[WSIS CS-Plenary] The Economist on the 'real digitaldivide'

[Nabil El-Khodari]

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Dear Dr. Mueller:

I do appreciate your comment, I do perfectly understand it. When is
the second part of your report to be published? 

I hope that you do not mean by your comments that in places such as
Ethiopia, where there is drought and famine, we cannot include
computers as part of the educational system for example. If that is
the argument, since we may be condemning these society to perpetual
poverty, some of which may be caused by lack of access to information
and/or markets.

Sincerely,

Nabil El-Khodari
Founder
Nile Basin Society

Tel.: +1 (647) 722-3256
Fax: +1 (647) 722-3273

http://nilebasin.com
http://nile.ca

108 Waterbury Dr. 
Toronto, ON M9R 3Y3
Canada

"How we decide and who gets to decide often determines what we
decide." Environmental Governance

"If the people will lead, the leaders will follow" Dr. David Suzuki


- -----Original Message-----
From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On
Behalf Of Milton Mueller
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 5:25 PM
To: schock at riseup.net; plenary at wsis-cs.org
Subject: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] The Economist on the 'real
digitaldivide'




Dr. Milton Mueller
Syracuse University School of Information Studies
http://www.digital-convergence.org
http://www.internetgovernance.org


>>> schock at riseup.net 3/13/2005 10:56:52 AM >>>
>Anyone have time write a good response to this? In fact they would
>probably publish a thoughtful response letter.

I would hope that any thoughtful response will recognize that the
fundamental premise expressed below, is true:

>...the digital divide is not a problem in
>itself, but a symptom of deeper, more important divides: of income, 
>development and literacy. Fewer people in poor countries than in
>rich  ones own computers and have access to the internet simply
>because
they
>are too poor, are illiterate, or have other more pressing concerns,
such
>as food, health care and security. So even if it were possible to
>wave 
a
>magic wand and cause a computer to appear in every household on
earth,
>it would not achieve very much: a computer is not useful if you have
no
>food or electricity and cannot read.


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