The Digital Divide

As I was researching for my latest article, half looking for topics to blog about and half trying not to get distracted by the five comfy pillows on the bed. I ran into yet another article on the “$100 laptop.” The truth is that in the last two months I have completely forgotten the thing I’m most passionate about: the rest of the world (ie. the developing world).

I decided to take this opportunity and blog about development. The dot-com culture I have been blogging about is a small part of our world. Only about 18.9% percent of the world population has access and uses the internet. That’s a very small percentage.

Yes, the internet and the internet growing youth is changing the way business is done, but what about the other 5,330,216,816 people that have never been on the internet.

One Laptop per Child is trying to lower this number and close the digital divide between the children that I argue “drive” business and those that are left behind.

The One Laptop per Child Program hopes to deliver the XO laptop computers to children in developing countries. The computers are currently sold at $188 but the program hopes to lower the price to $100.

Considering I blog about the internet I should probably focus on the computer’s internet capabilities. The computer has dual wi-fi antennas. The laptops form a “mesh network” that allows each computer to pass information from one computer to the other, as long as one computer has access to wireless internet all other computers in range can share this access. If the computers are not near internet access they can still pass information between them.

This past week production started. The first official purchase was made last month by the government of Uruguay. Laptops will be offered from this Monday the 12 till the 26, laptops will be delivered by December.

This project will probably not single handedly close the digital divide. But it is a noble project, one that brings awareness to the fact that the internet isn’t an essential part of everyone’s daily life.

Does the internet allow the free flow of information? Is it a democratizing force? Does it drive business? Only for some.

The truth is that the internet, for most of the world, just widens the gap between the money making business world and those who don’t have the resources needed to participate in it.