South Africa's technology divide: economic and cultural disparity

South Africa Tech Divide

South Africa the Technology Divide

South Africa the Technology Divide: Economic & Cultural Disparity"

The development of a massive technology divide is not an isolated issue in any nation, but some nations are at particular risk and in particularly dire straights. This work discusses the technology divide in South Africa, focusing on both the problem itself, barriers to technology spread and lastly some solutions that are and will help the problem in the future. Though South Africa may be ahead in it development, with regard to other African nations it is seriously lagging in this area in a global comparison. Globalization and it emphasis and focus in business will dictate that every nation, if it is going to compete in the global market, will need to address this issue and expose many more people to technology training, including but not limited to internet access and understanding.

"South Africa the Technology Divide: Economic & Cultural Disparity"

Information technology is a hot topic issue in many global environments as the possibilities and advances that are being made as a result of such technology are significant to social, political, and economic development in every way. Those nations who are behind in addressing a technology divide will likely also be behind in the development of global prepared workforces and foreign investment in business. South Africa is one of those nations, as traditional social, economic and racial divides continue to plague the nation in unforeseen areas and disadvantaged peoples are at serious risk of never having the kind of preparedness they need to do anything but the most menial tasks.

Though South Africa may be ahead of its African continental neighbors with regard to the development of information technology the nation still has a significant way to go with regard to addressing the technology divide that separates urban and rural areas, as well as people of lower means to those of higher means, a historically racist infrastructure associated with hundreds of years of black oppression.

Hundley, Anderson, Bikson & Neu, 2003, p. xxxvii) This type of technology divide, i.e. between urban and rural sites and economically advantaged and disadvantaged individuals is universal to all nations, as those who are without the extendible income or the infrastructure to do so are less likely that those who do to have and use technology, but especially personal computers. Yet, in South Africa this divide is decidedly colored. "Only 1.8% of Black-African households own a computer -- limiting access to technology and information." (Ferreira & Bayat, 2005, p. 15)

The real situation is that hardly any change has taken place in the relations of economic power and control. Moreover, in the foreseeable future and in terms of the prevailing system, no such fundamental change is to be expected. With hardly any exceptions, the sources of economic power remain in the hands that controlled them under apartheid.

(Alexander, 2003, p. 146)

Though, you will find that in nations (other than the U.S. And Europe, who are ahead of the curve) technology is available on a pay as you go service in public places such as internet cafes or sometimes for free in libraries, yet even something as simple as electricity often eludes the poorest of public spaces like libraries in poor locations in South Africa.

The challenges are also technological. South Africa's libraries exhibit a range of technological capacities. Such innovations as PCs, LANs, library automation, and access to online networks are taken for granted by library users and staff in libraries serving privileged communities. Libraries serving many other communities have to make do without electricity or telephones. This situation holds the danger that an information gap can arise between the sophisticated and unsophisticated libraries and between the historically privileged and disadvantaged groups they serve. Investment in information technology is impeded by the declining value of South Africa's currency. Hence a gap may develop between more and less affluent institutions of higher education and research. The Internet appears to offer low-cost solutions to overcome barriers to access, but as the connected elite increasingly rely on it for communication, the unconnected are all the more handicapped. Paradoxically, electronic technology has the potential both to eliminate barriers and to exacerbate the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor, within and between nations.(92) (Lor, 1996, p. 235)Like South Africa, libraries are thought to be in transition. There are technological challenges: electronic networks, disembodied information, virtual libraries.(1) Libraries worldwide are challenged by economic and social forces.(2)

Like many institutions in the post-apartheid South Africa the social and cultural issues of division are still very much a dividing line, and though libraries have been a constant in the attempt to eradicate the technology divide in other nations. Libraries in other nations have been integral in the attempt to bring, to the poor access to technology, for free that they otherwise would have no access to. South Africa's divided nation offers challenges to libraries and other institutions that harkens back to much older divisions and challenges, i.e. those of aparthied.

