Digital divide: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:06, 8 December 2006

Revision as of 09:34, 8 December 2006

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# '''Economic growth''': The development of information infrastructure and active use of it is inextricably linked to economic growth. Information technologies in general tend to be associated with productivity improvements even though this can be debatable in some circumstances. The exploitation of the latest technologies is widely believed to be a source of competitive advantage and the technology industries themselves provide economic benefits to the usually highly educated populations that support them. The broad goal of developing the information economy involves some form of policies addressing the digital divide in many countries with an increasingly greater portion of the domestic labor force working in information industries.

== Digital divide in the context of e-democracy ==

The theoretical concepts of [[e-democracy]] are still in early development but in practice 'blogs (web logs), Wikis and mailing lists are having significant effects in broadening the way democracy operates. There is no consensus among scholars, about the possible outcomes of this revolution in the realm of state operations. One of the main problems associated with the digital divide and liberal democracy, is linked to the capacity to participate in e-government. At the extreme, exclusively ICT based democratic participation (deliberation forums, e-voting etc) would mean that no access meant no vote. There is therefore a risk that some social groups will be under-represented or others over-represented in the policy formation processes and this would be incompatible with the equality principles of [[democracy]].

== Overcoming the digital divide by FLOSS software and Open access to knowledge ==