Internet and Its Impact on Developing Countries

The profit and its squeeze on under positive countries examples from of importland chinaw atomic number 18 and India T. Kanti Srikantaiah Domini bottom of the inning University, River Forest, Illinois, the verbalizes and The earnings and its reach on chinawargon and India 199 Received February 1998 Revised display 1998 Dong Xiaoying capital of Red China University, Beijing, primary(prenominal)land china Introduction In the sore training climate galore(postnominal) countries be relying on electronic entree to selective culture through with(predicate) with(predicate) the profits, which is revolutionising discipline management and education technology. Developed countries extradite meliorate their communication systems and ar able to sh be schooling in a user-friendly environment.They have used the internet in various spheres market-gardening health creation sector management labor environment telecommunications mess etc. The mesh is now penet rate exploitation countries. This paper discusses the ecpennyric of the profit in such countries, with specific reference to chinaware and India. The network The idea of the profit originated about 25 familys ago at the US Defense Department Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), to notice track of selective information through computer hardware and software. The net income is now a complex web of net incomes machine-accessible with high-speed links sharp across countries.There are no set boundaries for the Internet in cyberspace. new-fangled statistics give tongue to 50,000 networks in more than carbon countries with more than 50 atomic number 53 million million million users (MIDS press release). It is estimated that the rate of result in Internet use is almost 20 per penny a month. Currently the Internet is not branded and is available to anyone with computer access connected to the external world. Since the USA launched the learning superhighway in 1994, t he Internet has come to play an ever-increasing role in the large entropy market in many countries (Table I). Asiatic Libraries, Vol. 7 No. 9, 1998, pp. 199-209. MCB University weight-lift, 1017-6748 Asiatic Libraries 7,9 Country G-7 countries Canada France Germany Italy lacquer Great Britain USA Africa South Africa Cyprus Tunisia Jamaica Senegal Egypt Mozambique Burkina Faso Cameroon gold coast Kenya Morocco New Caledonia Niger Swaziland Host Initial connection Country Turkey Indonesia Philippines India mainland china Kuwait Malaysia United Arab res publica Kazakhstan Macau Fiji Uzbekistan Vietnam Lebanon Lithuania Latin the States Brazil Mexico chili Ecuador Peru Argentina Bermuda Venezuela Puerto Rico Costa Rica Guam Virgin Islands Nicaragua Panama friar preacher Republic Host 22,963 10,861 4,309 4,794 25,594 3,555 6 994 1,136 1 0 153 3 1,128 2,761Initial connection 12/91 07/93 04/94 11/90 04/94 12/92 11/92 11/93 11/93 04/94 06/93 12/94 04/95 06/94 04/94 200 690,316 292, 096 875,631 211,966 955,688 878,215 825,048 07/88 07/88 09/89 08/89 08/89 04/89 07/88 419 1,973 15 349 275 1,894 44 2 75 275 457 888 59 34 240 12/91 12/92 05/91 05/94 10/94 11/93 03/95 10/94 12/92 10/94 11/93 10/94 10/94 10/94 05/94 Asia and gist easternmost Taiwan 40,706 12/91 Table I. South Korea 132,370 04/90 scattering of hosts Israel 61,140 08/89 connected to the Internet Singapore 60,674 05/91 (1997) G-7 countries, Thailand 12,794 07/92 Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America Source of host number http//www. w. com/ district/www/dist-byname. html, 1997 68,685 126 19,168 1,078 6,510 18,985 1,648 4,679 114 4,259 91 7 743 390 25 06/90 02/89 04/90 07/92 11/93 10/90 05/90 02/94 10/89 01/93 10/93 03/93 02/94 06/94 04/95 Malaysias Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed, once said It can be no accident that in that respect is today no affluent developed commonwealth that is knowledge poor, and no discipline rich nation that is poor and underdeveloped (Nagy, 1991, p. 57). This verbalisement emphasises the importance of the Internet for develop countries.From an worldwide perspective access to and use of the Internet is unbalanced there are obvious gaps between developed and development countries in terms of the poesy of nets, hosts and users. As a study from the Panos instal aimd The Internet and its impact on Table I provides data on hosts and connection eons for selected countries in China and India Africa, Latin America, Asia and Pacific, along with G-7 countries for comparison.Of the hosts 56 per centime were in the USA, 26 per cent in Europe, 16 per cent in Canada and Latin America, 12 per cent in Asia and the Middle East, and the tarrying 1 per cent were in African countries. The G-7 countries took about 80 per cent of total nets connected with the Internet, and the number of nets in 55 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America amounted to only 5 per cent. According to an different study, based on data from existence money box economic and kind indicators, the correlation of Internet nodes with GNP per capita is 0. 