The literature is replete with exhortations for the reconceptualization and repositioning of libraries, which must adapt to these changes or go the way of the dinosaurs.(3)Thus, South Africa's libraries can be seen as being involved in two transitions. Along with libraries elsewhere, they are entering the white water of information technology. As social institutions they are molded by the forces at work in South African society. Our revolution brings with it massive changes in social relations, political power bases, governmental structures and financing, and in the clientele and conceptualization of social services and institutions. In this period of change, are South Africa's libraries at the forefront? Are they being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the future? Or are they quietly and benevolently being neglected? A further question arises. Does the story of libraries in South Africa have something to contribute to an understanding of libraries worldwide? Could America learn something from our experience? (Lor, 1996, p. 235)

Libraries are clearly not the only answer, though they are a starting point, education is an essential aspect of spreading technology to those who will serve as future leaders. These future leaders require advanced exposure to technology, especially in a growing global economy, for South Africa to continue to be a location of investment and technology interest, by its own companies and those of foreign nations, often integral in advanced development of nations. This work will discuss the issue of the technology divide in South Africa first by identifying the scope of the problem, then by detailing the many obstacles and barriers associated with eradicating the technology divide and finally by offering solutions that are being utilized to chip away at this problem.

Scope of the Problem

It has already been said that black South African families are at an extreme disadvantage with regard to the ownership and use of personal computers. Many are also challenged by infrastructural issues, such as inadequate housing, lack of telephone lines and also electricity. With these problems also come the overall or global investment of South Africa in it, technology, in general. Anderson, Bikson & Neu point out that the technology divide in South Africa runs much deeper than a simple lack of personal computers or telephones, or even free access at libraries and schools:

in 1998 Africa had just 4% of the world's Internet hosts and 0.22% of World Wide Web sites, with more than half of these being in South Africa, even though it has 12% of the world's population. One must also remember how poor Africa is in general: The wealthiest 15 individuals in the world, taken together, have a greater net worth than all of sub-Saharan Africa.Africa's it problems are not primarily technical; they involve the following factors of culture, competence, capital, and control:

Cultural factors such as language, nationalism, stratification, legal framework, vertical authority relationships, trust, meritocracy, and concept of information complicate and impede the spread and use of information technology in Africa.

It takes an educated populace to know how to bring it to those who most need it. Africa is lacking in this area.

In many sub-Saharan countries, financial and physical capital (electric power and telecommunications) are lacking.

The agencies of control in sub-Saharan African countries -- governments, militaries, religious organizations, the private sector -- often impede it development. In spite of these impediments, there are positive indications that the information revolution is moving forward in Africa. However, two additional factors may indirectly impede progress

The HIV / AIDS epidemic in Africa, which has become the biggest threat to the continent's development.

In the post-9/11 era, much of the world's attention and resources will be focused elsewhere. For all these reasons, it is likely that information technology improvements will continue in Africa, but the region will continue to fall further behind much of the rest of the world during the next several decades.

Hundley, Anderson, Bikson & Neu, 2003, p. xxxviii)

Anderson, Bikson & Neu also point out that older technology, assumed to be pervasive all over the world is far from pervasive in South Africa and other African nations.

In 1990, Africa had 2% of the world's telephones, but in 2000 it had only 0.8%. (These data, taken from International Telecommunications Union tables, represent fixed lines, not wireless, and there are now more mobile telephone subscribers in Africa than fixed-line subscribers. 3 Nevertheless, with about 12% of the world's population, Africa is far behind in per capita telephone subscribers.) (Hundley, Anderson, Bikson & Neu, 2003, p. 126)

More specifically, even with personal computers and needed telephones there are still major lags in internet access.

