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An example of the former is the divide that usually exists between young and old, male and female, the more and the less educated, the more and the less wealthy, and urban and rural locations. In general, the digital divide refers to that between industrialized and developing
countries. In the developed world, many users guarantee the use of ICT in their everyday and work life. Sometimes one forgot what a difference ICT has made to everyone's lives.

Everyday use of e-mail is now the norm on how valuable the Internet is as a source of information, communication, education, news and entertainment. Wide-spread poverty across the developing world has complex and multiple reasons. The lack of access to information that is essential to the lives of the poor is one such reason. Poor access to education and knowledge is another; this is particularly acute for girls and women.

There are both pessimistic and optimistic views on the prospects for overcoming the digital divide. Pessimism arises from the complexity and magnitude of the numerous obstacles that developing countries have to over-come in order to narrow the divide. The digital divide can be understood as the divergence of access and ability to use the information and communication technologies (ITCs) between different communities. The digital divide between countries is usually measured in terms of the number of telephones, computers, and Internet users. Between groups of people within countries, it is usually measured in terms of race, gender, age, disability, location, and income. It is difficult to gain an overall understanding of the digital divide, the proposed solutions, and what is having a real impact when there are multiple definitions of the problem, conflicting views on whether it is getting better or worse, and various opinions on the key-factors affecting it.

Is the digital divide - the large numbers of people who are not connected to the Internet - is small, shrinking, and rapidly becoming irrelevant? It is not. The term "digital divide" refers to multi-dimensional inequalities in Internet access and use, ranging from the global level, to nations, to communities, and to individuals. The divide is here for some time to come. It is large, multi-faceted, and, in some ways, it is not shrinking. Moreover, the divide is socially patterned, so that there are systematic and meaningful variations in the kinds of people who are on and off the Internet. These patterns vary between nations and over time, so last year's divide often does not necessarily resemble this year's, and Country A's divide does not necessarily resemble Country B's. Indeed, it is more accurate to use the plural - digital divides - because the nature of the digital divide varies within and between countries, both developed and developing. There is no one digital divide; there are many divides.

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Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth specializes in Quantitative & Development Economics, and is currently Director of GAD Institute of Development Studies, Amritsar, a self-financed research institute. Has been honoured with various awards, including Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award, etc.
Ms. Kamalpreet Kaur is Research Scholar at GAD Institute of Development Studies.
Article posted on December 28, 2008.