The international digital divide is large and growing everyday. Yes, some third world countries are catching up but there are others that just can't. And at the rate technology is expanding in these developed countries: U.S.A., Japan, China and other European countries, it becomes increasingly harder for these lagging nations to catch up. But even within these developed countries, there are many who do not have the resources to communicate. And for the life of me, I can't imagine what it would be like when technology has advanced to the level when areas in these developing countries cannot catch up, let alone communicate with the rest of the world. Do they then become obsolete, because they cannot participate in the conversation/communication? Because rest of the connected world cannot communicate with them, therefore they do not exist? Or will history repeat itself and these backward groups be able to catch up? Though, I fear that technology is advancing at too fast a pace this time. Some organizations are making moves to bridge this gap. But is it enough? Are they reaching out to everybody? I have my doubts and my fears.
Here are some videos I found on the Digital Divide:
I apologize there seems to be something wrong with the volume in the middle of this video. But I could not find another with the same information.
Google is also doing a lot in trying to bridge the digital divide with high speed fiber optic networks. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html They want to work with rural communities to help give more people access to high speed internet. As discussed in your post this is crucial to the future development of the American labor force and economy.
ReplyDeleteAre you concerned at all with Net Neutrality? With companies like Google, Verizon and AT&T controlling access to the internet and not the government and FCC (which have to pay attention to tax payers and not stock holders) this could spell disaster for access to all parts of the internet.
ReplyDeleteHere is an article on Net Neutrality: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/net_neutrality/index.html
Here is an article related to how companies could use access to networks: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/google-verizon-propose-open-vs-paid-internets/all/1
Here is an article on the reaction to the Google/Verizon proposal: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/google-verizon-deny-deal/