Will 2009 be the Year the Digital Divide Got Bridged?
(Rate this article)
Loading ...
The Economic Times has carried a much hyped 2009 – the year of India featured issue today, and one of the sections speaks on how the digital divide will be bridged this year. Incidentally bridging the digital divide was also the topic of WATBlog’s Delhi panel discussion. Though the panel didn’t put any conclusive date on when the gap will be brought down, the ET article suggests many reasons why this might be the time. As proponents and participants of the digital medium we would definitely want it to be, however the question lingers whether it can happen so soon.
The ET euphoria if I can call it that, is first and foremost a fallout of the fact that today’s edition was purely a psychological play to try and put the belief back into the India story which might have taken dent in the past couple of months. Media should do that of course, nothing wrong with it, but it doesn’t help in painting a clear picture and the digital story might have had hints of bias in it. Besides the editorial reasons, the story was primarily based on the rise of internet and telecom infrastructure that is predicted this year. No doubt 3G and Wimax were on my wishlist for this year, however even if they do come into picture before 2009 passes by, will it really fix the gap that exists between potential and actual deliverance of the web?
Better infrastructure can pave way for better information flow, however for a media or platform to scale up it has to make business happen. Commerce is what’s needed to build and sustain a bridge that will fill int eh digital gap. And commerce moves beyond infrastructural play and into the heart of how providers and consumers interact with each other. The divide isn’t purely technical, it has it roots in an inherent lack of trust towards what we can’t see or touch. I have been using a pretty reliable always on Broadband connection since over 3 years now, yet there hasn’t been one single advertisement online that I have clicked and bought something there. I have clicked on ads yes, but business hasn’t happened. Now I don’t know if I am the perfect sample to judge the performance of e commerce in India, but I can surely say that a better effort from digital marketers would have made me purchase a lot more.
The onus of making a billion Indians connected isn’t simply an avenue the government or ISPs should look at. It is an onus on everyone from an ad copywriter, to an application developer, to UI designer to an e-com venture to a logistics player. India needs convincing web copies that evokes trust, it needs websites that don’t seem a pain and works seamlessly, websites that makes things so much more easier than outside, it needs commerce to happen in a way that will strengthen the trust evoked on the website. That will ensure business to happen regularly and in larger quantities, which then puts the use of the infrastructure that is possible relevant.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed OR Email Alerts!
Great article
Wimax should help bridge the rural digital divide, but it has to be a collective effort to close the bridge.
Well Interesting point, but I think the lack of trust in E-commerce is something that is slowly being bridged, what with E tickets(rail and air) and bookings online gaining popularity, Im sure once enough people begin using these facilities they would move on to other e-comm services online.
As far as marketers go, its unfair to blame them for not tailoring their campaigns towards ecommerce, unless theres a significant gain in it. But they already are using downloadable e-coupons and lead generation to drive business offline, which is the most convenient way to go about it.
Im sure the best way to get people connected is to offer accessible content in a regional language. The speed and ease of obtaining useful information is what could get people to use the internet more.