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The argument surrounding the digital divide assumes that the spread of computers and the Internet access itself will lead to productivity gains in firms and public administrations and lower transaction costs for all (Hunter Wade, 2002). A flip side to this utopian perspective may be the more realistic view that ICT development in Third World countries may conjure a new form of dependency on the West. Especially as they become introduced to hardware and software that is incapable of maintaining structure autonomously that is so crucial to the very functioning of their corporate and public sectors. The most obvious case in point is the private standards being set for software by Microsoft and their continual upgrading to meet the wishes of savvy computer users in the North, which places developing countries at a big disadvantage (Hunter wade, 2002). In principle, regulation in developed countries may soften the impact. Software and hardware makers in the North could be required to keep their products compatible with some global minimum standard software so as to overcome the negative effects of ICT network economics on underdeveloped countries.
But then there is the case of the "e-governance" movement that is especially concerning. Western governments and the World Bank have said that aid should be distributed to countries with good policies and good governance which is often judged by transparency, quick response, and accountability-achieved by creating unified ICT infrastructures through the public sector (Hunter wade, 2002). The previous difficulties that many sophisticated Western organisations have experienced as they tried to reconfigure themselves with a unified ICT infrastructure are brushed aside (Tourni, 2005) In this way, developing country governments have an incentive to commit themselves to the introduction of ICT and ‘e-governance’ simply to get more aid. This then inextricably ties them to certain ICT supplier beneficiaries, which leads to an open-ended dependency on these suppliers for the continued functioning of their public administration (Tourni, 2005)
Perhaps ICT capacity, including Internet capacity, is better directed towards specific sites of an LDC economy, notably at sites of exporting and international banking. Here, targeted ICT interventions to upgrade to international standards may have big payoffs that filter down to a regional level. The World Bank, aid donors and private companies can sensibly promote infrastructure like the circum-African submarine cable as a way of lowering the cost of communication with poor regions while promoting regional communication networks between key governing bodies and scientists to in an attempt to facilitate new developments and initiatives aimed towards improving living standards.
Wikipedia - The Digital Divide
Article on LDC Economies from 2005 PWC Annual General Meeting
1) Hunter Wade, R. (2002). "Bridging the digital divide: New route to development or new form of dependency?" Global Governance. Boulder. Vol. 8, Iss. 4; pg. 443
2) Tourni, A. (2005). “Bridging the digital divide,�? The Engineer, vol. 6, pp. 22-23.
--Dane C Allen 11:22, 28 Oct 2005 (EST)
