TITLE: The Digital Divide: A Perspective for the Future (Chapter 26)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: Bridge across the digital divide will just lead poor people into consumerist quicksand.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          To know the bidirectional relationship between absolute poverty and digital and information divides.

-          To know the moral basis for the idea that the various digital divides should be eliminated.

-          To know the empirical skepticism about the relationship between digital divides and absolute poverty.

REACTION:

According to this chapter, the global distribution of material resources should bother any conscientious person. In the developing world, poverty and the suffering it causes is considerably worse. People in absolute poverty lack consistent access to adequate nutrition, clean water, and health care, as well as face death from a variety of diseases that are easily cured in affluent nations.

This The digital divide is not any one particular gap between rich and poor, local and global, but rather includes a variety of gaps believed to bear on the world’s inequitable distribution of resources. Not that global and local poverty are problems of many dimensions that are extremely difficult to solve, but rather that the moral importance of the digital divide as a problem that needs to be addressed is linked to inequalities between the rich and the poor-and especially wealthy nations and nations in absolute poverty. Which means that it is true enough that Worldwide computerized reservation network used as a single point of access for reserving airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel related items by travel agents, online reservation sites, and large corporations.

This chapter also discussed about poverty, Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed.

Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          People in absolute poverty lack consistent access to adequate nutrition, clean water, and health care, as well as face death from a variety of diseases that are easily cured in affluent nations.

-          The digital divide is not any one particular gap between rich and poor, local and global, but rather includes a variety of gaps believed to bear on the world’s inequitable distribution of resources.

-          Not that global and local poverty are problems of many dimensions that are extremely difficult to solve, but rather that the moral importance of the digital divide as a problem that needs to be addressed is linked to inequalities between the rich and the poor-and especially wealthy nations and nations in absolute poverty.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. What is the meaning of “digital” in this chapter?
2. What is the situation with world poverty today?
3. What is important in terms of “bridging” the information gap?
4. What is the relationship between the inequality produced by the digital divide and the inequalities we have known for centuries?
5. Is it true that efforts to bridge the digital divide may have the effect of locking developing countries into a new form of dependency?