Global Information Access
I. Portal Sites and Tools
Activity Information Management System
Global Knowledge Partnership
http://www.bellanet.org/gkaims/
The Global Knowledge Partnership's "Activity Information Management
System" is an extensive repository of organization and project profiles,
documents pertaining to ICT and development, and information on upcoming
events.
Globalization Bytes
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjb3v/Globalization%20Bytes%20final.ppt
PowerPoint presentation on the "Technological Revolution and the Global
Digital Divide" by Dr. Robert J. Beck at 2001 Global Studies Summer
Institute, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Interactive Map: The Geography of Technological Innovation and
Achievement
http://www.undp.org/hdr2001/popupmap.html
Valuable tool offered in UNDP Human Development Report 2001, "Making New
Technologies Work For Human Development"
Internet World Stats
http://www.internetworldstats.com/index.html
An International website featuring up to date 2005 worldwide Internet
Usage, the Population Statistics and the Area Data, for over 233 countries
and world regions. Includes statistics for Top Internet Penetrated
Countries:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/top10.htm
QuickLinks Index - "Digital Divide"
Edited by Richard Swetenham, European Commission Directorate General XIII
http://www.qlinks.net/quicklinks/divide.htm
Quicklinks provides links to news items about legal and regulatory aspects
of Internet and the information society, particularly those relating to
information content, and market and technology. It consists of a free
electronic mail newsletter and a Web site that includes news items
organized by category such as "Digital Divide."
"Virtual Villages: Technology and the Developing World"
http://fyi.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/virtualvillages
A companion site to the CNN program. Features essays and reference,
including statistics.
II. Organizations
Bridges.org
http://www.bridges.org/index.html
With offices in Washington, DC, and Cape Town, South Africa, Bridges.org
seeks to help people in developing countries use technology to improve
their lives. This international NGO approaches its mission by implementing
discrete projects that, taken together, represent a comprehensive approach
to the range of problems of the digital divide.
Digital Divide Network
http://www.digitaldivide.net./
The Benton Foundation and the National Urban League, with private
foundations and companies from across the Internet, computing,
telecommunications and software industries have launched The Digital
Divide Network, arguably "the first-ever initiative to coordinate
information, strategies and efforts targeting solutions to the Digital
Divide." The new site is a comprehensive clearinghouse on completed and
ongoing efforts to expand access by underserved communities to the
Internet and information technology.
Digital Dividend
http://www.digitaldividend.org/
http://www.wri.org/
A project of the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank,
the "Digital Dividend" advocates "a business approach to closing the
global digital divide."
The Digital Opportunity Initiative (DOI)
http://www.opt-init.org/
A public private partnership of Accenture, the Markle Foundation and the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). DOI was launched at the G-8
Okinawa Summit in 2000, with the aim of identifying the roles that
information and communication technologies (ICT) can play in fostering
sustainable economic development and enhancing social equity.
The Global Knowledge Partnership
http://www.globalknowledge.org/
The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is an evolving, informal
partnership of public, private and not-for-profit organizations. Partner
organizations are committed to sharing information, experiences and
resources to promote broad access to, and effective use of, knowledge and
information as tools of sustainable, equitable development. The GKP
emerged from the cooperation of several dozen organizations in sponsoring
the Global Knowledge 97 conference, "Knowledge for Development in the
Information Age" in Toronto, Canada in June 1997.
infoDev - The Information for Development Program
http://www.infodev.org/
Created in 1995, infoDev is an international consortium of official
bilateral and multilateral development agencies and other key partners,
facilitated by an expert Secretariat housed at the World Bank. Its mission
is to help developing countries and their partners in the international
community use information and communication technologies (ICT) effectively
and strategically as tools to combat poverty, promote sustainable economic
growth, and empower individuals and communities to participate more fully
and creatively in their societies and economies.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Task Force
http://www.unicttaskforce.org/
A multi-stakeholder initiative launched by the UN Secretary-General in
2001. In supporting the first phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) in December 2003, the Task Force successfully helped in
placing the United Nations development objectives at the heart of the
Summit and mobilized the participation of the multi-stakeholder networks,
organized a series of side events and launched new initiatives, including
on education. This comprehensive portal site includes "Accessible
Information on Development Activities" database.
Sustainable Development Networking Programme - UNDP
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/
Features a "Networking and Information Technology Observatory," documents
collection, technical help desk, virtual help desk, and case studies.
There are Sustainable Development Networking Programmes [SDNPs] in 40
developing countries now, up from the initial 12 country pilot projects in
1993. Each one encompasses making Information Technology [IT] more
accessible, more usable and more understandable to civil society.
III. Documents
Creating a Development Dynamic
http://www.opt-init.org/framework.html
Final Report of the Digital Opportunity Initiative, July 16, 2001. Seeks
to demonstrate the critical role that information and communication
technologies (ICT) can play in helping developing countries to enhance the
lives of their citizens. The document lays out a strategy for developing
nations to work with developed countries, and the private and non-profit
sectors, to generate sustainable development and achieve a range of social
goals. These include improvements to education, healthcare, and increased
economic opportunity.
The Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004
http://www.infodev.org/files/1065_file_GITR2003.pdf
Since it was launched in 2001, the Global Information Technology Report
has become a valuable and unique benchmarking tool to determine national
ICT strengths and weaknesses, and to evaluate progress. It also highlights
the continuing importance of ICT application and development for economic
growth. The Report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), covering a
total of 102 economies in 2003-2004, to measure "the degree of preparation
of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT
developments".
infoDev Publication Library
http://www.infodev.org/section/library
Practical Action
http://www.itdg.org/?id=technology_and_poverty
http://www.itdg.org/?id=technical_briefs
Practical Action, formerly known as the "Intermediate Technology
Development Group," is an international non-governmental organization that
specializes in helping people to use technology for Practical Answers to
Poverty. Practical Action emphasizes technologies that are affordable,
accessible and appropriate for poor people. Its portal site features many
documents of interest, including "Technology, Poverty and the future of
the Developing World," a September 2001 "progressive response" to the UNDP
Human Development Report, "Making new technologies work for human
development."
Spanning the Digital Divide: Understanding and Tackling the Issues
http://www.bridges.org/spanning/report.html
Concludes that "ground level efforts and government policy are fundamental
to changing the status quo and spread the benefits of ICT. Only with a
concerted effort will the potential of ICT impacts on and improve people's
quality of life, whether they are underprivileged or not."
UNDP Human Development Report 2001
"Making New Technologies Work For Human Development"
http://www.undp.org/hdr2001/
Released July 9, 2001, the UNDP's 2001 HDR argues that, while advances in
information and communications technologies often bypass the world's poor,
ICT has a potentially significant role in development. The report
highlights examples of technology being used for political empowerment,
distance learning, and job creation.
IV. US Government
Global Issues: "The Evolving Internet"
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/1103/ijge/ijge1103.htm
Special issue of electronic publication of Department of State
V. Books and Other Materials on Technology and Human History
Highlighted
Site! Britz, Johannes J. (2005) "Digital
Divide."
2005 Global Studies Summer Institute, University of
Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
Friedman, Thomas L. (2005)
The World Is
Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.
Rifkin, Jeremy. (2000)
The Age of Access: The New Culture of Hypercapitalism, Where All of Life
Is a Paid-For Experience.
Tarnas, Richard (1993)
The Passion of the Western Mind.
Toffler, Alvin (1984)
The Third Wave.
