Digital Divide: Bridging

The world is going through an ICT revolution, a revolution that has enormous social and economic consequences for the developed and less developed countries of the world. A huge difference already exists between the developed countries in terms of access to ICTs (this includes radio, computers, TV and mobile phones).

In parts of the developing world, less than 1 in every 1,000 people have access to a computer compared to nearly 600 in every 1,000 in the developed world. For this reason, CNET Networks International Media has partnered with UK charity Computer Aid International, to undertake the effort of bridging the digital divide between the developed world and the developing world.

More than 80% of people in the world have never even heard a dial tone, let alone surfed the Web. And the gap between the information haves and have-nots is widening.
In a speech in Switzerland, UN Secretary General Kofi Anan warned of the danger of excluding the world's poor from the information revolution. "People lack many things: jobs, shelter, food, health care and drinkable water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunications services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may indeed reduce the chances of finding remedies to them," he said. Intel chairman Craig Barrett says "We have a saying in our company: PCs aren't magic, teachers are magic."