Transcript Reducing the Digital Divide and Overcoming Peripherality

Reducing the Digital Divide and
Overcoming Peripherality
Conor Mc Caffery
NIRSA Doctoral Fellow
Department of Geography
NUI Maynooth
Overview
• What is the Digital Divide and why worry
about/overcome it?
• NW Europe and The European Digital Divide
• Examples of basic indicators and rankings
• International/national/regional divisions
• Problems associated with peripheral regions and
needs
• Transnational cooperation and INTERREG
• Areas worth looking at in future projects
Digital Divide
Refers to the gap between individuals,
households, businesses and geographic
areas at different socio-economic levels with
regard both to their opportunities to access
information and communication technologies
(ICTs) and to their use of the internet for a
wide variety of activities (OECD)
Why worry about/overcome it?
• The EU’s success in achieving the goal of becoming the
most competitive knowledge-based society (eEurope
initiative) “will determine the quality of life of its citizens,
the working conditions of its workers and the overall
competitiveness of its industries and services” (European
Communities, 2003).
• If this is the potential of a ‘knowledge-based society’ and
the goal of the EU, what about those
people/businesses/regions unable to participate or falling
behind?
• “The availibility of quality telecommunications
infrastructure and services at a competitive price is as
crucial to regional development as electrification was in
the 40s and 50s” (ISC, 2002)
NW Europe
• Not a homogeneous region
• The Digital Divide in the EU: National
Policies and Access to ICTs in the Member
States
• www.dcu.ie/oscail/caffrey.pdf
• Internet and other indicators of technology
access
• Policy contexts
Number of PCs per 100
inhabitants
80
60
40
20
0
EU DK L
S UK FIN B
A
D NL F
P
I IRL E EL
Total population with internet
access and location (%)
100
80
Total
60
Home
Businesses
40
University
20
School
0
S
FIN DK
NL
L
A
UK
D
I
F
IRL
B
E
P
EL
Home ISDN Access (%)
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
NL
L
D
DK
A FIN S
UK
B
I
F
E IRL P
EL
Divisions
• Socioeconomic, infrastructure readiness and
geographic
• Tripartite
Leaders
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
The Netherlands
Luxembourg
Intermediates
Austria
Germany
France
UK
Belgium
• North/South
• Regional and broadband
Laggards
Ireland
Italy
Spain
Portugal
Greece
Regional Disparities
• Eg. Ireland
• National Level
South & East Region and The Celtic Tiger
• Within Regions (Western Region)
‘Gateways’ and ‘Hubs’
‘Critical Mass’
>5km ADSL exchange = no broadband
Peripheral Regions
• Present two major difficulties
• 1- Social
Dispersed population
Population density
Ageing population
• 2- Geographic
Physical accessibility
Technological problems associated with landscape
Different locations require different solutions
Two Needs
• 1- Technological access
2- Ability
• Examples of measures explored to overcome
these:
Public Internet Access Points (PIAPs)
Community technology centers
Community training
Transnational Cooperation?
• Need for a coordinated body – develop network of
groups in these countries
• Examples from NW Ireland:
Training- Within the microbusiness sector, training
for the long-term unemployed and women
returners to the workforce.
New technology- Locals bidding to the BMW
Regional Assembly Broadband Wireless Internet
Access Fund
Existing INTERREG Projects
• TESIS (Technology Supported Innovation
and E-Business in the Information Society)
• New Technologies in Rural Areas and
Smaller Towns
• Craft and Creative Industries in the
Information Age (CIA)
• Planning for the Knowledge Economy
• E-BYGOV (e-Government pilot project)
Areas worth looking at
for future projects
• Address the last kilometre – alternative
technologies
• Focusing on a)Need
b)Relevence
• Use the community
• Virtual networking
• MSE European portal
• An IT based network for education at all
levels
Reducing the Digital Divide and
Overcoming Peripherality
Conor Mc Caffery
NIRSA Doctoral Fellow
Department of Geography
NUI Maynooth