What is the Digital Divide?

The digital divide refers to the information gap and the richness of the rich and the poor caused by the differences in the ownership, application, and innovation capabilities of information, network technology, and the like among different countries, regions, industries, enterprises, and communities in the global digitalization process. Polarization trend. The word is derived from the book "Transfer of Power" published by the famous American futurist Toffler in 1990, which proposed the concepts of information rich, information poor, information gap and digital divide. The gap in electronic technology, information and electronic technology has caused divisions between developed and less developed countries. The digital divide is a global issue in the information age. Not only is the problem of social differentiation caused by differences in the level of information, technology ownership, application level, and innovation ability of different populations within a country, but it is more acutely caused by the different levels of information industry and information economy development in different countries in the global digitalization process. The north-south issue of the information age is essentially a question of social justice in the information age. It involves many major issues such as economic equality in the world today, poverty alleviation and debt relief for poor countries, breaking monopolies and unconditional transfer of technology. ^[1]

Digital divide

First defined by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in a 1999 report entitled "Legacy in the Network: Defining the Digital Divide": The Digital Divide refers to the The gulf exists between people who have the tools and those who never owned. The digital divide reflects the disparity in contemporary information technology. ^[2]

Establishing a New International Information Order

The term "digital divide" was first proposed by the United Nations and developed countries, and developing countries have embraced this concept as an important topic of North-South dialogue. However, in the current situation, developed countries are more proactive on this issue.

The main reason is that due to the different levels of informatization development, developed countries are more sensitive to the social impact of the new technological revolution and informatization, and especially have a strong sense of crisis and a sense of crisis in domestic "digital differentiation."

The "digital divide" between North and South and the widening gap between North and South have increased the hostility and resentment of Southern countries towards North countries and increased doubts about globalization. This is not conducive to the promotion of values and development models in the West, and has aroused Western concerns.

The domestic traditional information product market in developed countries has become saturated, and a large number of information technologies and products need to increase value and upgrade through large-scale diffusion. At this time, companies in developed countries urgently need to open, create, and cultivate information product markets in developing countries. As President of Cisco

Digital divide can be divided into access groove and use groove, namely the first groove and the second groove.

The two levels can be divided into: 1 The digital divide between countries (mainly the digital divide between developed and developing countries)

2 Domestic differentiation on the digital divide

The three levels can be divided into: 1 globalization 2 stratification 3 nationalization

The digital divide is widening

In the first half of 2003, serious global emergencies continued to occur, and the digital divide between countries and regions continued to widen and was thought-provoking.

Iraq s response to the US-British coalition was a very asymmetric, unconventional warfare: all the equipment of the US infantry division was digitized and informatized, and it had a strong air-control capability; and the oil burning in the trenches outside Baghdad was like a squid The spitting ink has become a fog to escape.

A global "SARS" virus-another sudden war without gunpowder. World Health Organization expert Inger inspected the epidemic situation in Beijing, Guangdong and other places in April and May. He believed that China's public health epidemic prevention system includes the lack of a public health professional team, the disease surveillance reporting system is relatively backward, data analysis is slow, and experiments are conducted. The main problems are insufficient room control capacity.

The third global emergency was the continuous earthquakes in Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia in the Western Pacific Island Chain. In particular, a magnitude 7 earthquake in the Sendai area at 18:00 on May 26 hit half of Japan. Compared with the 1995 Kobe magnitude 7.2 earthquake that killed approximately 6,400 people, almost every prefecture in Japan has its own disaster prevention and relief information system in response to the earthquake. This also proves that Japan has a high ability to respond to earthquake disasters.

Digital divide reflection

As Director Duan Peijun of the Central Party School's Strategy Office said, these emergencies not only allow us to reflect on the system and mechanism, but also reflect on deep concepts: the right to know is also the right to life. Only by getting information and understanding can we survive, and only by knowing the truth can the public "one heart and one mind" and reduce losses to a minimum.

April 20 last year was the turning point for China to face the SARS emergency. From the press conference of the Information Office of the State Council at that time, ordinary people were first informed of the serious epidemic of "the rain is coming" from Beijing through formal channels for the first time. Admitting mistakes and learning lessons, the great national spirit immediately showed strong cohesion. The central and local governments and the masses prevent and control the masses, and have adopted a series of effective policies and measures to stabilize the situation.

Successive global emergencies will never be just a loss to humanity, at least another exposure, a warning, a push, an opportunity. They once again prove the harshness of the information age: whoever has the information will be safer and richer; whoever loses the information and falls into the "digital divide" will be even poorer and more passive.

Digital Divide Earth Response

Resilience comes from long-term scientific accumulation and reserves. Without basic research and basic data as a scientific reserve for responding to emergencies, digging wells before thirst will inevitably delay things. Looking back on 1999, the National Natural Science Foundation of China invested 20 million yuan to set up the "China High-Speed Internet Test Network", set up 6 nodes in Beijing, and interconnected with the international second-generation Internet. If we can further communicate with the nodes of the 100 institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 100 universities of the Ministry of Education, a nationwide cross-sector research and experimental platform can be formed. 57 academicians have suggested this.

