Economic and Social Impacts of the Divide

Discussion - Reducing the Divide

Intro:
What advantages are there for the developed world in bridging the global digital divide?
What advantages are there for the poorest nations?
Was President Clinton correct in saying that matching internet access levels with telephone levels will do as much as anything to reduce income equality?
Do charities such as Computer Aid do more good than harm?

Answer:
Advantages for the developed world in bridging the global digital divide is the fact that more people in the world will be more skilled in I.C.T. meaning easier ways of communication. Also, people who immigrate from poorer countries to countries in the developed world will be skilled in I.C.T meaning no extra costs for training. Also, it means that developed countries can set up buisnesses in poorer countries because they are more skilled.

Advantages for the poorest nations is the fact that they have a chance of improving their quality of living because they are more skilled in I.C.T. Also it will be easier to communicate ,through e-mail for example, with other countries. Also, it means that poorer countries will be able to keep up with the economic demands that they are facing which are I.C.T. based.

Matching internet access with telephone levels could reduce income equality because

Personally, i feel computer aid does do more harm than good because if they are suppling the best computers to poorer countries, though this will be good, it will take more time and money to train the people how to use the computers. What they should do is provide technology that is fairly modern, and is either easy to use or people know how to use it.