The Digital Divide & Social Inclusion in Developing Countries

Parasuram Thampi

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Introduction• Develop a framework for analyzing digital divide and its social impacts

• Review the barriers that foster and preserve the digital divide

• Retrieve data from – Surveys conducted by government agencies, NGOs or scholarly research

– Reports of international organizations such as ITU, UNDP, OECD,

– Supplement with scholarly data

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Digital Divide or Digital Exclusion

• “Digital Divide” is generally used to the describe gap between those that have and those that lack access to computers and/or the Internet

• The term digital divide has more recently been re-interpreted from one that looks at just accessibility to one that of accesses usability as well (Warschauer M, 2003).

Hence a distilled and Scientific definition would be :

social stratification due to unequal ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge via use of information and communication technologies (www.gse.uci.edu)

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Social Inclusion• Social inclusion/exclusion is a adequacy or inadequacy of social cohesion or integration.

• Social inclusion/exclusion can be looked at as both current level social cohesion or as a dynamic or ever changing situation

• In essence the term can also be described as the process of inclusive/exclusive participation, access, and cohesion with in a society (Nabin Rawal, 2007).

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Reasons for Digital divide

• Political Barrier• Educational Barrier• Financial Barrier• Technical Barrier• Autonomy and/or Limited Accessibility

• Lack of Social Capital

Dimagio P et al, 2001 ; Hargittai E 1999; ; Warschauer M, 2003

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Reasons for Digital divide

• Political BarrierSeveral countries, intentionally restrict internet access in order to prevent the population from coming in contact what they consider subversive ideas or elements.e.g. Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran etc.

• Educational BarrierAn individual’s ability to leverage computing and internet for personal progress is highly dependent on his or her education level e.g. an individual who cannot read or write will have little use of a computer.

Dimagio P et al, 2001 ; Hargittai E 1999 ; Warschauer M, 2003

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Reasons for Digital divide

• Financial Barrier Developing countries do not have the resources to establish high bandwidth networks or provide computers to all schools, extend internet facilities to remote locations, village etc.

Individuals from low income groups do not have money to buy computing devices and even in cases where the facilities are made available for free, individuals who are struggling to earn a living are would have little time for activities that do not bring tem financial benefits

Dimagio P et al, 2001 ; Hargittai E, 1999; Warschauer M, 2003

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Reasons for Digital divide

• Technical Barrier Whether sufficient Bandwidth is available Whether suitable computing devices are available.

Accessibility is still highly dependent on knowledge of English e.g. lack of Non-English language Keyboards

• Autonomy Whether access is from home, at work or from public location

Access is monitored or not Accessible at select times only or at willDimagio P et al, 2001 ; Hargittai E, 1999; Warschauer M,

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Reasons for Digital divide

• Lack of Social CapitalIn cases where the society to which fails to provide support for an individuals aspirations or even actively subverts it, the ability of an individual to accrue benefits from computing technologies would be negligible at best.Societies racked by corruption, feudal nature, religious fundamentalism, superstition etc. can be considered as case in point.

Dimagio P et al, 2001 ; Hargittai E, 1999; Warschauer M, 2003

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Internet users in 2010 as a percentage of a country's population

Source : International Telecommunication Union 10

Internet users per 100 inhabitants

Source : International Telecommunication Union 11

Worldwide Internet users

2006 2011World population 6.5 billion

7 billionNot using the Internet 82% 65%Using the Internet 18% 35%Users in the developing world 8% 22%Users in the developed world 10% 13%

Source : International Telecommunication Union 12

Broadband subscriptionsFixed subscriptions: 2007 2011Developing world 2.3% 4.8% Developed world 18.3% 25.7%

Mobile broadband: 4.0% 17.0%Developing world 0.8% 8.5% Developed world 18.5% 56.5%

Source : International Telecommunication Union 13

Social Aspects of Digital Divide

• Economic StratificationJudicious use of ICT can facilitate rapid growth of societies and/or nations This growth can be both a boon and a curse to societies with stark class issues such as those of developing countries

