Report (Part 1): Third World Summit on the Internet and Multimedia

Defining the Divide: the Multimedia Indsutry Speaks Out

Time: 8 October 2002, 16:30-18:30 Location: A 400 Chair: Bertrand de Pétigny (FIAM Board member, CEO Cyber-Express Ltd. France) Presenters/ Participants: Philippe Wacker (Secretary General, European Multimedia Forum, France)
Vasile Baltac (President, Information Technology Association of Romania, Romania)
Mouaz Souabni (President, Tunisian Association for Internet and Multimedia, Tunisia)
Marcha Arfel (Vice-President, Nouvelles Entreprises et Territoires, France)
Matthew Hall (Partner and Treasurer, Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association, Australia)
Amadou Top (Secretary General, OSIRIS, Senegal)
Cid Torquato (Executive Director, CAMARA-E.NET, Brazil) Reporter: Simon Hetherington, Simone Theiss (ICVolunteers) Languages: English/French  Key words: Digital divide Internet multimedia underdeveloped developed

Speakers from five continents provided a lively and well-presented account of their specific concerns and solutions regarding the digital divide. The end result was a well- informed audience on the definition of digital divide and the many different solutions aimed at tackling the problem.

The roundtable debate started with an introduction by the chairman Bertrand de Pétigny of each contributing panelist.

Mr. Philippe Wacker, Secretary General of European Multimedia Forum, Belgium, pointed out the need to question what "the digital divide" exactly means. He provided his answer using a PowerPoint presentation. First, he asked whether it is a black hydra or a white elephant. The "black hydra" slide outlined various divides, for example,-the USA vs. The World, the USA vs. Europe, North vs. South, Rich vs. Poor. He noted that, "Americans spend about 30 hours per month online, the French only 9 hours." He postulated that spending a lot of time on the Internet is now seen as a positive endeavor, but questioned whether this is true. The "white elephant" slide suggested that the bubble has burst and one must pick up the pieces and move on. He went on to say that these technologies are means and tools and do not create divides but opportunities for the taking. The end of his presentation outlined the EMF approach, referring to the need for cultural understanding in order to facilitate effective business, and a focus on local projects and needs.

Mr. Vasile Baltac, President of the Information Technology Association of Romania, stated that statistics reflect an aspect of reality. He demonstrated this by comparing PC vs. labor- hour costs: EU 64 hours, Austria 63 hours, and Romania 970 hours (15 times that of Europe). He proposed that the digital divide is widening and gave the following figures to illustrate this: wealthy nations comprise only 16% of the worlds population, but command 90% of all Internet host computers. Further, 80% of the world's population has never heard a dial tone, and only 9.4% of the world's population is online. PC/wireless phone is beyond the reach of nearly 3 billion people, who live on less than US$ 2 a day. He stated that Romania is a country affected by the digital divide and advocated government investment in infrastructure and public education. He also recommended industrial development of low cost, localized applications in order to make content more accessible.

Mr. Mouaz Souabni, President of the Tunisian Association of Internet & Multimedia, talked about a festival held on a beach in Tunisia where 200 PCs were set up in order to maximize the culture of computers and the Internet by making it more accessible to young people. In conjunction with this, an Internet bus traveled throughout Tunisia promoting access to the Internet.

Ms. Marcha Arfel, Vice President of New Enterprises & Territories, France, referred to her organization's attempts to setup new projects in many different countries such as Morocco, Ireland and Tunisia. She also stressed the importance of determining people's needs in terms of Internet and Multimedia.

Mr. Matthew Hall, Treasurer of AIMIA, Australia, proposed that their situation was very different, as Australia has a high degree of Internet use, and that the divide is more one of age and disability. He said that more than 18% of Australians have disabilities which limit their access to the Internet and that more than 12% of the population are over the age of 65, illustrating another sector with greatly reduced access. He suggested that the issue for the Australian Government and Industry is to make access to the Internet more available to these individuals.

Mr. Amadou Top, Secretary General of OSIRIS, Senegal, focused on the fact that one cannot generalize about the digital divide in the North or South, much less in any single country. He said that Africa and Senegal have different problems compared to other continents and countries, since the IMF and World Bank have much more power and influence.

Mr. Cid Torquato, Executive Director of CAMARA-E.NET, Brazil, made the point that developed countries must work more with underdeveloped countries to bridge not just the digital divide but other divides as well. He advocated a collective effort incorporating associations, businesses and governments to tackle the challenge of bridging the divide.

Conclusions

Throughout the presentations, it became apparent that there is indeed a wide digital divide and that a campaign on many fronts is needed to tackle the problem. One must be careful not to generalize and assume that the same problems and issues concerning the divide apply to all countries and continents, as there are important differences even within countries. It also became apparent that it will take time to bridge the divide. However, it the right commitment from industry, government and other groups involved it is not a utopian ideal, but rather an achievable goal.