Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

Table 7.2DimensionDigital enablersDigital communicationsDigital contentDigital transactionsInterconnected dimensions of digital life: Enablers,communications, content and transactionsTechnology and/or serviceMobile broadbandFixed broadbandPortable InternetVoiceMessagingSocial networkingGlobal knowledge webSights and soundsAdult content and gamblingOnline gamblingUser-generated contentContent-aware servicesDigital homesContactless payment systemsMobile paymentsSource: Adapted from the International Telecommunication Union, digital.life,ITU Internet Report 2006.presents specific difficulties in collecting data because it ishard to distinguish Internet electronic commerce from electroniccommerce conducted over other networks. To startmeasuring the information society, a taxonomy is neededthat provides indicators for tracking the progress of ICTs ina staggered process, first by measuring e-readiness, then theintensity of ICT usage and, finally, the impact and outcomesof ICT on business organizations, the creativeeconomy and the economy as a whole. ICT indicatorsunderstandably reflect some of the issues concerningmeasurement of the creative economy. Though a few indicatorsare easily mapped, such as those relating to infrastructureand access, other, more complex ones remainlargely unavailable. Underlying this issue are four interconnecteddimensions of the information society: digitalenablers, digital communications, digital content and digitaltransactions. These aspects of digital life and relatedtechnologies and services are shown in table 7.2.The most common ICT indicators can be groupedinto four sets, following the methodology developed bythe Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development. 7The vast majority of these parameters refer to the availabilityof infrastructure and access to ICTs and the use ofICTs for individuals and businesses. Broadband expansion,for instance, is seminal to boosting the developmentof knowledge-sharing in the creative economy, and the numbersof employees using computers reveal not only access tocomputers but also computer literacy. The last row, digitaltransactions, adds an economic perspective to the data set.These undeniably useful indicators are the first step towardsa more complex analysis of ICTs.7Technology, connectivity and the creative economyTable 7.3Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development: Core ICT indicatorsInfrastructure and accessAccess to, and use of, ICT byhouseholds and individualsBasic coreFixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitantsMobile cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitantsComputers per 100 inhabitantsInternet subscribers per 100 inhabitantsBroadband Internet subscribers per 100 inhabitantsInternational Internet bandwidth per inhabitantPercentage of population covered by mobile cellular telephonyInternet access tariffs (20 hours per month), in $, and as a percentage of per capita incomeMobile cellular tariffs (100 minutes of use per month), in $, and as a percentage of per capita incomePercentage of localities with public Internet access centres by number of inhabitantsExtended coreRadio sets/100 inhabitantsTelevision sets/100 inhabitantsBasic coreProportion of households with a radioProportion of households with a TVProportion of households with a fixed line telephoneProportion of households with a mobile cellular telephoneProportion of households with a computerProportion of individuals who used a computer (from any location) in the last 12 monthsProportion of households with Internet access at homeIndividuals who used the Internet in the last 12 monthsLocation of the individual use of the internet in the last 12 monthsInternet activities undertaken by individuals in the last 12 months7 The partnership brings together experts from ITU, UNCTAD, UNESCO, the Economic Commission for Africa, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean,the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, EUROSTAT, OECD and the World Bank.CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010195