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25 July, 1999The global gap between haves and have-nots, between know and know-nots, is widening, according to UN report.
GENEVA: The Internet has broken the bounds of cost, time and distance, launching an era of global information networking, says the 1999 UN Human Development Report. It costs $75 and takes five days to send at 40-page document from Madagascar to Côte d'Ivoire. It costs $45 and takes half an hour to fax it. It costs around 20 cents and takes two minutes to send it by e-mail, which can go to thousands of people at no extra cost. "The choice is easy, if the choice is there."
Knowledge is the new asset: more than half of the GDP in the major OECD countries is now knowledge-based. The development is rapid. The number of Internet hosts -- computers with a direct connection -- rose from less than 100,000 in 1988 to more than 36 million in 1998. More than 143 million people were estimated to be Internet users in mid-1998. By 2001 that number is expected to be more than 700 million.
The Internet is the fastest growing tool of communication ever. The information revolution has only just begun on a worldwide scale, and its networks are spreading wider every day.
But at the same time, the global gap between know and know-nots is widening. The networks are heavily concentrated in a very few countries. North America alone -- with less than 5 % of all people -- had more than 50 % of Internet users. By contrast, South Asia is home to over 20 % of all people but had less than 1 % of the world's Internet users.
Geographic barriers may have fallen for communications, but a new barrier has merged, an invisible barrier that, true to its name, is like a world wide web, embracing the connected and silently excluding the rest, says the UN report. "Determined efforts are needed to bring developing countries -- and poor people everywhere -- into the global conversation. "
Knowledge is the new asset: more than half of the GDP in the major OECD countries is now knowledge-based. The development is rapid. The number of Internet hosts -- computers with a direct connection -- rose from less than 100,000 in 1988 to more than 36 million in 1998. More than 143 million people were estimated to be Internet users in mid-1998. By 2001 that number is expected to be more than 700 million.
The Internet is the fastest growing tool of communication ever. The information revolution has only just begun on a worldwide scale, and its networks are spreading wider every day.
But at the same time, the global gap between know and know-nots is widening. The networks are heavily concentrated in a very few countries. North America alone -- with less than 5 % of all people -- had more than 50 % of Internet users. By contrast, South Asia is home to over 20 % of all people but had less than 1 % of the world's Internet users.
Geographic barriers may have fallen for communications, but a new barrier has merged, an invisible barrier that, true to its name, is like a world wide web, embracing the connected and silently excluding the rest, says the UN report. "Determined efforts are needed to bring developing countries -- and poor people everywhere -- into the global conversation. "