e-services. An analysis of this
problem may be framed by posing the following questions:
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Is the digital divide in its current context, more than simply lack of access to the new technologies?
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What are the issues being debated?
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How much do the barriers such as: illiteracy, economic conditions of individuals, families and groups, disabilities or lack of interest levels prevent people from making use of the new technologies?
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Is there a significant gap between those benefiting from the new technologies and those in the population who do not use the technologies, for whatever reason?
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What is the current state of access and usage in different developed countries?
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If there is a significant divide how can this be overcome?
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How does the digital divide impact on the relationship between government and the citizenry?
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What kind of policies, or statutes, might be needed by governments to ensure that large segments of the population are not overlooked when new and innovative ways of developing information for distribution are created?
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Is this one of the fundamental challenges facing governments, as ICTs, the Internet, and other communication technologies, such as mobile phones with text and video capabilities, increasingly become an intricate and essential part of our working and personal lives?
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Or will governments adopt simple and explicit policies to ensure that the approximately 25% of our population who do not participate in, or use ICTs or government services online, continue to have the traditional access to all forms of services?
The Evidence About the Digital Divide
Two important surveys regarding use of the Internet and mobile communications
have been conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) in Paris, and by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila. The OECD
survey was conducted in developed countries and the ADB survey in developing
countries. The results of the surveys show that there are definitely
demographic differences in both the access to, and use of the Internet, for
personal, professional, or political purposes, either at home, at work, or in
the community.
Males use the Internet more often than females, worldwide. However, in some
countries such as the UK, the United States and Canada this statistic is
changing as women equal or exceed Internet usage of males. To some extent this
was originally because "surfing the net" more technical skill, and
boys and men gravitated to these kinds of tasks more readily than girls or
women. As Internet browsers have become more user friendly, and as
Internet use has become more widespread, the gender gap is closing. At
work in particular, accessing and using information from the Internet has been
on the rise for many occupations, both male and female-dominated. And as
downloading popular music has spread, more and more girls and women have found
its leisure use appealing as well.
Younger people were originally more frequent users of the Internet than older
people, because of the medium's cutting edge aura and entertainment content.
More recently, however, the number of older users is catching up, because
of the increase in work or business-related content, and because of the appeal
of instantaneous communications. E-mail is still the "killer
app" of the Internet, but this has contributed to information overload, and
to a plethora of junk-mail and inappropriate messaging (personals, pornography,
etc.)
Those with larger personal or family incomes are far more likely to have
Internet access and use it than poorer people. Access usually involves
investment in a computer, a modem, various versions of software, a phone line,
and often a printer or fax machine. Besides the initial cost, there are
also service and maintenance costs. Surfing the net or sending and
receiving e-mail can also take considerable time, which a person must have to
devote to these tasks. And there is training, either provided in a class or
acquired from a self-administered course. There are usually monetary costs
related to all of these requirements. This is an important issue to
address as lack of finances for fixing the current technology or inability to
buy newer forms of technology can result as a deterrent to accessing government
services online.
Educational attainment can provide either technical skills for information and
knowledge work, or standard of living expectations for a connected lifestyle.
Information and knowledge workers are increasingly professionals with specific
training in word processing, spreadsheet accounting, database manipulation, and
graphical presentation software. Whether acquired in school or on the job,
this skills package clearly divides its possessors from the uninitiated. These
same people can then purchase products from Internet vendors, coordinate their
social activities via e-mail, play games online, download music and videos,
arrange for distance education courses, or plan their travel or leisure
activities at their convenience. On average, the higher one's education
the more digitally mediated communications are integrated into one's lifestyle.
Digital Discrimination?
Ethnic differences regarding Internet access and use, has become a sensitive
subject. Racial differences between Caucasian users on the one hand (a
higher percentage) and Black and Hispanic users on the other (a lower
percentage) were clearly revealed by survey data in the United States and the
United Kingdom. In both countries however, the percentage of Asians using the
Internet was higher than Caucasians. Surveys from other economies, more or
less developed, have also shown ethnic differences, but the specific
distributions depend upon the ethnic mix in each country. These gaps have
closed to the extent that assistance programs have made access opportunities
more widely available in certain ethnic communities, but this alleviation does
depend on continued assistance.
Regional differences in Internet access and use are quite pronounced within most
countries. Northern Europe has more Internet users than Southern Europe,
as does Central Canada in comparison to either Western or Atlantic Canada.
Core industrial and business regions usually have more Internet access and
users, whereas peripheral areas (agriculture, resource extraction,
underdeveloped, etc.) have less and fewer. The "global north"
has more Internet access and users than the "global south." Deserts,
jungles, and mountain regions have lower Internet access than plains, river
valleys, or moderate climes. Much of this can be changed with the
combination of newer technologies and investments, but so far the divide is
noticeably there.
Locality differences are most pronounced between urban and rural areas. Even
in developed economies the rural areas are not as well served. This is not
surprising because network density reflects population density, but even small
distances can make a big difference. Small communities within commuting range of
a larger urban centre often find themselves forced to finance their own
microwave tower to assure wireless service because the telco providers do not
find the prospect profitable enough. Satellite service is an alternative,
but it takes considerable subsidy, usually from either a government or a very
generous corporate sponsor.
Internet access and use does vary with the demographic characteristics of the
population. Income and education together account for more of the
differences than all other variables put together. Connecting to and using
the Internet is expensive, especially for those with only a small proportion of
discretionary income (extra money beyond the essentials of food, clothing,
shelter, medication, etc.). But since that is the definition of poverty,
it is not surprising that the digital divide is an economically created barrier.
In this respect, there is a parallel with earlier forms of the information
divide, specifically regarding the spread of the telephone, radio, and
television.
Back in the early to the mid-1990's there was much discussion and debate about
the digital divide that was growing in the developing and medium developed
world. There was much literature from international organizations, such as the
OECD, the G8, the United Nations and the World Bank, that this divide was a
serious issue because the divide between the wealthy and poorer countries of the
world would create other even larger divides. Poorer countries would lag
even farther behind and not have the advantages that the growth of the Internet
and the emergence of e-commerce would bring. Now, nearly a decade later,
many developing countries are in the process of some economic and cultural
change through the use of new technologies. Internet based communication
in most African nations is minimal because of the low number of telephone lines.
But these countries in Africa and Asia are starting to leapfrog into radio based
Internet and mobile phones. The rise of the cellular phone in the developed
world is turning out to be advantageous to poorer countries that can use them
for a variety of e-government services. However, this is a different form
of digital divide than the gaps we are seeing in developed countries.
These are some of the issues that are resulting in serious digital divides in
many countries. The first step in handling this widening digital gap is
understanding the breadth and depth of any cultural, racial, education,
knowledge or literary divide that exists in any given jurisdiction. It is
incumbent on governments to bridge these divides and ensure that there are no
inequities between those who have the capacity to engage in online transactions
with governments and those who do not have access, or do not wish to
participate, in the online world. Many national, provincial, state and
local governments are seeking to find solutions. This is the next
challenge in ensuring successful e-government and the delivery of e-services.
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Note: A more detailed paper on this subject by this author, and researcher William Sheridan, Research Fellow for the Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance, will be completed in the next two months. A notice will be sent out to subscribers of this list when it becomes available on our website.
Thomas Riley is available for consultations, preparation of reports, presenting workshops or delivering speeches at conferences and seminars on e-government, e-governance and e-democracy. Please contact me at the email address below for further details.
Thomas B. Riley
Executive Director and Chair
Commonwealth Centre for E-Governance
www.electronicgov.net
Visiting Professor, University of Glasgow
President, Riley Information Services Inc.
www.rileyis.com