They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future" (OLPC, 2009).
Successful Bridging of the Digital Divide:
While the various private and international initiatives meant to reduce the digital divide are commendable in their intentions, it may very well be that the biggest factor is more a function of the natural rate of technological development. Specifically, cell phone use has already become extremely widespread, even in some of the most impoverished regions in the world (Corbett, 2008). Already, more than half of the world's entire population has telephone access, of whom most have cellular telephones (Hesseldahl, 2005). That is particularly significant because sociologists have identified cellular telephone access as one of the most important factors that has increased the earning potential of individuals living in some of the poorest communities in the world (Corbett, 2008).
More generally, the well-known principle expressed in Moore's Law suggests that computer processing power of developing technology will continue to double roughly every year and a half or...
The corresponding decrease in cost will only increase the availability of computer technology throughout the world. Many analysts have long predicted that within approximately another decade or two, computer processors will become so inexpensive that they will actually become disposable in the same manner as electric batteries developed from expensive novelty to disposable packs during the 20th century. Conceivably, that process will contribute more to reducing the digital divide than even the most ambitious plans to do so through international altruism.
References
Corbett, S. "Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?" The New York
Times
Magazine; April 13, 2008: 35-41.
Hesseldahl, Arik. "The U.N. Will Not Bridge The Digital Divide" Forbes; February 25,
2005. Retrieved August 1, 2009 from Forbes.com, at:
http://www.forbes.com/2005/02/25/cx_ah_0225tentech_print.html
One Laptop Per Child Foundation Mission Statement. (2009). Retrieved, August 1, 2009,
from: http://www.laptop.org/en/vision/index.shtml