88 per cent.Adjusted for people size, the country with the highest density of nodes for community was Switzerland. The USA ranked sixth, and India was one of the lowest. So the revolution in electronic print and accessing is not really world(prenominal) (Jacobson, 1994). The timing of connection to the Internet is significant. For instance, while most developed countries obtained their connections to the Internet between 1988 and 1990, developing countries began around 1994-95. Even now many developing countries do not have Internet facilities. An approximate date of Internet connectivity for selected countries is alike given in Table I.The World desire has print data on various economic and social indicators for 133 countries. Table II shows data on population, literacy and GNP for selected developing countries and the G-7 countries. Tables I and II show a definite correlation am ong GNP per capita, population, illiteracy and number of networks connected with the Internet. The data show that the higher the GNP per capita and the lower the illiteracy rate, the great the number of links to the Internet, whereas indicators such as higher population, higher illiteracy and lower GNP per capita accompany fewer connections to the Internet.For most developing countries Internet connections brought the golden opportunity of leapfrog development through participating and competing in orbiculate trade, sharing tuition globally in education, research and manu pointuring/ productivity sectors, and alleviating poverty, contributing to improved social and economic indicators. info environment in China and India China and India are the two most populous countries in the world. With more than 2 billion people in these two countries, the market for the Internet is vast.In addition, both China and India are education-rich countries with a long impost of learning, publis hing and media activities. Both countries have recently experienced phenomenal evolution in economic terms. According to a World Bank report, the year check average emersion of GNP during the period 1985-94 in China and in India was around 7 per cent and 3 per cent respectively (World Bank Atlas, 1996). Compared with other developing countries of the same scale, China and India have shown significant increase in the development here is a danger of a new info elitism which excludes the majority of the worlds population (John, 1995). 201 Asian Libraries 7,9 G-7 countries Canada France Germany Italy Japan United Kingdom USA Africa Cameroon Egypt Kenya South Africa Asia China Indonesia India Malaysia Thailand Latin America Argentina Brazil Mexico Peru GNP per capita in US$, 1994 Real growth rate, 1985-94 (%) Population, 1994 (000) Growth rate, 1985-94 (%) Illiteracy rate, 1990 (%) 202 19,570 23,470 25,580 19,270 34,630 18. 410 25,860 680 710 260 3,010 530 880 310 3,520 2,210 8,060 3,370 4,010 1,890 0. 4 1. 7 1. 9 1. 3. 2 1. 4 1. 3 6. 6 1. 6 0. 0 1. 4 6. 9 6. 0 2. 9 2. 7 8. 2 1. 9 0. 4 0. 6 2. 5 29,121 57,726 81,141 57,154 124,782 58,088 260,529 12,871 57,556 26,017 41,591 1,190,918 189,907 913,600 19,498 58,718 34,180 159,143 91,858 23,331 1. 3 0. 5 0. 5 0. 1 0. 2 0. 3 1. 0 2. 8 2. 0 2. 9 2. 4 1. 4 2. 0 2. 0 2. 5 1. 6 1. 4 1. 8 2. 2 2. 0 * * * 3 * * * 46 52 31 27 23 52 22 7 5 19 13 15 Table II. base indicators for selected developing countries and G-7 countries Notes = not available *according to UNESCO, illiteracy is less than 5 per cent Source The World Bank Atlas (1996) Washington DC World Bank ycle and in the utilisation of tuition technologies and information management. The concentrate decrease in the price of personal computers, proliferating software in Asia and the multimedia system influx have contributed to growing markets and Internet use in China and India. Sales of PCs in these regions have expanded more than 20 per cent apiece year (Sher ry, 1995, p. 71). A rating scale by the Gartner multitude predicts a long-term potential for information technology in the Asian and Pacific region (Gartner Group, 1996).The rating is based on population, education, GDP, economic growth, regime support to IT, popularity of IT, IT industry (and its competitiveness), the industry type and international perspective. Table three shows details for China and India, as well as selected countries for comparison. The total rating whip for China was 75 and for India 58. In China the population of 1. 2 billion lives on 9. 6 million square kilometres. With its long nuance and tradition of learning, and with its economy Country scotch regimen Popularity Industry Total Population education GDP growth support to IT of IT Competitive type International score 9 9 4 3 4 8 7 4 9 8 7 5 9 9 7 6 5 6 3 2 2 5 4 1 5 2 18 10 12 17 16 12 12 12 14 14 8 5 8 5 6 6 8 4 9 8 7 6 0 2 10 9 7 3 6 8 3 4 7 10 0 1 9 9 7 3 5 7 1 3 7 10 6 7 5 4 5 7 7 4 7 7 6 5 8 7 4 2 4 2 7 5 6 4 4 3 53 50 75 58 58 58 62 52 50 55 62 60 The Internet and its impact on China and India 203 USA 8 Japan 8 China 10 India 10 Indonesia 8 South Korea 6 Malaysia 3 The Philippines 6 Singapore 1 Taiwan 4 Thailand 6 Vietnam 6 Source Gartner Group (1996), China Infoworld, Vol. 1, 29 July Table III. Long-term potential of information technology in Asian and Pacific countries growing rapidly since 1980, China has become one of the most powerful information resources and an integral part of the world information community. In 1995 there were 101,381 books, 7,583 kinds of magazines (4,014 are scientific and technical journals) and 2,089 newspapers (205 national and 844 churl newspapers) published by nearly 600 publishers nationwide (Handbook of Press, 1996). There are 1,080 universities fixed in 29 provinces, and more than one million students graduate to each one year.There are 350,000 libraries of different types public, university and school, research, military and labour union libraries. There are plans to have at least one library in each closure and urban area in China by the year 2000. Government has al slipway been the biggest information arriver and consumer. A total of 34 information centres belong to different central government departments, China statistical Bureau, China Economic Information meat