Registration for course: Nuria Garcia; Annina Kummer; Leonor Garcia Moreno?

1. Registration for course: Nuria Garcia; Annina Kummer; Leonor Garcia Moreno? All readings are already online (except for the books) The latest version of the presentation groups is online Final Cut essay due on Thursday (Apr 16) in class. Instructions online

2. Rise of the Information Societyand The Digital Divide

3. Information Age • From the Industrial Society to the Post-industrial society (?)

4. Brief Internet Timeline • 1958 – As a response to the launch of Soviet Sputnik, the first earth satellite, U.S. initiates the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), within the Department of Defense (DoD) with the purpose to make the US lead in science and technology • 1965 – ARPA sponsors a study “Cooperative network for • time-sharing” between computers • 1969 – September 2, launch of first computer network ARPANET • 1972 – Beginning of E-mail • 1976 – Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom sends out an email on 26 March • 1979 – First research computer network DARPA launched between National Science Foundation and Univ. Wisc.

5. 1982 – Internet defined as TCP/IP-connected networks • 1984 – Domain Name System (DNS) introduced Number of hosts about 1,000 • 1985 – Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link (WELL), first virtual community, started in SF • 1990- U.S. abolished ARPANET and gave the control of the Internet to NSF (so, from military control to scientific community • 1992 – WWW released • 1995 – Internet Society was founded; VoIP comes to the market, NSFNET shut down and Internet operated by private companies • 2000 – Number of Internet hosts about 70M

6. Towards an Information Society(?) • Progress in • science & technology • Low-cost reliable • information processing, • storage, transmission, • & distribution • Telecommunication, • computer & consumer • electronics convergence Economic, Social & Political Processes Globalization

7. Techno-capitalism • Information Age • Digital Age • Informationalized Society • Network Society • Post-industrial Society • In theoretical terms: Post-modern Age/Society

8. What are the characteristics of the “information” age? • Castells: • 1)raw material is information and knowledge • 2)the effects of new technologies are pervasive (they shape our individual and social existence) • 3)new techno. have a “networking logic”: the architecture of the system is based on complex networking and interaction

9. 4)new technologies are flexible: processes are reversible, but also they can change institutions and org. fundamentally • 5)new technologies bring “convergence” of all other comm. techno. to the point where they are indistinguishable

10. But.. • The developments do not necessarily imply the end of the Industrial Era (or Modern era) and the beginning of a Post-Industrial Era • The Information Age is very much a continuation of the Industrial mode of production. Yet… • …the difference is: “informational” mode of development • …which is global in nature

11. What is Global Information Society? • A new era when: we are connected globally; and knowledge and ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) would be used to benefit all people in the world • Global Information Society "enables people to fulfill their potential and realize their aspirations”. Documents of the G-8 Summit on Global Information Society, Okinawa 21-23 July 2000.

12. What are the Benefits of ICTs? • New opportunities, wealth, freedom, and quality of life • New ways of interaction between governments and citizens, citizens and citizens, etc. • New experiences with work life and personal life

13. Some facts and figures • According to a A U.S. Study (OCT. 2000): Use of e-mail increased productivity by $13,000 per employee • Same study found that employees save 326 hours per year (out of 2100 hours) by using e-mail • But… that each employee wastes 115 hours per year with personal e-mail and spam.

14. FRAUD CYBERSTALKING SECURITY CYBERTERRORISM GAMBLING MONEY LAUNDERING DRUG TRAFFICKING PORNOGRAPHY SPAM (For those who have access) And NO Access The downside (or “common problems”) associated with the Internet

15. Issues of Access • With every new technology comes the problem of unequal access: • The majority of the world population has no access to ICTs • About 90% of all computers connected to Internet are used by about 15-20 % of the world’s population • Kofi Annan’s appeal: • “The content of the Internet must be available …All nations must have the requisite infrastructure…The price of Internet access must be brought within the reach of people” Kofi Annan, at International Day of Telecommunications, [ITU News 4/2001]

16. What is the Digital Divide? • The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as: • “The gulf between those who have ready access to current digital technology and those who do not; the perceived social or educational inequality resulting from this.”

17. Term “Digital Divide” coined in the mid-1990’s. • The Clinton-Gore Administration made it a regulation issue during discussion around the Telecommunication Act of 1996 • They decided to come up with regulatory mechanisms to motivate the market actors help close the access gap to ICTs.