• Educational StratificationICT makes available a plethora of tools which can serve to both raise both level and the quality of education in a society, however lack of equal access and usage can also exasperate any prevalent class issues

• Political Stratification ICT has the potential to both facilitate and hinder political empowerment of the masses

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Economic Stratification• High Growth & High Job Creation Rate

ICT sector especially in developing countries because of low penetration and comparatively low setting/operational costs has led to a blooming of manpower intensive sectors like BPO and KPO. (Agarwal R, Nisa S, 2009)

• Higher Salaries Even at the lowest level because of the intense competition for luring quality recruits (Chamsiri S et al, 2005)

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Economic Stratification• Individuals who set up ICT start ups can earn a lot with little or no capital input (Price C, 2000).e.g. Facebook, Google, Instagram, Priceline etc.

• The income gap between those who use ICT in a commercial capacity and those who don’t can widen drastically in a very short period of time(Foster, Goodman, 2000).

• High Salaries of individuals employed in the ICT sector in turn make these jobs more sort after in turn raising the social standing of the individuals.

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Positive Impacts of Economic Stratification

• This low cost, high return nature of ICT start ups can spawn an entrepreneurial culture similar but tempered version of that seen during the dot com boom, in turn leading to creation of more start ups, greater innovation and job creation (Levenburg N, Schwarz T , 2008).

• Positive change in attitude of disadvantaged classes towards education.

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Negative Impactsof Economic Stratification

• Greater job availability in ICT sector can lead to increased focus on IT education at the cost of other fields.

• The penetration of ICT can lead to loss of jobs in traditional sectors, more so among semi-skilled/ unskilled workers. This coupled with low education levels and lack of understanding of technology can give rise of Socio/Political issues, resistance and fear of new technologies etc. and in adverse cases even Political unrest.

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Educational Stratification

• Computer revolution and rise of the information age means that there is that almost the entire accrued knowledge of the human race is at the finger tips of a ICT or specifically web enabled individual

• Web Enabled Students thus end up acquiring new, desirable skills like Networking, Associative Logic, Graphic Literacy, Information Space, Multi-tasking etc.

• People with higher knowledge and intellect have been highly valued in human society since time in memorial, thus these new technocrat with his higher level of knowledge and accrued intellect thus attain greater social standing (Witte J, Mannon S, 2010).

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Educational Stratification

• Inter-connectivity, social networking etc. bring IT enabled individuals in contact with different idea from different parts of the world, leading to evolution of unique cultural identity separate from that of the non-enabled individuals of same socio-economic standing (Bennet L, 2004).

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Positive Impact of Educational Stratification

• The educational tools made available by ICT allow individuals to pursue higher education at their convenience and at considerably lower cost (Phipps R,Merisotis J, 1999)

• IT tools can bring quality education to people in far flung geographical areas with minimum expenditure e.g. Edusat program in India.

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Political Stratification

• As old adage goes knowledge is power and he who knows more inevitably ends up wielding more power.

• Easy Accessibility to accrue as well as disseminate information is a hallmark of the technocrat.

• Quick dissemination of information would allow the technocrat to be at the cutting of edge of forming and moulding public opinion.

Chadwick A, Howard P (2009), Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics; 22

Positive Impact of Political Stratification

• Technology enabled democracies exhibit higher levels transparency and accountability.

• More technocrats within the ruling class can facilitate faster percolation of technology into various strata's of society

• Technocrats in government are likely to promote e-governance thus decreasing congestion in government offices, decreasing response time and increasing efficiency as well as ease of accessibility.

• More knowledge in the hands of the people, more the level of political discourse and presumably better equipped they will be when it comes time to decide who they want representing them

Verplanke J et al (2010), Citizen Surveillance of the State: A Mirror for eGovernment?, 23

Negative Impact of Political Stratification

• ICT Technologies, especially the internet can act as huge aid to governments trying to keep tabs on the citizens by making all data in the hands of the government easily accessible

• ICT technologies and their ability for fast dissemination of information can be easily misused to spread propaganda, to indoctrinate people, spread hate messages etc.

