Challenge of rural people to reduce digital divide in the globalized world: Theory and practice

doi:10.1016/j.giq.2006.04.012

Government Information Quarterly

Volume 24, Issue 2, April 2007, Pages 404-413

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2006.04.012 Get rights and content

Abstract

In the future, knowledge will manage the world since knowledge gives a power to people/states to direct governmental and non-governmental organisations. Therefore, as starting in the last quarter of 20th century, leaders, bureaucrats, policy makers, education experts, scientists, local managers and people who are in the conscious of this reality have tried to draw the vision of their countries and reduce digital divide. Design of web pages and Internet access can be a bridge between rural and urban people in terms of marketing of agricultural inputs and outputs, supplying extension services for farmers, development of human resources, advertisement of natural, historical and cultural values, etc.

Introduction

Information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the future's basic technology fields pressing their fingers to the first quarter of the 21st Century (Ege, 2002). Therefore, countries must use information technologies in every sector of the economy to win the competition (Gul, Mutlu, & Bal, 2004). In this context, Turkey has started applying different projects to extend use of ICTs at the end of the 20th Century. As a result, the number of Internet users in the country increased from 450 thousand in 1999 to 4.5 million in 2002. In the same period, Internet population throughout the world increased from 183 million to 623 million. This means that increase in the number of Internet access is higher in Turkey (989%) than the average of world (240%). Despite high ICT use in recent years, only 7% of Turkey's population have an opportunity to access Internet. On the other hand, according to the Nielsen/Netratings Company during May 2001, Internet access in developed countries is very high (i.e., from home: 61% in Sweden, 58% in Denmark and Hong Kong, 20% in Spain; from office: 41% in Sweden, 38% in Denmark and Norway, 14% in Italy).

Literature review shows that there is no exact/enough information about access to Internet, Web pages designed by rural people, and usage level of computer in agricultural activity in Turkey. Although use of ICT is rapidly increasing in many disciplines, lack of information or study related to ICT in rural areas is very big problem. Because, policy makers can face some difficulties during the preparation of rural development plans or projects without having enough data. Therefore, the aims of this study are to (i) provide a brief review of the Internet with a consideration of its relevance to rural dwellers, (ii) to investigate the current opinions, knowledge, and skills of rural dwellers with respect to ICT, (iii) to determine obstacles and barriers to be faced during the implementation of ICT in rural areas, (iv) to explain what can be learned from other countries, and (iv) to propose a model to develop rapidly adoption and deployment of ICTs by rural people.

Section snippets

Main characteristics of rural areas

The term “rural” seems to be strongly associated with and almost equated to words and/or phrases like “the minority,” “the underserved areas,” “the economically disadvantaged.” Strong associations are made with the term rural and terms such as flow income, smaller areas, inner city areas, suburban, small business customers, economically depressed, vocation home areas, discrete, insular, and underserved users (Venkatachalam & McDowell, 2002).

According to the results of 2000 population census,

Likely advantages of ICTs for rural dwellers

The ability to use ICT is now assumed by most policy makers, experts, and commentators to be prerequisite to living the “information age” (Wills, 1999). There is no doubt that ICTs, when effectively, constructively, and critically deployed, can serve as “the bedrock for national survival and development” (Cline & Powell, 2004) and as “the engine for sustainable development” but it does not logically follow that, under all conditions, ICT capability guarantees this situation (Diso, 2005).

Likely

A model to reduce digital divide between urban and rural areas

Today's systems for storing and sharing knowledge on a large scale are undergoing rapid change, driven mainly by the success of the World Wide Web and its search engines (Skuce, 2000). Without a doubt, the world has been turned upside down since the Internet became commercialized in the early 1990s (Ilyas, Zongkai, & Talib, 2004). The Internet and electronic mail arrived on the scene and interconnected the world to a degree never imagined even a decade before. The exponential growth leaded to a

Analysis of village web pages, which are active at present

A well known Turkish poem by Ahmet Kudsi TECER: “Over there, at far, there is a village; it is our village; even if we do not go there and see it; it is our village” explains the forgotten position of rural dwellers and reflects got rid of situation of villages in Turkey. Since rural areas/people have faced to face many difficulties in reaching things presented by modern world. In addition, they have low living conditions compared to urban ones. This idea, sometimes, may be false. According to

Highlighted results obtained from ICT applications in developed countries

It is possible that Turkey can face some obstacles or barriers during the deployment of ICT in rural areas due to being in the beginning stage of ICT implication. Therefore, analyzing studies carried out in rural areas of different countries is very important. Following notable outcomes were summarized from the literature.

Increasingly, ICT is being used as a development tool in many developed countries. For example, a recent innovative experiment by the FIDAMERICA development cybernetwork

Conclusion

Due to lack of data and specific research on digital divide between urban and rural areas, it is difficult to say exactly about awareness of rural dwellers to access to Internet and use of ICTs. This study was carried out to explain significance of ICT for rural economy in a globalized world. But this study is not enough to analyze the role of different actors (rural people, NGOs, Government organizations, private sector, etc.) in the diffusion of Internet, Web pages, etc. Therefore, further

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Challenge of rural people to reduce digital divide in the globalized world: Theory and practice

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Main characteristics of rural areas

Likely advantages of ICTs for rural dwellers

A model to reduce digital divide between urban and rural areas

Analysis of village web pages, which are active at present

Highlighted results obtained from ICT applications in developed countries

Conclusion

Government Information Quarterly

International Information and Library Review

Tourism Management

Tourism Management

Government Information Quarterly

Telecommunications Policy

Geoforum

Internet, village web pages and rural development

Journal of Ekin

The Internet as “The New World” of and for geography: Speed, structures, volumes, humility and civility

GeoJournal

Cyberstrategies

ICTs, virtual colonization and political economy

Review of African Political Economy

Digital technology and the productivity paradox

Agricultural management e-school: Extension education over the Internet

American Journal of Agricultural Economics