Barriers to Knowledge Societies
SEARCH
since June 1, 2000
subscribe to updates by sending a blank email to digitalgovernance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Main Site : http://www.knownet.org
Mirror Site: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/knownet
We stand at the dawn of the new millennium. The new millennium brings with it a world of shrinking time, disappearing geographical boundaries, intertwined economies and
globalized impacts. The force which is spearheading this transition is Information and Communication Technology
(ICT).
The advances in information and communication technology,
are re-structuring the global social economic equation - shifting from income divide to knowledge divide. The info-technological revolution on one hand is spearheading the growth of Knowledge Societies in developed countries and has aroused much interest among the civil society, markets and the agents of change. On the other hand, more than 850 million people in developing countries are excluded from a wide range of information and knowledge. The poor in developing countries remain much isolated - economically, socially and culturally from the burgeoning information and progress in the arts, science and technology.
It needs to be realised that with the inception of ICT in the modern society:
The direct implications of these attributes are that whoever
manages the knowledge better and uses it more innovatively will
reap the maximum benefits of it. Further, same knowledge would have
differentiated values for different users and it is the ability
and vision of the end user to recognise and embrace the
differentiated values of knowledge and put it to gainful use to
realise even more value out of it.
The obvious fact is that Developing Nations and its people are at an unequal platform in comparison to their counterparts in Developed Nations to harness the true potential of Knowledge because of the various barriers to their transformation to Knowledge Societies.
Something certainly needs to be done about it and . . .
. . . . hence the evolution of KnowNet Initiative.
Let us know of your comments and feed-forward by signing our Guestbook.