José J. Buraschi

 Most of the concepts for the following comments have been extracted from the page of a non profit Foundation, which we very much recommend, committed to divulge the concept and propose solutions to the digital Divide: www.DigitalDivide.org

 As a consequence of the deepening of the world recession, the movement to narrow the Digital Divide has entered into a new phase and continues to evolve. The cause is not only the desire to reduce the world poverty. Is also how to revive the global economy. It is a fact that providing an access to technology for six billion people is the only way to achieve a sustainable development of the economy as a whole. This is not going to happen by itself. Very ingenious IT policies must be developed in order to untie the Gordian knot of the Digital Divide. The first stage is to induce technology investors to actively participate in the developing markets.

 The technological revolution that gave us the Internet has produced a much narrower world. The "Globalization" has been blamed for the growing poverty and at the same time many think is the only panacea against poverty: Both currents are right.

 The disease and the cure are one and the same. We can concentrate in narrowing the Digital Divide. Technology should serve the need of many people struggling to fight poverty but lack the necessary tools to do so. Help them to work better, sell better and thus sensibly improve their quality of life.

 The most wonderful detail is that we can obtain these results, creating at the same time economically rewarding opportunities for the investors involved in these types of projects. This is the concept that the Digital Divide organization promotes and is the cause of our having included in our medium term Vision the portal for e-commerce "www.productofperu.com"

 We consider that this type of project will not only benefit small businesses in the handicraft, agribusiness and manufacturing activities, but will have a multiplying effect in other activities, such as packers, transport, services and other related activities.

 The formation and growth of these types of ventures will become a very effective tool for the countries in process of development to effectively fight poverty.

 Digital Divide: The concept

Defining the Term: It’s not what you think

"Digital divide" refers to the gap between those able to benefit from digital technology and those who are not.

Not all digital-divide experts agree to that precise definition. Yet they do agree with its main thrust: that the term refers, not merely to who has direct access to technology, but who is actually helped by technology.

It took digital-divide researchers a whole decade to figure this out. In the mid-90s, research on Digital Divide focused on who is connected. By after 2000 their key question became who is served. Here's the conclusion: upper-to-middle classes are given high-quality access to technology because technologists are hard at work creating “solutions” designed just for them. Even when the poor get access, they generally often get low quality access.[1] The conclusion: Bad access worsens the divide.

Consider, for the example, the matter of cyber cafes. Years ago, many pointed to the spreading of cyber cafes in rural towns as an example that that the Divide was shrinking. But when sociologists looked into the matter they voiced skepticism. When a local kid in, say, a Cambodian village, ignores his schoolwork by spending his evenings playing violent video games at a local cyber café, he does not really benefit by digital technology. Giving poor kids gadgets designed for the rich may actually deepen the cause of poverty and accelerate the exodus of the rural poor into cities that are already overflowing. The key point is that governments and businesses must work together to create solutions to the puzzles that poor people face. In that way, the poor could reap the same benefits from technology that are now received by the wealthy.

Why Does Closing the Digital Divide Matter?

Here are three of many reasons:

1. It is a Precondition for Reducing Poverty

Many antipoverty experts think closing the digital divide isn't top priority in the struggle against poverty. Many argued that those living on less than $1 per day would need clean water and jobs before they need computers. But any plausible and affordable effort to improve water supply, improve rural health and education, generate jobs or address any of the other inter-related problems of poverty, all require access to digital networks. It is not the silver bullet for reducing poverty but no efforts to reduce poverty can have a large scale and sustainable effect without closing the Divide.

2) It is a Precondition for Resolving Terrorism

Even for those unconvinced by the antipoverty argument, they may convince by the anti-terrorism argument. It is that the digital divide fosters terrorism in three ways: a) As noted by University of California sociologist Manuel Castells, religious extremism is a rational response made of cultures left out of the digital revolution. “It’s because the information society forces them to accept modernist influences on terms that undermine their core values.” For this reason, Colin Powel, when he was US Secretary of State, allocated $300 million dollars for Indonesia, which he hoped, could be used to bring digital infrastructures to educational systems in rural Indonesia. b) The areas where terrorism are being incubated, such as rural Pakistan, Central Asia, and Indonesia ¬ are areas that lack the benefit of technological infrastructures. Villagers in these areas shelter terrorists because the villages themselves have little stake in the stability of the international economy. c) Most antipoverty or anti-terrorism efforts, whether focused on educational or military solutions, cannot be implemented in rural areas without the aid of broadband telecommunications networks in rural areas.

3) It is a Precondition for Sustaining Global Economic Growth

After the dot-com bust in the last 90s, many thought that the digital "information industries" had lost their central role in the world economy. They were wrong. Today, purchases of technology in Europe and North America economies have slowed. The emerging market countries of Asia are now the new centers of growth in the digital economy. In fact the biggest tech growth is occurring outside big cities in developing countries. As broadband networks spread into the countryside, costs in all parts of the supply chain are dropping. By adjusting their policies to close the Digital Divide, the major IT and telecom companies will be forced to achieve innovations that could spur growth in the advanced countries as well.

 

Jose J. Buraschi Arias Schreiber

Governor of the Peruvian American Chamber of Commerce in Miami with over

30 years of experience in International Banking in Latin America and the US. 

with: Bank of America ,  Lloyds Bank International and Hemisphere National Bank.

pepeburaschi16@yahoo.com 

Financial Consulting - International Banking and Commerce