Executive Summary
The report provides the analysis and discussion of the issue associated with the information divide between the urban and rural territories in Australia. The discussion of the issue is based on defining the concept of information or digital divide in the global context and with references to the situation in Australia.
The report investigates the information divide as the global issue and as the problem influencing the development of the Australian society and economy because of the factor of geographical location. According to the report findings, the information divide between the urban and rural territories is a result of the drawbacks in the supportive infrastructure to provide the Internet and mobile connections in the rural territories, and it is the effect of the inappropriate policies related to the Internet connection costs in these regions.
The current policies used by the Australian government to improve the situation contribute to the increase of possibilities for the metropolitan areas’ progress because there are appropriate basics for the further improvement of information and communication technologies in the urban regions.
There are recommendations presented in the report to improve the system of the government’s investments in the industry and to change the policies in relation to the promotion of the access to the information and communication technologies.
Introduction
In the context of intensive globalisation processes, the issue of information or digital divide acquires a new meaning because the flows of information and the effective communication channels can influence the development of economy and society at the global and national levels significantly. An information divide can be defined as a kind of inequality between different groups of population in relation to their access to definite technologies known today as information and communication technologies.
This divide can be classified according to several parameters such as age, gender, location, and others. The geographical location plays an important role in discussing the aspects of the information divide because the people’s possibilities to use computers and their access to the Internet or mobile connection depend on the persons’ location (Rowena 2003).
The issue of information divide between rural and urban territories is typical for many countries, including such a developed country as Australia. Thus, in spite of the increased role of information and communication technologies in the social and economic life of the Australians, the information divide between the rural and urban territories is observed with references to supportive infrastructure and priorities in the national development plan.
Discussion of the Information Divide Issue in Relation to Australian Urban and Rural Territories
The concept of the information divide in the global context
Today, the access to information and communication technologies is the necessary condition for the development in all the industries and markets while focusing on the spheres of social life, economy, and business.
The global economic chains develop depending on the principles of speed, flexibility, and innovation, and the progress in the Internet and mobile technologies can respond to these demands. Any processes which are associated with modernisation and industrialisation depend on the progress of information technologies, and these changes in the economic life of the world population are also connected with the alternations in the social life.
Thus, persons’ success as professionals and active participants of the society’s life is also based on their access to information and communication technologies because of the possibilities not only to receive the necessary information but also interact within the information flow (Korpela, Montealegre, & Poulymenakou 2003). Furthermore, the usage of computers and other technologies also facilitate companies’ productivity and contribute to the firms’ performance.
However, the progress in information and communication technologies affects the development of the information divide issue because it is rather difficult to guarantee the equal access of all the population’s categories to the information flow.
It is important to note that differences in the possibilities of the African populations and representatives of the Western countries to receive the access to the Internet are obvious because of the governments’ positions and the levels of the economic development. Thus, the factor of geographical position plays an important role to discuss the question. Moreover, to focus on the issue at the national level, it is necessary to refer to the divide between the urban and rural territories.
The differences in the educational levels and social progress observed at the urban and rural territories are significant to state that the abilities of the populations to use the information technologies are also important along with the provided access to the technologies and developed infrastructure (Graham 2002). Furthermore, “the rural/urban divide appears to be more accentuated the more sophisticated the technology is” (United Nations 2009, p. 49).
Facing such barriers as the weak supportive infrastructure and the lack of knowledge to use computers or mobile phones appropriately, the representatives of rural territories experience difficulties with their access to the information and communication technologies, and the discussed information divide increases. To contribute to the public’s connectivity at the national level, it is necessary to pay attention to all the associated factors.
The information divide between the rural and urban territories in Australia
To understand the situation in Australia which is related to the digital divide, it is necessary to focus on the connection of processes with the development of the Australian economy and society.
Rural regions can be discussed as less connected in comparison with the urban territories because of the low development of the associated infrastructure and the lack of the necessary skills to use all the provided opportunities related to information and communication technologies (Black & Atkinson 2007). Today, the Australians use the Internet connection, digital TV, and mobile phones actively, but the numbers are different in relation to rural and urban territories.
