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UN Secretary-General Asks for Help

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the unicef-taking-bandwidth-donations-and-pennies dept.

knownsense writes "News.com.com is carrying a feature by Kofi Annan talking of the digital divide. He says, "But bridging the digital divide is not going to be easy. Too often, state monopolies charge exorbitant prices for the use of bandwidth." and of bringing WiFi to the developing world. This at a time when places like Panama ban cheaper means of communication and places like India instead of combating absolute illiteracy and hunger, run out to make PDAs. Is the digital divide a purely western concept?"

4 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. Read also this Slashdot Article by jukal · · Score: 4, Informative
    about Donating Time To Goodwill projects - which discussed possible future co-operation between UNITeS and Openchallenge.

    Hopefully this will provide you all with a chance to contribute and help tackle the problems/tasks Kofi Annan stated:
    If all countries are to benefit, we need more and better strategic public-private partnerships. That is one of the primary functions of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force, which brings together CEOs, government officials, nongovernmental organizations, technical experts and other information industry leaders.

  2. Re:Same old, same old. by sql*kitten · · Score: 4, Informative
    The power of large companies, forcing customers in inferior products, stupid EULAS and contracts that are detrimental to their (customer) interests. Think Microsoft here.

    From an article in today's NY Times:

    The charitable group that Mr. Gates started with his wife, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is now giving away $1.2 billion a year. Mr. Gates said he was pleased that its first major philanthropic effort, the library project, had helped to narrow the digital divide.

    Say what you like about Gates and Microsoft, but the fact remains that in dollar terms, he's done far more for worthy causes than the typical Open Source advocate:

    I'm not going to minimize my attachments by giving it all away, though, so you evangelists for a zillion worthy causes can just calm down out there and forget about hitting me up for megabucks. I am *not* going to be a soft touch, and will rudely refuse all importunities.

  3. First "Digital Divide" places must have access by epseps · · Score: 2, Informative

    ..to power supplies and clean water.

    Being literate wouldn't hurt either.

    In the third world countries that I have been to, the lack of power and fresh water add many hours of work to the day that inhibit things such as going to school, learning new things, ...plus without decent power there wil be nothing to "plug" anything digital into, not to mention little time to learn the device and its usefulness.

    I suppose a combination of a cheap electicity, unrestrictive laws (telephones are cheaper now in Nigeria now that cell phones have replaced Nitel)and an effort to combat the nastier effects of poverty are needed before we all get our old Pentiums ready to ship off.

  4. Re:Digital Divide Smivide by Isofarro · · Score: 3, Informative
    The "Digital Divide" is nothing but a fear of change


    So you don't think its an expensive operation to set up, run and maintain a reliable communications infrastructure? You don't think that modern hardware is expensive in other parts of the world? Just exactly where is the investment in this infrastructure going to come from? Cancelling third world debt - don't you think there are other short-term problems are probably more important - like hunger, sanitation, electrification?

    What you miss is that expenditure in the digital realm is an investment in education - something that has far-reaching and long-term advantages to an economy, but not something that solves problems overnight. Investing in an infrastructure to accommodate the ludicrous preconceptions of web designers doesn't help sort out the primary problems. But not investing in education keeps third world nations further and further behind the developed world.

    With the cost of keeping a reliable infrastructure up-to-date constantly rising because of the dumbing down (hence more inaccessible content) philosophy of website designers, it is impossible for third-world countries to balance both concerns.

    So it may seem to you its all about "fear of change", but in fact its a bleak choice between feeding the starving population and guaranteeing them no future, or investing in the future and tough luck to the starving population. Third world countries can't afford both investments - and I'm sure the US wouldn't be able to cope in the same situation either.