Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
With virtually no local infrastructure, this community is cur
rently working on the installation of a generator for ongoing electri
cal power and the use of a satellite station to make contact with a
base station over 1000 miles away. Their lack of access to a com
puter and the Internet, then, principally arises from their lack of
technology and infrastructure. Conversely, for these farmers, the
dream of access may mean a single machine for the community, per
haps with one account, one email address, and so on. From this
perspective, privacy, individual accounts, and transmission speeds
are relatively minor issues—access means having something that
works well enough to interact with markets and buyers.
Limited Ongoing Access with Cost Restraints:
Case Study 2
A university in an urban setting in a developing country was able to establish
email access for faculty, staff, and students. However, for political, economic,
or social reasons, users were charged per kilobyte for email they received. At
the specified rate, a one megabyte file (such as a single picture) included as
an email attachment might cost the equivalent of a graduate student's
monthly salary.
Case Study 2 portrays a different situation. For folks involved in
this example, computers
were
available, and these machines
had
ac
cess to the Internet. Anyone associated with the university could, in
principle, obtain a computer account; however, in practice, poten
tial costs were prohibitive. The receipt of even a simple email mes
sage could cause severe economic hardship. Thus, in reality, only
the economically welltodo could afford computers with Internet
access. Limiting available Internet access to an exclusive group of
people is not uncommon and is achieved in a variety of ways. In
other settings, governments sometimes have restricted access to
computer networks and the Internet according to political stature,
economic class, or other cultural position. Alternatively, Internet
administrators can arrange their networks so that only members of
a ruling political party or influential business people might be al
lowed access. On the surface, their policies may specify that many
or all citizens can access the World Wide Web, but a closer look
may indicate difficult rules or extreme practices that greatly restrict
the use of this technology by the general public.
