Information Poverty is the situation in which underdeveloped countries are faced with a striking absence of adequate resources, skills, and technology that would help in acquiring efficient information. When a resource like the Internet is greatly provided in certain parts of the world and at the same time greatly oblivious in the rest of the world, what occurs is an immense breach between developed and underdeveloped societies in the world. As the Internet becomes a given to households in first world countries, it continues to be a luxury and now a necessity all over third world countries. As Pippa Norris describes in the Editorial Information Poverty and the Wired World, “There is considerable concern worldwide that the explosion of the Internet may leave many nations far behind , producing growing disparities between advanced industrialized and developing societies.” (pg.1) As the gap between first world countries and third world countries increases, the realization of how far third world countries have fallen is extremely alarming.
Although the gap is alarmingly huge, there are individuals who have acquired computer and Internet access, but even in those few cases Information Poverty is still present. While on vacation in the Dominican Republic it became extremely clear to me how hard is to get any Internet access. There are many factors that are against a person while trying to connect to the Internet, for example, the electricity goes out every other hour and of course that is completely inadequate for using a computer. Also the Internet signal is very hard to attain and when it is attained it is hard to keep. Even though there are some who do own computers with Internet access, it is a daily hassle to try to do all the things that a person living in a first world country could do in an hour. When situations like these are experienced first hand there is an immediate awareness of how immense this gap is.
Norris, Pippa. “Information Poverty and the Wired World”. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics. 5 (2000): 1-6. Print.
Your analysis of what is information poverty and how it affects underdeveloped societies is very direct. Particularly because of your experience in the Dominican Republic. Living in a core country, it is easy to forget how convenient it is to attain technology and efficient information. Even though the severity of information poverty is highly evident in peripheral societies, we can not forget that it is a world wide issue. In the United States, as Norris states in his editorial, there are various groups of people who do not own a computer, therefore do not have access to the internet, and for the most part this refers to various specific groups of people. So, in such an advanced and prosperous society, the effects of information are very much present, and perpetuating class, social and educational inequalities. Though Norris touched on who is affected by information poverty and how, he did not give any clear solutions as to how to eradicate this problem. Information poverty should be a concern to the global community as a whole, and governments, corporations, and the people should all come together and tackle this issue head on, before it gets to the point of no return.
ReplyDelete