What Is being done to bridge the gap?

1
What Is being done to bridge the gap?

• So far weve seen how bad the situation is and
  what factors caused this situation, now in this
  presentation I will take you through what is
  being done to bridge this ever widening gap
  nationally and in different parts of the world.

2
Telephone ladies

• One of the areas to try and bridge the gap is
  Bangladesh and the scheme being used is called
  telephone ladies. As with most developing
  countries Bangladesh has no fixed landline and so
  communication is difficult. What this scheme does
  is, the bank gives a loan to someone to buy a
  phone and then what happens is the village to
  which this person belongs to will let other
  people use this phone to call their loved ones
  for a small fee, so its almost like a business.
  As you can see this would be a win-win situation
  seeing as the person with the phone is making a
  reasonable living and the people that need the
  phone are able to access it at affordable prices,
  so far this scheme has been successful.

3
Kids to teach elderly net skills

• BT is aiming to avoid total exclusion of the
  older generations from technology by creating a
  Grandparents day on the 24th of September. What
  this idea is about is that BT feel that the
  people that are at the best disposition to teach
  the elderly the skills they need for the net is
  their own grandchildren and so this grandparents
  day is to encourage children to get up there and
  show what technology has to offer

4
Digital tax to aid poor nations

• The Idea behind this is that the more developed
  countries that are able to spare some money will
  be charged 1 from their public technology
  projects and so this 1 of money will go towards
  getting these undeveloped nations a higher level
  of technology. This tax is voluntary and so far
  only Geneva has agreed to it but is hoped that
  with time other countries will come to follow
  their example.

5
DDD

• Short for Digital Divide Data, the DDD is a
  company that concentrates on teaching the
  disabled how to use technology. Most of the times
  resulting in them going to university and getting
  a higher education.
• Started by Canada born Jeremy Hockenstein, he had
  realised that on a trip to Cambodia that there
  wasnt much hope and that the future was bleak
  for disabled people there and so he decided that
  creating the DDD was the best step to take.
• On returning to the US he came up with the idea
  of creating a data entry company similar to those
  found in other developing countries such as
  India, but employing the
• disadvantaged and disabled.

6
These are only some examples of what measures are
being taken, in actual fact there are many, many
more people who are putting that extra effort
into seeing that the gap will soon disappear. But
the question now is are they wasting their time,
or are these measures really having an impact on
the Digital Divide? This question will be
answered in the next power point
presentation. More Information can be found on
the BBC Website.