• ICT technologies allows for the concentration of power in the hands of the few, Technocrats or Technology enabled classes, which history has shown time and again is not a good thing.

Haque A, (2003), Information technology, GIS and democratic values: Ethical implications for IT professionals in public service, Ethics and Information Technology

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Conclusion• While Computing Technology can have a profound influence on the social fabric of a nation, it can neither create nor destroy the inherent inequalities present.

• The effect Computing Technology has on a society are effected by factors intrinsic to the Society and not to the technology

• Digital divide is not simply a question of accessibility or cost, Politics, Social Capital, Education, Language etc also play major roles.

• Countries with stable societies, governments and economies retrieve greater gains from the information revolution than those without e.g. the growing divide between developed and developing countries.

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References• “Digital Divisions”, Report of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 2005

 • Nabin Rawal (2008), Social Inclusion and Exclusion: A Review, Dhaulagiri

Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol 2, pg 161-180,

• Mark Warschauer, 2003 , A Literacy Approach to the Digital Divide, http://www.gse.uci.edu/person/warschauer_m/docs/lit-approach.pdf

• Chiamsiri, S., Bulusu, S. D. & Agarwal, M. (2005). Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing in India: A Human Resources Management Perspective, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 13(2), 105-114 

• Foster, W., and S. Goodman. 2000. The diffusion of the Internet in China. http://iris.nyit.edu/~kkhoo/Spring2008/Topics/GlobalIS/GlobalDiffusionInternet_china_2000.pdf. Viewed on Nov 8, 2012.

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References• Ranjana Agarwal, Syeedun Nisa (2009), Knowledge Process Outsourcing:

India’s emergence as a Global Leader, Asian Social Science, Vol 5, Pg 82-92. 

• Levenburg N, Schwarz T (2008), Entrepreneurial Orientation among the Youth of India The Impact of Culture, Education and Environment, Journal of Entrepreneurship May, vol. 17, pg 15-35

• Price C (2000), The Internet Entrepreneurs: Business Rules Are Good - Break Them

• Ronald Phipps and Jamie Merisotis (1999), What’s the Difference: A Review of Contemporary Research on the Effectiveness of Distance Learning in Higher Education, Journal of Distance Education, Vol. 14, No. 1, Pg 102-114 

• Chadwick A, Howard P (2009) , Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics, Routledge.

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References• Verplanke J, Martinez J, Miscione G, Georgiadou Y, Coleman D,Hassan A (2010), Citizen Surveillance of the State: A Mirror for eGovernment?, What Kind of Information Society? Governance, Virtuality, Surveillance, Sustainability, Resilience IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2010, Volume 328/2010, Pg 185-201.

• Haque A, (2003), Information technology, GIS and democratic values: Ethical implications for IT professionals in public service, Ethics and Information Technology

 • Witte J, Amoroso L, Howard P (2000), Research Methodology, Method and Representation in Internet-Based Survey Tools Mobility, Community, and Cultural Identity in Survey2000

 • Bennet L ( 2004), Branded Political Communication: Lifestyle Politics, Logo Campaigns and the Rise of Global Citizenship, Politics, Products, and Markets: Exploring Political Consumerism Past and Present, Transaction Publishers New Jersey, Pg 101-126

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References• DiMaggio, P. J., E. Hargittai, R. Neuman, and J.

Robinson. 2001. Social implications of the Internet. Annual Review of Sociology 27: 307–336.

• DiMaggio, P. J., and E. Hargittai. 2001. From the “digital divide” to “digital inequality”: Studying Internet use as penetration increases. Working Paper 19. Princeton, N.J.: Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University.

• Hargittai, E. 1999. Weaving the Western Web: Explaining differences in Internet connectivity among OECD countries. Telecommunications Policy 23 (10/11):701–718.

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