Africa and the Digital Divide Topic 3

Questions to consider What is the digital divide? How does the global digital divide affect Africa? What can be done to arrest the global digital divide? What are its effects likely to be in the short term? In the longer term? What needs to be done to alleviate it?

Defining digital divide Concerns the unequal access to and usage of new technologies “inequality of access to the Internet…in a society [in] which dominant functions and social groups are increasingly organized around the Internet” (Castells 2002) “the gap between those who do and do not have access to computers and the Internet” (Van Dijk 2006) “an inequality in access, distribution, and use of information and communication technologies between two or more populations” (Wilson 2006) “unequal patterns of material access to, usage capabilities of, benefits from computer-based information- and communication technologies that are caused by certain stratification processes that produce classes of winners and losers of the information society, and participation in institutions governing ICTs and society” (Fuchs and Horak 2008)

Def cont… Arguably, the most prominent example of virtual social worlds is the Second Life application, founded and managed by the San Francisco-based company Linden Research Inc. Besides doing everything that is possible in real life (e.g., speaking to other avatars, taking a walk, enjoying the virtual sunshine) The digital divide reflects various differences among and within countries

Wilson (2006)’s demographic dimensions to the digital divide Gender Geography Income Education Occupation Ethnicity

Some determinants to to access and use of communication Language used on the internet- English is, overwhelmingly, the language of e-commerce. In July 2000, more than 94% of links to pages on secure servers (almost 2.9 million links) were in English. Household or individual income may determine the presence of PCs and the extent of Internet access in homes The higher the level of education, the more likely individuals are to have access to and use ICTs in both the home and the work place PC penetration and Internet access are generally lower for older people than for younger people Groups from different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, access and use communication differently Internet access in urban areas is everywhere greater than in rural areas In business, smaller business units are less likely to have invested in new technologies and to use the Internet.

Types of digital divide Global divide-Divergence of Internet access between industrialized and developed societies Social divide-Gap between information rich and poor in each nation Democratic divide-Difference between those who do, and do not, use the opportunities of digital resources to engage, mobilize and participate in public life Norris 2001:4

Digital apartheid Digital apartheid means that certain groups and regions of the world are systematically excluded from cyberspace and the benefits that it can create

New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) Background Arose from Third World countries’ belief that Western dominance of their economic and communication systems was to blame for their “underdevelopment” International information systems considered to perpetuate existing inequalities and the dependence of the ‘3rd world’ on the developed North for both hardware and software in communication Imbalances in the flow of communication and information pose threats to ‘3rd World’ political independence and national sovereignty, cultural values and socio- economic development. Communication flow to the Third World seen as one-way flow from the developed centres, unbalanced, distorted and negative In his call for (NWICO), Masmoudi (1979) complained that the principle of freedom to information became the freedom of the informing agent and as such an instrument of domination in the hands of those that control the media. Western governments and private enterprise benefiting from an absence of restrictions to communication flow at the expense of the poorer developing countries. free flow principle used to argue against trade barriers to the international distribution of Western products and services as well as hindrance to news gathering in other countries Gross misrepresentations and imbalance in the international news flow gave birth the (NWICO) debate in the 1970s and 1980s.

NWICO: New World Information and Communication Order The NWICO debate paid greater attention to: objectivity in transnational flow of information inequality in information resources cultural and commercial values of information fairness in the news distribution.

NWICO: New World Information and Communication Order NWICO Resolutions The promotion of the development of national communication systems in the developing countries. The elaboration of guiding principles concerning the role of mass media in the international sphere. The development of a concept for a democratic restructuring of the international information system. (Kleinwatcher, 1993: 15). the nations of the South, which included all countries of African continent, wanted a radical overhaul of the present international communication system. They wanted the world communication system to reflect the diversity and equality of all human races. In a practical sense, the NWICO debate was a failure. But on paper, it was a success.

References Annan, K., 1999. Speech at the ITU Telecom Opening Ceremony. October 9, 1999. Available from: http://www.itu.int/telecom-wt99/ press_service/information_for_the_press/press_kit/s peeches/annan_ceremony.html Castells, M., 2002. The Internet Galaxy. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Van Dijk, J., 2006. The Network Society. Social Aspects of New Media, second ed. SAGE, London. Wilson, E.J., 2006. The Information Revolution and Developing Countries. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Fuchs, C., and E. Horak, E., 2008. Africa and the digital divide. Telematics and Informatics 25, 99–116.