Bridging the Global Digital Divide Research Paper

Bridging the Global Digital Divide - Research Paper Example The growth of information technology in a country highly depends on the extent to which policy makers in the country recognize the importance of information and communication technology to the country. The policy makers might come in handy when it comes to things like regulations, taxation, incentives and many others. Some developing countries impose a lot of taxes on ICT related companies thinking that, through taxation, the country’s economy is likely to grow (Brooks, Donovan & Rumble, 2005). One thing that they tend to forget that high taxation can hinder the entrance of new players into this industry. Therefore, the country’s economy lacks the contribution of ICT to its economy. Most developing countries lack the appropriate infrastructure that can enable effective application of information and communication technology in the country. This leads to low level of accessibility of services that ICT can offer to the countries’ economy. The ultimate result of thi s is a scenario in which developing countries are unable to have the complete advantage of ICT being used in their economic sectors. Poor infrastructure also leads to poor performance of the ICT related industries which in a way reflect to the general economic performance of the countries. ... The result of this is that their performance turns out to be lower than the performances of the same types of businesses in developed countries (Norris, 2003). The high prices not only affect the economic sector but also other sectors such education and even social life. Being that most developing countries are always in the struggle of trying to attain economic stability, financial resources that are required for development of ICT infrastructure might in some instances be unavailable. The unavailability is always makes it hard for developing countries to invest highly in ICT infrastructure. The eventual outcome of this is economic, educational, and social institutions that have limited or no access to ICT services and resources (Yu, 2006). The effect of this lack of access to ICT resources is heightened by the ignorance of the level to which ICT can improve the effectiveness of these institutions. In the developing countries, language can also be a hindrance to the application of I CT. Television programs, radio programs, computer software, and on line sites always use languages used in the countries in which these appliances have been developed. Given that very few of these appliances are developed in the developing countries, the local people might have a hard time trying to conform to technological assimilation. This factor makes the application of ICT in almost all aspects of human life in developing countries very hard. Studies have even proved that the low rate of growth of ICT is contributed to by stereotypes that have depicted ICT as a highly complex thing. People from developing countries have the tendency of associating ICT to people with affluence and not just everybody. In most developing countries, ICT