digital divide – professor netiva caftori. definitions digitally enabled what is it? why is it...
TRANSCRIPT
Definitions
Digitally EnabledWhat is it?
Why is it important?
Digitally DisabledWhat are the forms of disability?Why is it bad to have digitally disabled populations?
RecommendationsDilemmas
Digitally Enabled
Technical Low cost broadband – same as voice phone Low cost computing - !% of one year pay
InfrastructureAvailable and Reliable
Legal – PoliticalPrivacy protectedIdentity Theft considered a crimeContracts made over net enforceableMonitoring requires notification
Benefits for Digitally Enabled
Increased OpportunityWork and results shipped via satellite
India and China among others compete for high pay jobs with US engineers
Worldwide market –First on-line bookstore in Palo Alto, Ca. became international supplier by surprise
Access to educationMIT Open CoursewareO’reilly BookshelfACM and IEEE on-line libraries
Worldwide visibilityTo the situations of the world
Digitally Disabled
Forms of DisabilityNon-existent infrastructure
High cost computing Limited Local Supply
High import duties
Government RestrictionsBureaucracy restricts content
Government monitors what you see and threatens
Where are Digitally Disabled
From now to 2030World Population grows from 6B to 9B
Bulk of growth in 9 countries, 6 of which are poor
Digitally Disabled in poorest countries
Does it matter that large poor groups are Digitally Disabled
Large Poor Groups are inefficientMore Pollution per personLower lifestyle per person per $ expended
Large Poor Groups most subject to radical control
Breeding ground for terrorists
Large Poor Groups are not good customers
But does it matter to the rest of us that large groups are digitally disabled?
We live on a small planetPollution from the poor affects the air of the rich
Radicals can do much damage for small costs if they do not value their own
Property
Lives
Yes – it matters -
Who has noticed in the past?
Gorbachev said in PerestroikaSituation – Soviet Union locked in combat with West, spending large funds on nuclear war materials while its people starved.Gorbachev noted that his bureaucrats were worried about doctrine and instead should worry about empty shelvesGorbachev also noted that a free press and free interchange of information were critical to economic progress.
Nations Opened up to InternetNot because of doctrineBut because of economics –
News Reports on China’s restrictions of Internet Traffic
NPR report in September 2005 noted that China’s recent restriction on Internet traffic might hamper innovation in that country which has been a land of innovation in the past.
Let’s Say it Again
It is in the self interest of the Digitally Disabled to join the information highway
It is in the interest of the rich neighbors to assist the Digitally Disabled to join the information highway
If we are rich are we OK?
We live in the US, we are rich and isolated, we are OK – Right
Wrong – Much innovation that drives our progress comes from:
– Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Russia, South Korea, and more
For Example
Japan – Innovation in Hybrid cars
Taiwan and South Korea – Semiconductor memoriesApplication specific semiconductors
RussiaSpaceSoftware engineering
Northern EuropeCell phones
Symptoms of Problems here?
Reports that 75% of companies install key stroke monitors
FBI attempts to monitor all Internet traffic – now supposedly abandoned
1950’s attack on academia by out of control Communist paranoia