Hss4331a – International Health

March 22, 2010 – The Digital Divide

But first

• Today– Course evaluation!

• Tonight– Your papers are due at midnight!– The poll to choose your marking scheme will be

turned off at midnight!

“In the twenty-first century, the capacity to communicate will almost certainly be a key human right. Eliminating the distinction between the information-rich and information-poor is also critical to eliminating economic and other inequalities between North and South, and to improve the life of all humanity.” -Nelson Mandela, TELECOM 95, October 3, 1995 (Wilson, 2004, 1)

The “Global” Digital Divide

• Specifically refers to “great disparities in opportunity to access the Internet and the information and educational/business opportunities tied to this access … between developed and developing countries”– Lu, Ming-te (2001). Digital divide in developing

countries. Journal of Global Information Technology Management (4:3), pp. 1-4.

Global Digital Divide

• A 2002 World Economic Forum report on the global digital divide found that, "88% of all Internet users are from industrialized countries that comprise only 15% of the world's population“– Pick, J. & Azari, R. (2008). Global Digital Divide:

Influence of Socioeconomic, Governmental,and Accessibility Factors on Information Technology. Information Technology for Development, 14(2), 91-115

From Wikipedia

How is the DD relevant to health?

• EBM is now essential to medical research• Access to information essential to CME• Use of e-health tools increase access to health

care by remote dwellers• IT is essential for HIS• Why is HIS important?

Criticisms of the importance of DD

• Maybe the gap is not real, but perceived• Technologies are transient, so gap will

disappear anyway• As computers get smarter, the need for

expertise in accessing them will reduce, so the gap becomes less important

The XO Laptop -- www.laptop.org

The XO Laptop

• Brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte of MIT• Vision = 1 cheap laptop for every child in the

world• Assumption = children can teach themselves

how to use it• Method = consortium of top IT people • Laptop = under $200, open source, seemingly

indestructible

The XO Laptop

• Features:– Virtually indestructible (waterproof, sand proof,

etc)– Open source operating system– Screen designed for outdoor use– No moving parts (solid state)– Greater range of WIFI– Easy child-friendly interface

The XO Laptop

• Controversies– Is it reasonable that a laptop alone can uplift a

child and his family?– Open source software not as useful in real world– Can it really achieve sufficient market penetration

to make mass production efficient?– New competitors in the cheap laptop market

Kiva.org

-a microfinance website

Kiva.org

• 1st world people sign up as investors/lenders• Developing world entrepreneurs sign up as

borrowers• We lend small amounts ($10 or so) to

borrowers• After some time, borrower repays loan

Criticisms of Microfinance

• “privatization of public safety net”– May motivate cuts in government spending

• Businesses may become dependent on loans rather than on capital investments

• Since most microfinance focuses on women, it is possible that women are used as credit “fronts” for men, while accepting all risk