The Arab world, parasites and the e-revolution
After she finished responding to her e-mail and simultaneously chatting with no less than five people, and checking the balance in her bank account, paying her phone bills and speeding ticket online, and downloading no less than 100 songs on her newly acquired MP3 player, this relative of mine picked up the phone and complained of her inability to access eBay for a "vital" purchase that she needs to carry out. I could almost hear her agitation pouring into my ears. "Can someone write about this?" and she banged the phone.This is one e-guru of mine who I find impossible to shrug off. Not only does she explain to me the ways and means of the internet but also the technology behind it. While trying to grasp the reality of a virtually unreal world, I was all of a sudden reminded of the extent of my e-ignorance that has made me feel far more outdated in terms of keeping abreast with the latest technological advances that are taking place.
Today, we are living in the age of the e-revolution as per the experts, one which should be capable of enhancing our daily living. There exists an environment of revolutionary set of e's e-learning, e-commerce, e-government, e-health, e-work, e-sale, e-grocery shopping, even e-smell and e-feeling. Seriously, how many of us truly realise what the "revolutionary" list of e's is all about?
It was agreed in 2003 at a United Nations World Summit on the Information Society that by 2015 the internet should reach more than half of the world's population. At the recently held UN-sponsored information society summit in Tunisia, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated that the end goal is to make the internet "available to the world". By that he was referring more so to the developing countries as they have been lagging behind in technological advancement. What has been dubbed as the "digital divide", which is isolating the developed world from the developing, should be bridged.
But is it possible? And how? For a simple reason, today, worldwide a mere 14 per cent of people are connected online. Critics have pointed out that numbers paraded as indicators of a worldwide increase in the use of the internet are misleading.
Out of touch
When it comes to the Arab world in particular, the scene is rather bleak and out of touch. This is quite evident as only 14 million are internet users, which roughly represents 5 per cent of the population at large. First, there is a disparity between the Arab world and the developed connected world. And second and most importantly, there exists a disparity within the Arab world itself.
But should the Arab world be alarmed and concerned about their lack of e-connectivity when a small percentage of the world is connected to the internet? Well, the answer lies in how far we want to position ourselves on the internet spectrum. And one way to find this out is to look at the bigger picture.
Internet after all is just one tool that would assist us in establishing a knowledge society, which is based on specific principles such as freedom of expression, uncensored accessibility to information and equal access to quality education.
The answer to the question therefore is quite simple: are we in the Arab world free, uncensored, have equal access, are able to identify, interpret, produce, process, transform, disseminate and use information freely?
While the internet was fast growing in countries of North America, Europe and Asia, it was moving at a snail's pace in the region. The issue as to why this was the case was highlighted but has never been critically addressed so far.
For many in the Arab world, accessing the internet comes with a high price tag. Hence, the question becomes whether it is worth it or not. More importantly, with unemployment being estimated by the International Labour Organisation to stand anywhere between 15-24 per cent, it is but obvious that one would question whether a generated income will be preferably spent on a loaf of bread or an hour of internet connectivity.
In the world of technological e's, we stand in a very poor position. We are good at using tools of technology but fail in comprehending the concept behind it. Hence would it be wrong to conclude that we are parasites of the information wave, perfectly living off the alleys of the information superhighways?
posted by Unknown @ 5:55 AM
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