and National Scientific and good Commission (NSTC) distribute and collect information from the central government at provincial, city and county levels.Chinese general information systems are divided into six categories (1) information centres machine-accessible with the National Scientific and Technical Commission (2) information centres belonging to central government ministries (3) information centres of a provincial nature (4) information centres of a specialised nature affiliated to regional governments (5) information centres affiliated with state enterprises, universities and other research institutions Asian Libraries 7,9 204 (6) info rmation centres of non-governmental, regional, professional and alike bodies (Dong, 1995).Since 1994, the global upsurge of the information highway has influenced Chinese decision-makers. Chinas information superhighway, consisting of eight golden projects, covers networks among universities, industry and state enterprises. The public emergency for the Internet and its potential are vast. India, which gained independence in 1947, covers a vast area of over 3. 2 million square kilometres and has a population of more than 900 million. In the area of information India is relatively rich, being the ordinal largest publisher in he world. It also supports a flourishing book industry some 11,000 publishers publish more than 18,000 monographs each year and there are more than 30,000 periodicals, of which 5,000 are in side of meat. There are thousands of book-sellers, more than 196 universities and 8,100 colleges and research institutions. The student population in higher education alto gether exceeds 5 million. In Delhi alone, there are 360 booksellers, six universities, 80 colleges, or so 40 research institutions and over 100 government agencies.Government offices and quasi-government offices at central, state, district, subdistrict and village levels produce and consume vast amounts of information. At the national level the main sources of information complicate various line ministries the Central Statistical validation (CSO) the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) the Registrar-General of India (RGI) the National Information Centre (NIC) the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) INSDOC DELNET Tata Energy Research grounding the Centre for intelligence and Environment and the Federation of India Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI).There are hundreds of governmental bodies at state and local levels. The information output from these offices in the various sectors is considerable. In addition, information is created, acquired and disseminated in all manufacturing and service sectors. These sectors indicate the scope for the Internet in India. Over the age the demand for information has emergenced in India and China. In India the market for information in English is enormous, as English speakers form a significant proportion of the literate population.They are generally well constituted in economic and social terms and shoot information in paper and electronic forms. This is also reflected in the fact that the majority of newspapers and periodicals are published in English. India, one of the largest publishers in the world, exports many books and periodicals to countries in Asia and Africa and also to Western countries. It imports much printed The Internet and material from abroad. its impact on China has made substantial progress in information management.China and India According to a 1996 report, there were 1,038 databases covering both Chinese and English sources, representing an increase of almost 3 0 per cent since the previous survey in 1992 (Guide to Chinese Databases, 1996) 205 there were 41 per cent of databases concentrated in science, industry and technology economy and business databases accounted for 28. 6 per cent, a considerable increase over the 1992 figure social science took 15 per cent general, 5. 6 per cent law and medicine gained 3. 5 per cent news and galvanic pile media took about 2. 9 per cent databases with abstracts represented 66. per cent, and full-text and number databases took less than 30 per cent. With the inclusion of Hong Kong, China has become a superpower in information acquisition and dissemination, not only in Asia but also on a global basis. It is anticipated that demand for information in China go away continue to grow in significant terms in the next decade. In both India and China access to the Internet go out be extremely valuable. Internet connections In China the get-go transmission control protocol/IP link to the Internet wa s established in 1994, in the Institute of Higher Physics (IHEP), Chinese Academy of Science.The following are also connected with the Internet Chinese Public Internet (Chinanet), established and sour by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the backbone of Internet connection in Beijing. It is available through local post offices for a subscription. China Education and Research net income (CERNET), owned by the State Education Commission. In 1996 CERNET connected 100 universities nation-wide. Eventually, it depart connect to all universities and leave become the basis for the favourable educational and research development. National Computing and networking Facilities of China (NCFC), started in 1989 and was the first high-speed network funded by the State Planning Commission and the World Bank. In 1994 its international route was opened. Gi Tong Company Network (GBNET), established in 1994, and supported by the Ministry of Electricity, has more than 1,000 users. O ver three