EUP1501_Portfolio

A list of factors that affect the digital divide in South Africa: 1. Education – People need to possess the necessary skills and knowledge in order to use ICT’s. Even if the ICT’s are available for people to use, it would be meaningless if they didn’t know how. 2. Costs of ICT’s Infrastructure – The high costs of installing the necessary infrastructure to support ICT’s is causing said infrastructure to not be installed at all or to be installed at a very slow pace especially if the demand for it is not very great in the area. 3. Infrastructure in Rural Areas – The infrastructure in rural areas is currently insufficient to properly operate ICT’s. 4. Government Hindrance – Poor regulations and controls including bureaucracy, mismanagement and corruption would restrict the access to ICT’s and also force investors to look elsewhere thereby driving up the costs of using and owning ICT’s. 5. Income of the People – Currently ICT’s are priced quite high making it difficult for people to purchase them and operate them. 6. Telkom’s Hold on the Market – Currently Telkom has a stranglehold on the broadband market, if their hold on the market would decrease other investors would come into play, competition would occur and the pricing will decrease making it more cost effective for people to afford investing in ICT’s. 7. Gender – In some areas of South Africa the need for men to be able to use ICT’s is viewed as greater than women because men are seen as the ones who will work and provide and women are seen as those who will stay home and take care of the house so men are given the opportunity to use the ICT’s and women are not. 8. Accessibility to Technical Assistance – Assistance to set up the various ICT’s and also technical assistance should something go wrong once set up is not readily available to some people and thus they’re put off using ICT’s. 9. Content – People would use ICT’s more if content that was applicable to them was readily available. 10. Ability – Physically impaired people find it more difficult to use ICT’s and are thus put off from using it. 11. Language Difference – There could be a minority of people who do not speak the language that the various ICT’s offer and so they are unable to understand or use the ICT’s. 12. Age – Most older people are not as enthusiastic to use ICT’s as younger people and so they don’t personally use the ICT’s thus limiting themselves. 13. Quality of ICT’s – Poor quality ICT’s that do not work properly, constantly need repairing or are slow discourage people from using them. 14. Rate of Rollout of ICT’s – New and improved ICT’s are always appearing on the market and so people need to be learning how to use the improved ICT’s otherwise what they’re learning and using may not be considered effective in society. 15. Motivation – Not all people see the benefit or even want to use ICT’s. Some lack the incentive and some believe our society is already too technologically dependant. How to narrow the digital divide: First a summit should be hosted between the ICT companies in South Africa and the government so that both can have a forum in which they can discuss their various problems and possibly discuss reasonable solutions that meet the approval of both. That should be done first because a considerable amount of time would be needed to implement those solutions. Next ICT companies that have a corporate social investment division in place should be spoken to and a proposal that as part of their community investment they should volunteer to educate those that don’t know much about ICT’s. The companies could offer internships and jobs to those who learn about ICT’s quite well thereby providing incentives for the people to really do well and also increasing their income.