WHY DO YOU THINK AFRICA IS STILL NOT BENEFITING FROM IT?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Scott on December 7, 2008 at 3:22am

I just finished doing a short research paper on e-learning and the developing world. From the studies I read there is no easy answer to your question. It is quite a complex puzzle to be solved and involves:politics, socio-economic factors, methods of implementation, and other factors which relate to the individual countries. According to the World Internet Stats Site, Africa's internet usage has increased by 1000% yet still only equates to 5.3% of the population and only 3.5% of world usage. (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm) Here is an excerpt from my paper:

Lucas & Sylla (2003) also confirm that instead of closing the gap technology is further increasing the division between developed and developing nations. They, as well as Kok (2008) and Kakabadse, Kouzmin & Kakabadse (2000) also mention the fact that putting ICTs in place requires both extensive infrastructure and skilled technicians to install and train others to manage the system, something developing countries do not have in abundance. Gerhan & Mutula (2007) likened the current integration of technology in developing nations to, "bringing cars to a country before building adequate roads.” (p.190). Here we can draw correlations between internet access and usage, such as those mentioned by Norris (2000) as underlying to low ICT access in Africa. Among these are poverty measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), illiteracy and poor and expensive or non-existing infrastructures that support ICT. (Kabonoki, 2008, p.114).

Scott