Regarding Internet access, South Africa again dominates the continent's usage; it has approximately 750,000 dial-up Internet subscribers out of about 1.36 million for all of Africa, or about 55% of the total.... Overall, in 1998, Africa had just 4% of the world's Internet hosts 6 and 0.22% of World Wide Web sites. 7 One must also remember how poor Africa is in general. At an earlier conference in the RAND/NIC series on the global course of the information revolution, one speaker commented that the wealthiest 15 individuals in the world, taken together, have a greater net worth than all of sub-Saharan Africa. (Hundley, Anderson, Bikson & Neu, 2003, p. 126)

Though, the perceptual idea that South Africa is on the whole ahead o its African Neighbors in development of technology and access to it, there is a clear sense that without a massive influx of resources and change the nation will still continue to lag behind more developed nations in technology application and use.

What is Being Done?

In South Africa there is a considerable level of corruption and lengthy debate that creates additional barriers to the leveling out of protections, rights and even services among the disadvantaged. It is for these reasons and many others that would constitute their own examination that legislation to improve it infrastructure is very limited, if it exists at all. To say the least, South Africa is in a period of social, political, economic and cultural transition that is sucking up all available legislative focus, for more pressing issues than it access and the technology divide. Additionally, South Africa is in a precarious position with regard to labor legislation, as foreign investment is scared away by intensive legislation, and such legislation is therefore shied away from. (Arnold, 2000, p. 64-65, 95, 107, 112-115, 144-145)

Awareness of the lack of technology access in the broader communities, but especially among the poor is an aspect of change that has taken many large steps in the past 15-20 years, but like so many other pressing issues it is likely that many individuals seeking change arte stymied by the enormity of the problem, as can be seen by the continued lack of electricity in schools and libraries in underprivileged areas. Librarians, educators and other who have had the experience of exposure to information technology and all its wonders are a significant voice in the community, but like legislation they are also stymied by other pressing and sever social and cultural issues, such as health, awareness and even simpler resources, like school books and pencils, though corporate investment is a growing trend in schools in South Africa. ("Mobile Science Center Brings High-Tech Experimentation to Remote Parts of South Africa," 2003, p. 41)

At its broadest, corporate social investment in education can be targeted to assist key governmental policies. Support for effective nongovernmental organizations working in schools to upgrade teaching skills, and pioneering new approaches to learning or helping school managers operate more efficiently, provide further avenues for business to expand education opportunity by judicious social investment and send a powerful message of the way communities, governments, and businesses can help change society for the better. (Boyd, Spicer & Keeton, 2001, p. 71)

Corporate investment in schools is growing, as is corporate investment in non- governmental organizations (NGOs) who have goals that seek improvement in education in South Africa, including but not limited to the development of broader access to information technology.

Tools for Success South Africa is currently grappling with these issues {technology and student success in the classroom] as its education system has been plagued by inequalities, as well as a deliberate and systematic separation of educational content and facilities. While many urban schools are adequately equipped, conditions in rural areas are often drastically different. Many schools don't have electricity, while most don't have computers. In addition, hundreds of classes are held in makeshift, prefabricated buildings with minimal water, insufficient textbooks, inadequate desks and chairs, and often more than 60 students per teacher. it's hard enough to simply focus in such an environment let alone give students the tools they need to succeed. Furthermore, many believe that the standard of living in South Africa depends largely on the well-being of the economy, which needs skilled and educated people to drive it. This can only be achieved through education. ("Mobile Science Center Brings High-Tech Experimentation to Remote Parts of South Africa," 2003, p. 41)

One of the very best examples, found by this researcher, with regards to the development of corporate investment in technology development in education is a South African company that has seen fit to establish a traveling technology classroom that spends a good deal of time taking the technology to the schools, rather than attempting to upgrade schools all at once, an undoubtedly monumental task. Additionally, the growth of wireless technology, cell modems and even satellite modems can significantly improve the outlook for such a program, until such a program becomes obsolete.

