[WEB4LIB] Digital Divide (was Re: RE: Questia: who is behind it?)

[Tony Barry]

At 5:56 PM -0800 1/2/2001, Robert Tiess wrote:
>Dan Lester wrote:
>
>>  DB> Also, do
>>  DB> not add to the Digital Divide.
>>
>>  Yawn.  The digital divide is an invention of a bunch of liberal
>>  whiners who don't have enough trees to hug.
>
>Dan, now I realize you might have been on a sort of roll
>here debunking post after post, but surely you don't think
>every single family or child out there has the money or
>sufficient local informational infrastructures in place
>(e.g. wired libraries and schools) to put them all online
>and in reach of the same research resources you have
>access to in your institution.

The digital divide is between the first world and the third world. In 
rich countries like the US and Australia (my country) the poor have a 
chance to get access via public libraries and other institutions. But 
the bulk of the world's population hasn't even got a phone let alone 
internet access.

Let's remember folks we are talking about the world, not just the 
relatively poor in the rich countries. From where the bulk of the 
world's population sits the poor in the first world are pretty 
comfortable. For instance they don't face the risk of starvation or 
an AIDS epidemic which in Africa and Asia will have an effect as 
ghastly as the Black Death.

Tony
-- 
phone  +61 2 6241 7659
mailto:me at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au
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