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OVERESTIMATING THE GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE The global digital divide between North and South - the industrialised and the developing nations - is undoubtedly great. But it is also overestimated. Why? Because we tend to use invalid models of connectivity in the South: models that rely on Northern notions of one email account serving one individual; and pre-global notions of Internet hosts and accounts merely serving their host country. In practice, many individuals in developing countries are using hosts and - especially - accounts based in the North. They are also sharing access, with one account serving many people. Hidden from the view of formal statistics, individuals are connected - via their organisations, via family members, or via friends, acquaintances and neighbours. Recent research from Trinidad & Tobago puts some figures on this (i). Formal statistics showed only one in twenty households to be connected to the net. On-the-ground surveys, however, showed one in three households had access to an email account. The global digital divide is very much a reality, and very much an issue to be addressed. However, these figures suggest the divide may be misunderstood and up to seven times overestimated. Richard Heeks (i) Miller, D. & Slater, D. (2000) The Internet: An Ethnographic Account, Berg, Oxford, UK. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Richard Heeks Senior Lecturer, Information Systems & Development Institute for Development Policy & Management University of Manchester Precinct Centre Manchester M13 9GH U.K. Phone: +44-161-275-2870 Fax: +44-161-273-8829 Email: [log in to unmask] IDPM Web: http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm ---------------------------------------------------------------------