age China has shown an increase in numbers of computers and Internet users. According to statistics provided by the Information Centre of Asian Libraries 7,9 206 China Internet, the number of Internet users change magnitude dramatically between 1994 and November 1997.The number of hosts connecting with the Internet increased approximately 35 times, from 569 to 19,739. The number of users increased steadily from 1,600 in 1994 to 620,000 in 1997, coming in general from education, science, business and government (Information Centre of China Internet, 1997). ChinaNet plans to cover 30 provinces, and nation-wide users will exceed one million (Ge, 1996, p. 161). Internet users are generally scientists, social scientists, academics, university students, researchers and technical experts with higher-educational backgrounds and proficient in English.Access is gained, primarily, through universities, scientific and technical institutions and corporations. In India Internet acces s was initiated in November 1986 through the Education and Research Network (ERNET), with assistance from the Government of India and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Eight institutions were snarled the five Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bangalore, the National Centre for Software Technology (CST) in Bombay and the Department of Electronics (DOE) in Delhi.The objectives included (1) setting up a nationwide computer network for the academic and research community to promote research and development in India and abroad (2) streng and thening national capabilities in information radix (3) make specialised human resources through education and training to increase sensory faculty of information resources available through the Internet and (4) opening an India-USA technology entrance to provide a wide information base with other servers (ERNET, 1995).Three other internal service providers became involved at a later da te (1) SOFTNET by STP (2) National Information Centre (NICNET) and (3) Gateway Internet Access Services (GIAS) (Ramakrishnan, n. d. ). By September 1996, India had more than 100,000 Internet users, 70,000 through ERNET, 15,000 through SOFTNET 2,000 through NICNET and 8,000 through GIAS. User numbers are pass judgment to grow to one million in the next three years by then computer perspicacity will be around 10 million PCs.The education and research community has maximum penetration with 65 per cent, followed by business users of 25 per cent and other users of 10 per cent in the government and orphic households. A dramatic growth is anticipate once private sectors enter the Internet market. The city of Bangalore is expected to dominate the internal market because of its electronic city image (Ramakrishnan, n. d. ).Current issues and conclusions The Internet and There are three major areas of concern about the Internet that are significant in its impact on developing countries Chi na and India (1) national information constitution (2) regulative framework and information foundation and 207 (3) education and training. National information policy Developing countries have a long tradition of oral culture therefore, awareness of information sources in written form tends to be minimal.While national information policy in developing countries concentrates on trade, international relations, national security and technology, very picayune attention has been paid to accessing information electronically through the Internet and to deriving benefits. Developing countries, in order to achieve faster economic growth, should include in their official documents high-priority plans for implementing electronic information delivery systems. Policy statements should be integrated into national planning documents such as five-year plans and should be use on schedule.Sufficient funding should be allocated at the planning stage and should be made available quickly for imple mentation. Regulatory framework and information infrastructure The regulatory framework in developed countries enforces protection of investment, intellectual billet and individual privacy in the information market. The legal framework addresses private sector involvement, skilled human resources, standards and implementation. In most developing countries regulatory frameworks concerning information do not exist.Although the rapid growth in information technology is changing methods of doing business at home, at work and in organisations in both developed and developing countries, regulatory frameworks have had very little effect on developing countries. While information technology, including telecommunications, has penetrated each market in the developed world, developing countries even so view information technology as a means to support management information systems, finance and accounting facilities, and data processing.Computer penetration per capita in both China and Indi a in the area of small office/home office (SOHO) is still not significant in relation to population numbers. Telecommunications still remain a major issue in both China and India. If information infrastructure were to cover the widespread Chinese and Indian populations, and technology were to be made available to access global information through the Internet, then the economic scene would be revitalised. Awareness of the Internet and its importance for policy makers xists only at the executive level, but unfortunately, not at the political level. This needs to be addressed urgently in both countries. Asian Libraries 7,9 208 Education and training Workforces in developing countries, as in developed