The Digital Divide

The Volt

With a third of the country still without broadband for various reasons and problems with media literacy evident in society, the digital divide in this country really needs addressing. The sheer amount of people that still depend on outdated information and traditional forms of media for their entertainment and news is ghastly. Urbanized areas are all aboard the globalisation ship but if your exchange isn't enabled for broadband then you're cast aside it seems. The world we live in is increasingly dependent on the tool that is the internet and the third of the country that are in this state of dial-up cannot get access to the knowledge that the urbanized areas do at the click of a mouse.

I think that we should follow the lead of some other countries and recognize internet access as part of a fundamental communication right as we're so wound up in this information age and looking to the future but at the same time worsening a social divide

Eliot Rosewater

Why should those who live in the city, and who have made themselves readily available for such services, have to pay for rural residents to get broadband?

If you want broadband, or even if you want a bus, I say you should take some personal responsibility and move to a place where those things are available, rather than relying on society to satisfy (and to pay for) your desires.

The Volt

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Why should those who live in the city, and who have made themselves readily available for such services, have to pay for rural residents to get broadband?

If you want broadband, or even if you want a bus, I say you should take some personal responsibility and move to a place where those things are available, rather than relying on society to satisfy (and to pay for) your desires.

So every man for himself and God against all :cool:

In circumstances where being digitally connected is year on year more important for economic, social and educational reasons we can't expect one third of the country to just move to Dublin.

aidan_walsh

Voltwad wrote: »

So every man for himself and God against all :cool:

In circumstances where being digitally connected is year on year more important for economic, social and educational reasons we can't expect one third of the country to just move to Dublin.

No, but the people who moved to the countryside can't expect the same level of service and reliability that the people who live in Dublin or other urban areas have at the moment because the technology doesn't exist to provide it without being prohibitively expensive.

The Volt

Well they should be entitled to the same level of service. The primary concern for me is exclusion, social and otherwise. Each year, being digitally connected becomes ever more critical to economic, educational, and social advancement. Those without the appropriate tools (in terms of PCs and Internet connectivity) and applicable skills will become increasingly disadvantaged.

aidan_walsh

Voltwad wrote: »

Well they should be entitled to the same level of service. The primary concern for me is exclusion, social and otherwise. Each year, being digitally connected becomes ever more critical to economic, educational, and social advancement. Those without the appropriate tools (in terms of PCs and Internet connectivity) and applicable skills will become increasingly disadvantaged.

I agree, but realistically entitlement is not whats at issue - provision is. The best that they would be able to get at the moment would be a midband connection.

Eliot Rosewater

If they are so concerned about their supposed disadvantage why don't they move to an urban area? Why should they expect everyone else to pay the bill?

The Volt

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

If they are so concerned about their supposed disadvantage why don't they move to an urban area? Why should they expect everyone else to pay the bill?

Communication is a fundamental human right. Maybe if Eircom hadn't been privatised then the infrastructure this country so badly needs would have been prioritized over a few people making a quick buck. It's the job of a government to look after and provide for its' people. It's not fair nor is it feasible to ask all of the people in rural areas to just up and leave their homes.

Eliot Rosewater

Voltwad wrote: »

Communication is a fundamental human right.

So is freedom to travel within the European Union. Do you think the government should pay for that?

Seriously though, not only do people have other forms of communication already, there's nothing (or very little) stopping them from moving to an urban area to exercise this right.

I don't think it's fair that rural dwellers be effectively financed by urban dwellers. Living in the countryside is a decision people make (or have made) and I think they should have to bear the consequences of this decision.

The Volt

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

So is freedom to travel within the European Union. Do you think the government should pay for that?

Seriously though, not only do people have other forms of communication already, there's nothing (or very little) stopping them from moving to an urban area to exercise this right.

I don't think it's fair that rural dwellers be effectively financed by urban dwellers. Living in the countryside is a decision people make (or have made) and I think they should have to bear the consequences of this decision.

Some people's telephone lines barely work! I never said that all of us urban dwellers should have a whiparound for their broadband exchanges to be enabled. There also may be plenty of things stopping them from moving to an urban area such as work or kids.