18. What does Digital Divide involve? • Gap in access to ICTs (computers+Internet) • Gap in quality of access (dial-up vs. broadband) Axes of Divide • Income (class) • Age • Gender • Race/Ethnicity • Infrastructure/Quality of Access • Know-how • Cultural capital • Geographic isolation

19. In the U.S. for example • Factors determining computer ownership and internet access: • Income • Race/Origin • Education • Household Type • Households with an income of $75,000 are 7 times more likely to have internet access than households earning about $10,000 • Low income rural households have a 2.9% Internet access rate compared to high income urban households 62% • Whites and Asian Americans have higher access and use levels than African-Americans and Hispanics.

20. In the US • Educational Level: Of those with less than high school education: • Only 12.5% used the Internet. • The same figure for those with at least a bachelor’s degree was 80%.

21. So Digital Divideis… • Directly related with poverty and other social conditions • Therefore, as Van Dijk suggests: technology gap is a continuation of other existing social divides, not a technological one • And access to technology alone does not solve larger problems • QUESTION: Are ICTs meaningless for those who do not have the basics such as safe water, basic nutrition, basic education…?

22. A country example • By IDRC (International Development Research Center) • Canada’s contribution to the DOT Force • Their efforts center around: “how can information and communications technologies (ICTs) contribute to development?”

23. Why is DD an Issue? • Unequal access to ICTs reduces globalization to the mere interconnectedness of networked cities. • Where are non-urban, lower-income, lesser/under-developed regions in the picture of globalization? In the idea of ‘information revolution’?

24. What are the individual/social Consequences of DD? Why is access to DVD players NOT an issue but access to ICTs is? • Access to Information: to jobs, education, social services, etc. • Participation in the economy (both across nations and within nations) • Participation in democracy • Individual/Group representation (e.g. local identity groups) THE QUESTION OF EQUITY THE QUESTION OF ECONOMIC WELFARE

25. Different Approaches to DD It is a Priority for those who think . . . • It is a human rights issue • It is about economic welfare • There is the danger of growing ‘time gap’ It is a Myth for those who believe … • It needs time for diffusion. It will cure itself (due to falling computer prices, etc.) • Access is an individual choice • Head of FCC Powell called it a “Mercedes Divide”

27. UN Millennium Development Goals • “Declaration of Principles” from the UN’s World Summit on Information Society (2003 and 2005): • We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, assembled in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

28. Some Figures

30. Regional Figures from 2004

31. Some More Figures… TOP 10 COUNTRIES WITHTHEHIGHEST INTERNETPENETRATIONRATE* *Source: Internet World Stats Country/RegionPenetration(% of Pop.)Internet UsersPopulation Sweden 73.6 % 6,656,733 9,043,990 Hong Kong 70.7 % 4,878,713 6,898,686 Denmark 68.7 % 3,720,000 5,411,596 US 68.5 % 202,888,307 296,208,476 Norway 68.2 % 3,140,000 4,606,363 Australia 67.2 % 13,784,966 20,507,264 Netherlands 66.2 % 10,806,328 16,322,583 Iceland 67.1 % 198,000 294,947 Canada 63.8 % 20,450,000 32,050,369 South Korea 63.3 % 31,600,000 49,929,293 Total World Penet. 14.6 %938,710,9296,420,102,722

33. So there is a problem: • AND THE PROBLEM IS: • Technology has widened the gap between developed and developing countries

34. How to Cure the DD? Within Nations • Liberalization Policies (Pro-competition Policies) • Universal Access • Public Access • Relevant Content

35. Across Nations • International Cooperation and Solidarity • ICT Task Force and Trust Fund • By the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in March2001 to provide leadership and guidance in strategies and to run a trust fund of voluntary contributions • Digital Opportunities Task Force (DOT) • By the G8 states in July 2001. • Run by World Bank and UNDP • Aims to match donors with projects • Digital Solidarity Fund? • Free software?

36. In conclusion… • Automotive industry at the turn of the 20th century = ICTs at the turn of the 21th century

37. Communication technologies do not change the social order; they are part of that order. So… • We can either use the capacity of the ICTs to empower and liberate individuals, groups and nations through access to democracy, economy and mediated communication Or… • Reinvent the existing imbalances.

38. What is the state of “information society” in your cities/neighborhoods? • How “connected”? • How “divided”? • What are the most common forms of public access (library? Internet café? Other?) • What are the factors that determine Internet access or lack of it? (age, class, gender, other?)