What Is being done to bridge the gap?

1. What Is being done to bridge the gap? So far we’ve seen how bad the situation is and what factors caused this situation, now in this presentation I will take you through what is being done to bridge this ever widening gap nationally and in different parts of the world.

2. Telephone ladies One of the areas to try and bridge the gap is Bangladesh and the scheme being used is called ‘telephone ladies’. As with most developing countries Bangladesh has no fixed landline and so communication is difficult. What this scheme does is, the bank gives a loan to someone to buy a phone and then what happens is the village to which this person belongs to will let other people use this phone to call their loved ones for a small fee, so its almost like a business. As you can see this would be a win-win situation seeing as the person with the phone is making a reasonable living and the people that need the phone are able to access it at affordable prices, so far this scheme has been successful.

3. Kids to teach elderly net skills BT is aiming to avoid total exclusion of the older generations from technology by creating a ‘Grandparents day’ on the 24th of September. What this idea is about is that BT feel that the people that are at the best disposition to teach the elderly the skills they need for the net is their own grandchildren and so this grandparents day is to encourage children to get up there and show what technology has to offer

4. Digital tax to aid poor nations The Idea behind this is that the more developed countries that are able to spare some money will be charged 1% from their public technology projects and so this 1% of money will go towards getting these undeveloped nations a higher level of technology. This tax is voluntary and so far only Geneva has agreed to it but is hoped that with time other countries will come to follow their example.

5. DDD Short for ‘Digital Divide Data’, the DDD is a company that concentrates on teaching the disabled how to use technology. Most of the times resulting in them going to university and getting a higher education. Started by Canada born Jeremy Hockenstein, he had realised that on a trip to Cambodia that there wasn’t much hope and that the future was bleak for disabled people there and so he decided that creating the DDD was the best step to take. On returning to the US he came up with the idea of creating a data entry company similar to those found in other developing countries such as India, but employing the disadvantaged and disabled.

6. These are only some examples of what measures are being taken, in actual fact there are many, many more people who are putting that extra effort into seeing that the gap will soon disappear. But the question now is are they wasting their time, or are these measures really having an impact on the Digital Divide? This question will be answered in the next power point presentation. More Information can be found on the BBC Website.