Digital Divide, ICTs and the Leapfrogging theory

According to the UNESCO, Digital Divide refers to inequality of access and unequal diffusion of technologies within and among nations of the world.

That is wy the ICTs have been developped. The ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) are technics used for the transmission of information, targetting principally information, the Internet and telecommunications.

ICTization is the the concept of mainstreaming of ICTs, presented in three stages:
- the info-density: infrastructures of ICT.
- the info-use: adoption and use of those ICTs.
- the info-state: digital gap.

According to the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the Digital Divide creates a gap between those who benefit from the Digital Technology and those who do not.

There is also the Content-Divide, targetting the access divide, the economical divide, the democratic and skills divides.

Digital Divide is a problem especially for countries of the South. Some solutions have been developped as the $100 laptop, or mobile phone, ways to bring technologies into more isolated and poor countries and regions in the world.
As said Ikbal Kadir: "connectivity means productivity". The mobile phone for example seems to be a weapon against poverty but also economic help being a production tool.

the Leapfrogging theory is important to take into concideration. In fact, major developped countries have followed the "classic" development, moving from an agricultural society, to an industrialised society with the industrial revolution, and finally being a knowledge society. The leapfrogging theory present the fact that undevelopped countries should jump the industrial revolution and develop their knowldege society.

In fact, I think that the ICTs are the future. They develop creativity, communication and productivity. This has been seen with Egyptian women, now able to sell what they produce thanks to cell phone, and without neglecting their activities. It gave to those women more responsabilities, more freedom and more independancy. It developped the process of the rights of work for those women.