Dear list members, Although this is a bit late, I would like to join others to congratulate the DOT Force for the work so far. The resulting document is worth reading. I just reread the document for a meeting. Reading it twice I got stuck the ideas are fine, but what is next…. The document is excellent in indicating possible directions on “how to bridge the digital divide”, but falls short on “what to do next to build on existing initiatives.” I have been reading a lot of materials on bridging the digital divide from different corners and with different jargons (NII, ICT for development, Universal access, etc. - although the digital divide seem to get momentum since the establishment of the DOT Force). Most of the ideas in the document are thus not new. In fact similar opinion (national strategies, sectoral applications, content, regulatory framework) has been circulating in Africa since 1996 (see http://www.bellanet.org/partners/aisi/aisi.htm). Though imperfect, a number of countries and development agencies have made considerable efforts in pushing the two-tier approach indicated in the document. Did the DOT Force have time to assess what worked in this efforts and what doesn’t? Experience indicates that successful strategies on such global scale require more than opinions from meetings, lists and workshops they have to be grounded on some sort of background commissioned or directed research. An in-depth analysis of “what is at stake” and “what is going on” in each region would have been useful to consolidate the differentiated research to inform DOT Force conclusions. Here are some the difficulties I jotted down: - Although the document acknowledges the differentiated approach with some form of clustering, it has fallen short to indicate how this could be achieved. - the nature of the challenge of the digital divide in poorest countries is generally overlooked, underestimated and over estimated due to lack of specific information on specific area of the globe, - the issues here are far more complex and may not even be easily shown by e-readiness scales - lessons from national and regional efforts so far in implementing priority areas identified by the document were not integrated and not even mentioned - The document does not provide estimates on how much it costs to take fair steps to bridge the divide say by 1% in poor countries. It does not indicate how much it costs to governments of developed nations and developing countries if they did not act now or next year... Maybe the document should move beyond the who, where, what (WWW) cube to bold recommendations. Apart from ongoing initiatives at national levels and the fast moving target due to efforts of private sector and others, there is need for bold strategies that could contribute to digital opportunities and that the document may wish to integrate into its final version. Bold actions may vary from country to country, region to region, but two stand out as vital for us in Africa. Bold strategy #1 is a global initiative to bring young people in Africa to mainstream global knowledge society. Problems in education and knowledge spill over to many other areas and will continue to deter development and peace further down. Bold International effort is required to improve education, and knowledge production in all of its flavors in Africa. The rest could follow. Ironically, the DOT Force has identified empowerment and knowledge as the current key digital opportunity, but was unable to stress it out. Bold strategy #2. is the need for reinforced commitment. Commitment from developed countries to work on strategies to mobilize resources (huge amount) to support Bold strategy #1 and others and a global pressure on developing countries governments to create environment that help their own people to seize opportunities provided by new and old technologies. Recent observations show that most countries can progress many folds in ICT without external assistance if they simply reduce the barriers. The rest could follow. What do you think? Thanks. Lishan P.S. These are entirely personal views. ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
