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Digital Divide Crosses All Borders, Culturally and Geographically, Discuss How the Digital Divide Affects Society in 2014
The global segregation in myriad aspects owes due to deference of information because technology or rather the lack of it is the causation of the term digital divide. The manifestation is observed glaringly in the realms of schools, commercial activities, connectivity with the global elements and so on and so forth. In the following treatise, the issues that are causative to and the solutions to narrow down the gap are explored.
Digital divide's most referred manifestation is the economic deprivation of the unfortunate to the emerging economic possibilities offered by technology. It is the already affluent who have easy access to and advantage in the new construct (Neilsen, 2006). There are more ways, but most importantly two, in which this divide will be affected in the coming years. One of them is simple to guess - the poor cannot afford to purchase a personal computer (Neilsen, 2006). Though policy makers have kept harping on the matter for quite some time the relevance is losing its significance in the developed countries (Neilsen, 2006). The fact is that it will be at least two decades before computers become accessible to those in poor and developing economies (Neilsen, 2006).
Rana Faroohar, in Davos spoke about the digital and real economy recovery rather than about bridging the gap between the poor and the rich (Foroohar, 2014). In a conversation with some Boston group of consultant researchers, she came to terms with the magnitude of her own contention quantitatively- the costs involved made certain populations to access the net unviable, it was simply out of their reach (Foroohar, 2014). The causes may be varied- poor infrastructure (Africa), governmental procedures and issues like licensing and permissions (parts of south America and UAE segment), a restricted freedom of expression (China, some Arab countries) - the journey and reach of ( or access to) internet isn't as smooth as was supposed to be. If the situation is not corrected and larger tracts of population continue to be deprived of easy cheap and free access to internet and its benefits, the looming danger to the minority digital world can be easily assessed (Foroohar, 2014).
It will affect the economy in a big way. The BCG report that measures the economic influence of the technology has estimated that the countries (like the UK, Switzerland, and Sweden) that had the best access to internet had the best digital proportion in their economies. It is ascertained that about 2.5% more of the economy is characterized by digital economy in these countries than whose citizens do not have equal access to the internet. (Foroohar, 2014). What is more important is digital economy is expanding at a faster rate than real time economies (Foroohar, 2014). BCG has mentioned that the digital economy (that includes the e-commerce and the cost of internet access) kept growing at the rate of 8% per annum even in the aftermath of the financial depression. It is estimated that the growth would be in the excess of ten to fifteen percentage points in the financial recovery years. (Foroohar, 2014).
It means that the citizens of nations such as England are likely to get a boost in economy as 10% of the economy is technology centered (Foroohar, 2014). That means, at the same time that in economies (Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Egypt ) that don't allow the free use of internet and access to it are likely to suffer economically. The politicians in China should better beware that the tight control on information flow will probably create a revulsion as this stifling slows the growth process and employment opportunities (Foroohar, 2014).
In addition, U.S. decision makers had better understand the situation that though America needs to improve technology infrastructure it has failed to do so. It is actually sliding down the list for some time especially during recent years. It has slipped to fifth position in terms of e-commerce and internet usage (behind Hong Kong, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Switzerland).the prediction is that we may fall further down the rank in the following year (Foroohar, 2014).
During May 2014, academia, government, technology experts, and elite librarian experts assembled for "Responding to the Second Digital Divide," which was a press conference to explore libraries' role in providing Internet access and training in technology in their environs (Wright, 2014). The panelists discussed effective strategies to maintain and increase access to Internet in real libraries and strategized the public access to information (Wright, 2014). Event took place at the same time as the date of release (.doc)