The areas of media literacy and varying levels of access to media are much debated. The digital divide is extremely evident in Irish society. The internet is now accepted as an essential modern tool but the network society is creating parallel communications systems; one side, the side with income, education and the adequate technology receive plenty of information at a high speed for a relatively low cost. The other side, the side literally without connections is dependent on outdated information. It is estimated that 67% of Irish households have broadband as of Q3 2009. In spite of this, provision of broadband to rural areas (especially in the West of the country) remains quite poor. It has been well documented that the privatization of Telecom Eireann (now Eircom) was one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the state as the infrastructure suffered at the hands people looking to make a quick profit on the company. Eircom still owns all of the lines in the state and is therefore still responsible for the maintenance of people’s basic communication rights but in a time where people would cite internet access as a human right and a basic need, having a third of the country dependent on dial-up is not good enough.

In an age where everyone and everything moves so fast, the internet has become an integral part of life for the human race. Employers demand up-to-date reports, students require online resources and news outlets strive to gather information on events as they happen. If one rests on one’s laurels then one is almost certain to miss something. Urban and rural areas have often been compared in poetry and stark differences have always been cited by artists. Inhabitants of both will pine for their respective homeland when in the other. However, no amount of fields or fabulous scenic views can accommodate for the way in which urban Ireland has raced ahead of rural Ireland. In Dublin City Centre it is possible to access the internet in any coffee shop in an alley. People can make use of social networking sites, news feeds etc. at their leisure in these built up areas. Inhabitants of urban districts are surrounded by a seemingly endless availability of news sources that go much further than the newspaper or the bulletins on RTÉ. The flipside of this is that the poor people of Portmagee, Co. Kerry who lack the broadband infrastructure must look to the classic media forms for their entertainment and information. The third of the country that are in this state of dial-up cannot get access to the knowledge that the urbanized areas do at the click of a mouse. What is clear about rural Ireland is the strong sense of community, part of which is bred through isolation. In towns with only a couple of hundred people living in them, dependency on local newspapers increases massively. The news in these sources will be orientated towards local events rather than national or international events and so the process on enclosure continues.

Eliot Rosewater

Voltwad wrote: »

I never said that all of us urban dwellers should have a whiparound for their broadband exchanges to be enabled.

But that is effectively what you're proposing. Bringing broadband to the countryside would be very expensive, as aidan_walsh said. Who is to pay for this? If the people who benefit pay I have no qualms, but this seems to be just another policy that has rural dwellers avoiding the real costs of their lives.

I agree with your analysis about communications. I just disagree that certain lifestyle choices should have to be paid for by the taxpayers.

The Volt

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

But that is effectively what you're proposing. Bringing broadband to the countryside would be very expensive, as aidan_walsh said. Who is to pay for this? If the people who benefit pay I have no qualms, but this seems to be just another policy that has rural dwellers avoiding the real costs of their lives.

I agree with your analysis about communications. I just disagree that certain lifestyle choices should have to be paid for by the taxpayers.

For many it's not a choice to live in the countryside, many are born there. The government should be responsible insofar as paying for the infrastructure for these areas. Then the people in those areas can sign up for broadband and pay for it like the rest of us. Fact of the matter is they can't pay for something that isn't there.

#15

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I agree with your analysis about communications. I just disagree that certain lifestyle choices should have to be paid for by the taxpayers.

Its not always a choice. I live in the country because thats where my job is. I'm trying to transfer to a city, but its not easy.

silverharp

Voltwad wrote: »

For many it's not a choice to live in the countryside, many are born there. The government should be responsible insofar as paying for the infrastructure for these areas. Then the people in those areas can sign up for broadband and pay for it like the rest of us. Fact of the matter is they can't pay for something that isn't there.

if there is a genuine market for something, suppliers will do what they want to do and that s supply the market. If ireland has a problem it s that the gov. made half assed policy decisions over the last 50 years to make it possible to live down every boreen at other peoples expense.

its just a fact that certain technologies need a certain concentration of numbers. Nobody has a fundamental right to any service regardless of where they live. How many operating theatres are there on Tory Island?

you takes your chances I'm afraid.

looksee

It is nonsense to say that broadband access is a basic human right. At the same time it would be very undesirable for everyone who lives in the country to move to a city just to get broadband access.

There are places that are not all that far from cities that only need the update of a local exchange to have broadband. This was supposed to happen and I know of one family that moved to a rural area on that understnding, where the husband works mostly from home. Several years on and it is now obvious that it is not going to happen in the immediate future. Satellite broadband is available, but it is not secure enough for the work he does, and all that is available is a very unreliable booster which breaks down if the wind blows.

Of course, in spite of the impression you get when you are surfing around the internet, there are vast numbers of people who have no interest, and I sometimes think they might be right! But for the regional jobs it could enable, and the rural businesses it could help, it is now as necessary and desirable as electricity to have the access to the rest of the world that broadband provides.