From the Digital Divide to Digital Opportunities - ICT Digital Literacy

Chapter 1 - INFOSTATES AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
for multi-disciplinary approaches. From early on, much like every Information Society issue, the
Digital Divide came to the fore with the need for measurement. The specific need for an instrument
that would quantify the Digital Divide and systematically monitor its evolution became evident. This
is where the present project is situated. While the issue is clearly applicable wherever masses of
people live, including within economies, the focus of this work is on measurements across
economies.
The project’s objectives and terms of reference
In recent years, measurement initiatives have taken on the examination of several aspects
of the Information Society. Our focus is on the Digital Divide, which is ICT-centric. Furthermore, the
stakeholders established clear overall objectives for the project: develop a model, grounded on a
sound conceptual framework, the empirical application of which will make possible the systematic
measurement of the state and the evolution of the Digital Divide internationally. Thus, the new
instrument should be capable of monitoring the Digital Divide:
across economies at a given point in time, and;
within economies over time.
Moreover, it was stipulated that its development will be guided by the following terms of reference:
Place emphasis on developing economies;
Rely on a modeling approach that yields policy-relevant results;
Focus on ICTs, but be broader in scope than pure connectivity measures.
All along, the aim has been to ascertain the relative status of economies and, especially monitor
relative progress - both across economies and components of interest within economies. Therefore,
this instrument provides the international community with a useful mechanism towards: the
identification of the state of affairs and relative needs among economies; the allocation of investments
to their most appropriate uses, and; the monitoring of performance.
Several implications stem from the above, which were addressed during the development of the
conceptual framework (Orbicom 2002), as well as the full application of the model (Orbicom
2003). A synopsis of the new approach is offered next.
1.1 The Conceptual Framework
Like other well-known imbalances, the measurement and analysis of the Digital Divide
require a rigorous framework.
The conceptualization begins with the basics. The overriding issue of a society concerns the
quality of life of its people. In that regard, the economy plays the key role, but it is situated all along
within the broader socio-economic, geopolitical and cultural environment of a country. ICTs affect
everything and they are treated as an economic and social reality.
A distinction is made between consumptive and productive functions. Following economic theory,
while the current standard of living of the people depends largely on consumption, over time we
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