At present, there are more than 180 satellite and aeronautical remote sensing application agencies and more than 400 geographic information system companies in China. More than 70 colleges and universities have set up a major in geographic information systems, and a team of geo-information science has gradually formed. After the integration of the three five-year plans, we are currently working towards a discipline system that is guided by earth system science and based on new information science technologies such as parallel computing and grid computing.

Chinese scientists are not bad at their ingenuity and innovation. For example, as the network develops toward broadband, integration, digital, and intelligence, the mobile communication code division multiple access CDMA method invented by Professor Li Daoben of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications has not only applied for Chinese and US patents, but has also become an alternative to the International Organization for Standardization Program. As we all know, almost all third-generation mobile communication systems are controlled by Qualcomm's patents. Only the LASCDMA system can take its own path, and it is more superior without control. At present, there may be a gap of 10 to 20 years between the "digital divide" between China and developed countries. However, it is artificial. Professor Li Daoben's efforts on network information security show that it is possible to break the monopoly of global information and cross the "digital The "gap" and closing the gap are promising!

Three rules of the digital divide

The digital divide is a gap in information technology or a gap in the spread of information technology. The concept of the digital divide should be deeper. It is not just a question of information popularization. It may be a gap in the development of the country's new economy to a greater extent. It is a question of whether we can catch up. The first is to explore whether there is any regularity behind the digital divide. The second problem is to explore how to solve the digital divide. I think there is something regular behind the digital divide.

First of all, we think that the digital divide is a gap that exists in the middle of information exchange, or it is a "bit stream" divide. In the category of information exchange, it is different from our material flow. We know that the flow of matter conforms to the direction from high density to low density. However, information exchange requires that the information of the two parties exchanged is symmetrical. Under the premise of asymmetric information, there is no way to communicate well.

For example, why is it impossible to play the ox on a cow? Because people and cattle cannot communicate. Only two people with similar knowledge levels have the greatest communication strength. Therefore, I said that information exchange can only take place under the condition of information symmetry. This is the first law we said.

In the second aspect, I believe that the digital divide is an economic phenomenon, which conforms to some basic laws of the development of the network economy. There is a "double inflection point phenomenon" in the development of the network economy, which is the first in the growth of economic development. Critical point. Only when the first critical point is reached can there be explosive growth. By the second tipping point, growth will begin to slow down. This phenomenon exists in the digital divide. If you fail to reach a critical point, our network industry or network economy will not develop. If you want to bridge the digital divide, there is no way. This is the second law.

The third aspect is the gap between the ability to innovate and the ability to learn. We have problems with advanced countries in terms of innovation and learning, and we say it is also a digital divide. There is a "Matai effect" on the learning ability and the ability to innovate. The better you learn, the more you love to learn, and the better you are, the more you pursue innovation. In areas with poor innovation, people with weak learning ability do not like innovation and learning. This "Matai effect" is very obvious.

We believe that there are three basic laws behind the digital divide. When addressing the digital divide, we feel that there should be some ways to come up for your attention. We now simply divide the digital divide into three categories, one is the digital divide between countries, one is the digital divide between regions, and the other is the digital divide between people. The solutions to these three gaps are different.

First of all, we believe that the way to close the digital divide between countries is to allow some regions (some people) to be digitized first, without rushing to fill it. Just like we set up a special economic zone, we should let some people get rich first. If we want to bridge the gap between nations, we must first widen it. I think this is an effective method. why?

We know that the US Business Week has recently selected nine cities in the world that are most likely to have a new economy in the future. Two of them are from developing countries, one is Suzhou in our country, and the other is Bangalore in India. ". Why did he choose Suzhou as a growth point for China's new economy in the future? A region, especially in a developing country, must become the growth point of the new economy and become a region closer to international standards. There may be several conditions: First, the natural environment is better. We know that the new economy needs good nature. Scenery, scenery can leave people; Second, where the legal environment is relatively sound, not only science and technology is productivity, the legal environment is also productivity; Third, where intellectual resources are relatively dense. We believe that to solve the digital divide between countries, we must first cultivate a few of these areas. These areas and international standards can reduce the digital divide between countries. This is our first view, which is to let some people, A region is digitized first.

Secondly, we believe that the solution to the problem of the digital divide between regions depends on the role of the government. Because according to the law of economic development, the development of any kind of industry and a new economic industry must reach a critical point before it can enter explosive growth.

Mr. Hou Ziqiang talked about the development of China Netcom this morning, but if a certain number of users cannot be reached, China Netcom will not be able to develop quickly. This critical point or the number of critical users, we think should be cultivated by the government. Things. We feel that when addressing the digital divide between regions, the government should help some underdeveloped regions develop the Internet economy through transfer to get rich, or some other fiscal policy.

Thirdly, we think that to resolve the digital divide between people, we must rely on science popularization and education. This is the issue of the popularization and application of information technology discussed by experts this morning.

In short, I think that the solution to the digital divide needs to be solved according to different situations, and there should not be a unified model. It is more of an economic phenomenon, not that it can be easily solved by government guidance. Government guidance should be guided to a more appropriate place, and should be guided by the laws of the market economy. It is not simply to implement one or two plans or one or two indicators to completely eliminate them. These plans and indicators will probably be wasted in the future. Because information technology is developing very fast now, five years is too long, and many things will happen. We must catch up and prevent waste. These are the two aspects we need to pay attention to when we understand this problem.