Thus, in 2009, more than 75% of the Australians living in the urban territories had the access to the Internet connection, and 65% of the Australians from the rural territories could also use the Internet (Figure 1; Lee 2011). Thus, the digital divide between the rural and urban territories can be measured in relation to the difference in 10%, and it is expected that the digital divide will decrease with the further progress of the information and communication technologies.
The reasons for the development of such tendencies are in the social and economic demands. The costs of the Internet connection in the rural territories of Australia are higher because of the necessity to support the infrastructure outside the metropolitan areas more actively. This factor can affect the people’s choice related to the usage of computers and Internet connection.
Furthermore, although today farmers and businessmen in the rural territories of Australia are inclined to use information and communication technologies and the authorities invest in these operations, the evidences support the fact that large enterprises oriented to the use of such technologies more actively (Meshur 2012). However, the government’s investments to change the situation in the rural regions regarding the digital divide remain to be the important part of the budget.
From this point, the uneven distribution of the digital resources between the rural and urban territories is characterised for the Australian society. The citizens living at the rural territories have the unequal access to the information and communication technologies because of the unreliable connection and weak infrastructure (Willis & Tranter 2006).
Thus, the geographic isolation of definite remote rural territories influences the progress of these regions negatively due to the absence of potential advantages to provide the expensive Internet connection in these regions.
Figure 1. The Digital Geographic Divide in Australia (1998-2009)
(Lee 2011).
Discussion of the Issue’s Effects
It is possible to discuss the economy of Australia as depending on the advantages of the information and communication technologies because the speedy flow of knowledge and information is necessary today to influence the progress of enterprises at the national level and at the global arena. That is why, the weaknesses related to the Internet connection costs and quality of the services provided along with the supported infrastructure can affect the development of the firms located at the rural territories significantly (Willis & Tranter 2006).
The intensified division of the society into privileged and non-privileged groups in relation to the access to the information technologies is also discussed as the negative effect of the developed digital divide. The problem is in the fact that it is rather difficult to overcome the gap immediately, and it can increase in correlation to the improvement of the situation in the urban territories.
The effects of the poor Internet or mobile connection can influence the business communication between the companies negatively. It is important to refer to this factor while discussing the role of the effective information and communication technologies for the progress of economy and business.
As a result, the digital divide directly affects the progress of the society and discussion of the metropolitan areas in Australia as commercial or business centres (Gibson 2003). In spite of the fact that rural territories are perceived as attractive for the development of the Internet and mobile connection, the real situation in the regions can be discussed as the barrier to the potential improvement.
Recommendations to Overcome the Information Divide
- To cope with the digital gap in Australia in relation to the difference between the rural and urban territories, it is necessary to encourage the further investments in the industry to improve the infrastructure in the remote regions of the country. It is also possible to propose changes for the activities of the companies which are promoters of the Internet in the rural territories in order to decrease the costs and stimulate the partnership between public and private parties (Cocklin & Dibden 2005).
- The government should focus on the equal promotion of innovative technologies in all the spheres and industries in Australia without references to the rural or urban territories because the concentration on improving the information and communication technologies only in the urban territories leads to deepening the gap (Meshur 2012). More attention should be paid to the improvement of the situation with the home access to the Internet along with the general access of enterprises to the innovative information technologies.
Reference List
Black, M & Atkinson, J 2007, Addressing the digital divide in rural Australia. Web.
Cocklin, C & Dibden, J 2005, Sustainability and change in rural Australia, UNSW Press, Australia.
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United Nations 2009, Information economy report 2009: trends and outlook in turbulent times, United Nations Publications, USA.
Willis, S & Tranter, B 2006, ‘Beyond the ‘digital divide’: internet diffusion and inequality in Australia’, Journal of Sociology, vol. 42. no. 1, pp. 43-59.