Asia Times: Developing world leapfrogging the digital divide



	February 23, 2000	atimes.com

Media/Information Technology

Developing world leapfrogging the digital divide
By Gumisai Mutume

MEXICO CITY - Little by little, the developing world is narrowing the ''digital divide'' that keeps billions of people in poorer nations out of the loop of the world's evolving information society.

Using electronic journals, free training programs and investments in new start-ups, some developing countries are finding creative ways to jump the technology gap that sets them apart from the industrialized world.

In one of the latest projects, universities in Malaysia, China and Hong Kong have banded together to create an international forum for the development of information systems in developing countries. The universities will jointly publish the ''Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries'' (EJISDC), which can be accessed free-of-charge by individuals, teachers, researchers and policy makers.

According to EJISDC editor Roger Harris of the University of Malaysia, the publication will allow developing countries to share knowledge and experience in the design, development and management of information systems. It is specifically aimed at bridging the digital divide, and will address issues such as integrating traditional knowledge and Western science, gender and computer literacy, and the social implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing countries.

''Contemporary ICTs are a curse and at the same time a blessing to developing countries,'' notes Harris. ''In 1997, something like 84 percent of global expenditure on ICTs took place in North America, Western Europe and Japan.''

Such comparative superiority threatens to perpetuate the imbalances that characterize the relationship between developed and developing economies. Harris says there is a clear association between national prosperity and expenditure on ICTs. ''However, this fact has not gone unnoticed within developing countries, so that conversely, the same technologies that endanger efforts at leveling the international economic playing field now offer real opportunities to developing nations to catch up - and at a fraction of the cost which the developed nations have invested over many years of ICT evolution,'' Harris said.

The word that experts use to describe this process is ''leapfrogging'' - developing countries adopt technologies that have been designed and tested in industrialized countries without bearing the costs of development.

Developing countries are struggling to come to grips with technological advances in their own way - especially since investments in information technology compete with the provision of basic necessities.

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) says one solution is assisting poorer countries to develop their own institutions through technology transfers.

Unesco has just set up a ''Chair in Communication'' program at Konstanz University in Germany, joining 380 similar programs in Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Russian Federation, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Uruguay. The program will develop an international electronic forum, set up expert databases, develop multilingual dictionaries and translation aids, and coordinate activities in the various global academic departments.

Free training is also a growing trend, with Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC)-run I-train and South Africa's Sangonet, among a number of Internet sites offering free courses. IDRC runs a number of projects involving technology leapfrogging. In war-torn Sierra Leone, Sierranet was founded by students to support research. Even though most users have fled the war-torn country, IDRC hopes e-mail and the World Wide Web will play a role in its reconstruction.

In nearby Ghana, IDRC is involved in the Navrongo Health Research Centre's (NHRC) ''Healthnet''. It makes use of low-earth-orbit satellites and telephone-based computer networks to exchange health-related information in the developing world. It is considered a forerunner in adopting ICTs for development, notes a research paper by the University of Hong Kong and the University of Malaysia titled ''Technology Leapfrogging in Developing Countries - An Inevitable Luxury?''

NHRC also trains researchers from Asian and African countries and is attracting expatriate Ghanaian scientists back to Ghana, reversing the brain-drain, a worrying trend throughout Africa.

In Asia, the Pan Asian Network (PAN), which was responsible for linking Laos to the Internet, has a series of programs to wire Asia. It is currently working with Bangladesh's famous grassroots Grameen Bank to make technology accessible to poor women - who constitute 95 percent of Grameen's clients.

And the momentum to wire the developing world is growing. This week saw the announcement of a program to benefit Internet companies in developing countries through a $200 million investment fund created by a Japanese technology conglomerate Softbank and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation. Building on existing Latin American and China-focused funds totaling $500 million, the Softbank fund will provide initial capital and expertise to Internet start-ups in more than 100 countries.

World Bank president James Wolfensohn says providing access to the Internet in developing countries is as important as securing housing and clean water.

(Inter Press Service)