Tuesday, November 22, 2005
World summit tackling the digital divide to get under way in Bilbao
EiTB24.com
Spain is hosting the "World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society" Delegates are assembled to try to figure out how to use ICT to reduce poverty around the world.
Virtually every hotel room in the city has been snapped up as over 2,000 delegates from cities and regions around the world arrive to draw up a plan of action based on the Internet as a tool for combating global poverty.
Spain is hosting the "World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society" Delegates are assembled to try to figure out how to use ICT to reduce poverty around the world.
All citizens have a universal right to access and use these technologies, but there is still much work to be done in this respect, particularly in view of the fact that 80% of Internet users live in developed countries. However, for people in many other parts of the world, the possibility of being able to connect to the Internet remains a dream. Analysts believe that the bolstering of the Information Society may help dissuade people from emigrating in large numbers from the Third World in search of a supposedly better life in the developed world.Another example of the attempt to address the digital divide and end poverty with digital tools. Are they putting too much hope into a technological fix? Is ICT a silver bullet to kill global poverty? Or just one more arrow in the quiver of weapons that can be used to address the global extremes of wealth and poverty. What ever the answer, it is clear that many experts and organizations and governments are putting a lot of faith that an equitable digital revolution can redress the inequalities of the global economy.
