Digital Divide

Implication in the future Nepal

Imagine

• You, as a farmer, selling agriculture products in the market without any market information

• You, as a farmer, being dependent upon their traditional knowledge of weather in agriculture

• You, as a rural youth, walking for hours to find that medicine shop is closed

• You, as rural youth, going to city for study, wondering around colleges for information

What if?

• Farmers selling agriculture products know about market price before selling

• Farmers get up-to-date information on weather

• People get information that medicine shop is closed

• Rural youths get educational information at their village itself

Information is power

• That little information to those victims could have saved their time, money in order words hunger

• Livelihoods improve

• Unfortunately things are happening as we just imagined

• That little information couldn’t reach the needy ones at right time or couldn’t reach at all

Why?

Because of …

• Because of gap• Infrastructure gap• Content gap• Ignorance• Economic gap• …

• Termed as digital divide

What is digital divide?

• The term was first used to differentiate people having telephones to those without in US

• Traditionally, the divide between those with access to technologies to those without

Bridging gap

• Provide access to technologies • Computer• Internet• Other gadgets• …

Is it successful?

• Hundreds of studies showed that providing access to technologies is not the key factor

What happened?

• People are forgotten

• Too much focus on technologies

• People are not aware of the benefits they can receive from the use of technologies

• People are the key factors, making them understand is the solution, not just access

Vastness of digital divide

• Several gaps • Technological divide• Content divide• Gender divide• Social divide• Economic divide• …

The biggest challenge?• Fighting terrorism

• Stopping AIDS

• Reducing global warming

• Tackling world poverty

• …

Unfortunately none

The biggest challenge instead…

• Bridging the digital divide to the next 10 percents of world citizens

Why?

• Gives infrastructure to the stakeholders needed for the large scale effort • to stop terrorism • tackle poverty, • aware people about AIDS• …

Hunger vs. bridging digital divide?

• Bridging digital divide • Provides infrastructure to a village

• To distribute their products• Support entrepreneurial activity• Generating employment• …..• Hence reducing hunger

• We tend to think that we have to overcome obstacles to reduce the digital divide gap• These obstacles are primary objectives of

bridging digital divide

Digital divide is way to reduce hunger and not two separate issues that needs to be prioritized.

Questions?

Thank-you