Digital deficit

摘要

With the G8 summit and Live 8 dominating the news, the divide between advanced economies and the developing world is attracting unprecedented attention. While the headlines understandably concentrate on the fundamentals of food, water and medical care, some engineers are looking at the longer-term problem of how to bring developing economies into the digital communications era. The internet is a vital tool for education and trade. It currently connects 100 million computers but less than two per cent of the world's population.