Beyond Digital Divide: Toward an Agenda for Change

Background: The Place Of Ict Use In Twenty-First Century Society

It is accepted by most commentators that we now live in a fast-changing ‘runaway world’ where the economic, social, cultural and political foundations of societies are being redefined on a continual basis (Giddens 2000). The much-heralded globalization of society is now apparent in a variety of forms, such as a shrinking of space, acceleration of time and reconfiguration of social relations along international lines. Although traditional structures such as the nation-state continue to play significant roles in the governance of society, their influence is increasingly being challenged by other entities such as the transnational corporation.

Most commentators also accept that this recasting of social relations is borne not only of economic, cultural and political changes but also of the changing technological world in which we are living. This is perhaps most clear in the rise of the information society and the attendant knowledge economy, where the production, management and consumption of information and knowledge are seen to now be at the core of economic productivity and societal development (Bangemann et al. 1994). Clearly, one of the key accelerators of these new forms of society and economy has been the rapid development of new telecommunications and computerized technologies over the past three decades. The global flows of data, services and people that characterize the global knowledge economy have been underpinned by information and communications technology. From e-commerce to e-government, ICTs such as the internet and other global telecommunications systems are major conduits through which contemporary society is acted out.