countries, are changing from labour intensive to knowledge-based work. In developed countries, surveys have shown Internet use is associated with higher education. The same principle applies in developing countries. Thus, attention needs to be paid to improving literacy rates.It is the re sponsibility of governments, central, state and local, of learning institutions and civic associations to work together to raise literacy levels in developing countries. The training of information professionals should be given priority. Trained information professionals will be able to utilise the Internet more efficiently and will be more effective in acquiring, organising and disseminating information. Often, developing countries are refer about safeguarding their heritage of language and culture and supporting political systems.They are weary of foreign economic formats. Appropriate training for information professionals is an speedy requirement. Trained professionals can then educate the masses and take vantage of the Internet, sharing the dissemination of knowledge through cyberspace and adding value to the global information sector. The information revolution is real, and an information economy has already emerged, accelerating economic and social change. Information is cru cial and is the central resource and basis for competition.The Internet will assist in development in the following ways assessing the information capacity of the country and determining user needs, organising and synthesising information and providing access to internal and external information disseminating information to meet the needs of the public and private sectors and the daily information needs of the general public. The two items are almost inseparable and have a symbiotic relationship. In developing countries it is urgent to train information professionals to support information infrastructure and information management.In the contemporary world, information is vital to all sectors. Thus, the role of governments in utilising the Internet is critical. First, it influences appropriate use of the Internet for social and economic change in the transition from labour-intensive production to knowledge-based information industries. Second, it defines public and private sector relationships and opens the market to a strong private information sector. Third, it redefines telecommunication policies to chisel in down monopolies and to encourage competition among international and indigenous vendors.In conclusion, there is no single solution that can be applied, uniformly, to all situations in developing countries. Each case needs to be evaluated and customised to meet individual country needs. Priorities must be determined, depending on available resources. Indigenous resources should be tackle and other resources tapped, including funding from international organisations. The Internet has considerable potential in developing countries it is relevant to lobbying for more government support and budget storage allocation it ffers delivery modes for the collection and dissemination of information it may The Internet and be used to mobilise support among specialised ministries, universities and its impact on industries to produce and manage information, and t o emphasise institutional China and India arrangements to influence policy makers and information purveyors to promote the Internet for the countrys development. References Dong, X. (1995), The development and management of secondhand information systems and services in China, International Information and depository library Review, Vol. 27, pp. 83-94. ERNET to Academic and Research Community (1995), brochure. Gartner Group (1996), Information industry in Asia and Pacific is catching up and will become a main player in the 21st century, China Infoworld, Vol. 41. Ge, W. (1996), Internet in China the state of art and perspectives, China Computerworld, Vol. 9, September. Guide to Chinese Databases (1996), State Planning Commission and the State Scientific and Technological Commission, Beijing. Handbook of Press and Publ ication Statistics in China (1996), Press and Publications Administration, Beijing.Information Centre of China Internet (1997), The live situation of Internet in Chin a, China Computerworld, Vol. 10, November. Jacobson, T. L. (1994), The electronic publishing revolution is not global , Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Vol. 45 No. 10, pp. 745-52. John, M. (1995), Third world faces information poverty , CD News Bank Comprehensive, Reuters America, 11 October. MIDS press release New data on the size of the Internet and the matrix, . Nagy, H. 1991), Information technology in World Bank lending increasing the development and development impact, World Bank Discussion Papers, Vol. 120,World Bank, Washington, DC. Ramakrishnan, S. (n. d. ), head, Information Infrastructure Division, Department of Electronics, Government of India, New Delhi, personal communication. Sherry, A. (1995), The East is wired, Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 15. The World Bank Atlas (1996), World Bank, Washington, DC. About the authors Dr Dong Xiaoying is assort Professor in the Department of Information Management at Peking University.She is also a memb er of the Editorial Advisory Board of Asian Libraries. Address Department of Information Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. E-mail emailprotected bta. net. cn. Dr T. Kanti Srikantaiah is concern Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University, 7900 West Division Street, River Forest, IL 60305. E-mail emailprotected dom. edu 209