Edusoft, a division of Pert Industrials, a South African-based developer and manufacturer of systems for technical training, has been involved in helping South African students achieve educational experiences for several years. In conjunction with one of their clients in the engineering department of Technikon Pretoria, Edusoft recently began focusing on how to improve students' experiences with technology and science.After months of deliberation, Peter Horszowski and his co-workers at Edusoft decided the best way to provide students with these experiences would be to build a low-cost mobile classroom that could be transported to rural schools countrywide. The goal was to enable South African teachers in some of the poorest schools to cover important curricular practicals such as graphs of motion and chemical reactions. "We wanted something that could bring 'wow' experiments to students in order to stimulate their interest and enthusiasm in areas that have very limited exposure to science of any kind," says Horszowski. ("Mobile Science Center Brings High-Tech Experimentation to Remote Parts of South Africa," 2003, p. 41)

The development of this program is essential, though currently small in scale to the development of awareness and access to technology in schools, and therefore for to the generation associated with what real change will look like in the future. This type of change supersedes that of the rather superficial change that occurs when laws change but conditions do not, a phenomena seen particularly in South Africa.

The Mobile Science Center was designed as a trailer unit for an SUV. It is equipped with its own generator and lighting, as well as a series of plug outlets. It has lockable drawers, a data projector, and a DVD-equipped laptop and speaker system for eye-catching technology-based experiments and demonstrations. Edusoft also equipped it with an Xplorer datalogger and a series of PASPORT sensors from PASCO scientific, a California-based developer and manufacturer of science learning solutions. The cost of the Mobile Science Center was about $10,000, which was financed by donor organizations in collaboration with South Africa's University of the North."We felt the hands-on approach combined with technology had the potential to make this an unforgettable experience for students," says Horszowski. "And because PASPORT requires students to observe and measure real phenomena, analyze their own data and draw their own inferences, we felt this would give them the opportunity to understand science in a way not easily accomplished otherwise."Over the last several months, the Mobile Science Center has traveled around the country with representatives conducting "probeware" workshops for students in disadvantaged areas. A generator is positioned about 20 meters away from he Mobile Science Center to reduce noise, and panels lift up to provide shade while students perform a variety of experiments. For example, students use a portable datalogger attached to a PASPORT Turbidity Sensor to measure the cloudiness of a local stream. They then return to the Mobile Science Center to download their data into the computer and use PASCO's DataStudio software to manipulate and analyze the data they've gathered. Using the laptop and projector on a sliding table, experiments can also be performed using a big-screen display for multiple students to watch.The probeware allows students to collect data with just one click by simply plugging in a sensor, pushing a button and seeing data displayed in real time. "This is very beneficial because we often are under time restraints with the students, and there isn't room for a large learning curve," says Horszowski.So far, Horszowski says the probeware has proven flexible enough to meet the needs of students at all grade levels. "Both teachers and students are initially rather overwhelmed by the equipment," he says. "But considering there are very low levels of computer literacy, it's no doubt there are some barriers to cross. However, good facilitators often overcome these difficulties. "According to Horszowski, Edusoft hopes to design more of the units this year, eventually adding solar panels for power and a satellite linkup for Internet connectivity. but, for now, the Mobile Science Center will continue to travel the roads of South Africa bringing high-tech science experimentation to places that are without electricity. More importantly, it will continue to bring science out of the textbooks and into students' lives. ("Mobile Science Center Brings High-Tech Experimentation to Remote Parts of South Africa," 2003, p. 41)

This one example could potentially be supported by further development, greater resource allocation and by increased numbers of such outreach "vans." General "charity" programs, though they work hard to help develop change and eradicate serious hardships associated with the many and varied social, economic and cultural problems in South Africa are at a clear disadvantage, as like teachers and legislators they often find the need to deal with more pressing issues, like AIDS and overall health care or nutrition, over issues like it growth. It is for this reason that change is isolated to just a few examples of progress. Even the Gates Foundation, which has made significant strides in the U.S. And elsewhere with the development of technology access in public spaces seeks out benefits in South Africa and other places in Africa to help with the global AIDS epidemic.