The Internet and Development of Information

The Internet and Development of Information

The internet remains an ever growing phenomenon that is here to stay and transforms the world in the manner that business is conducted at an unprecedented pace. From taking courses online and earning degrees, to paying bills in the comfort of your own home. It is not just American society that the internet is transforming, but the rest of the world, especially developing countries are taking notice. Will developing countries benefit from the fast learning experiences and commodities the internet has to offer? Or will the internet just create a wider gap between first world industrialized countries like the U.S. and Japan? Internet access is not available to all people and the new generations disparities in the world will epitomize the disadvantages that failure to internet access will bring. All aspects of life are transformed by computer and information technology in our new day of age and ever more so in the future.

First of all, the internet has become a very important medium for gathering important information and providing all sorts of data at the click of a button that would otherwise not be available unless you went to some library halfway across the world, or subscribed to some popular newspaper that needed to be special ordered to your country to find out the outcome for a bill recently voted on in Chile. Library databases hold very important information from all over the world at the comfort of home or school that obviously those schools without access to the internet are left without. Research is important when making any and all kinds of decisions since it allows the researcher a wide area of knowledge on the subject from around the world, thus saving a lot of time and energy from traveling to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. to inquire about past bills and study them in full context. The powerful tool of learning and the information the internet has available as a learning tool is definitely transforming the way learning is performed. Those without internet are being left behind in a hurry and are at a sever disadvantage when it comes to competing for jobs or accessing information. An industry in computers has been created that is expanding exponentially, and those that are missing out obviously cannot compete in the trillion dollar industry phenomenon. Hence, countries and its population are becoming more backward everyday and missing out on education necessary for the new internet global order, and more importantly in the economic gains that the internet has transformed in all aspects of revenue.

I doubt that a villager living in Zimbabwe can shop around his country and get the same fair price for an item as is being sold online due to all the competition that exists online, thus making the price a lot cheaper for the consumer. I personally know this when I have traveled to Mexico and have been sold gasoline for my car at a very high inflated price because I find myself high in the sierra mountains and there is only one gas station available thus everyone is forced to buy from this monopolizing provider. Contrastingly, competition brings prices down as is the case in the internet where stores have been forced to lower their prices even more since the competition has increased even more in the global market. Thus, the internet gives consumers a new market in which to conduct business that is to the advantage of consumers since there is more competition and they can search for the best prices. For instance, there are search engines online that when prompted for a specific product, they give a list of providers of that product and offer the cheapest prices from a variety of online stores thus saving a lot of time from shopping around and money obviously by allowing consumers the cheapest price. Those without access are furthermore being left behind by the internet industry and are narrowed down to monopolized prices and only a handful if any stores to choose from.

Imperative to understanding less developed countries and their often lack of internet access is the costly expense. Since there is almost no market that exists in some places of the world then there may be only one or two internet providers and their cost of providing is higher in areas where there are less consumers, thus prices are adversely high. Hence, internet access remains a main problem because of the cost involved. As explained in lecture by Professor Laguerre, "computers are expensive items and their use requires some form of literacy, training, access either through a tele-center or a home/workplace, and availability of electricity and a phone line" (lecture 4/19/05). How can populations with no electricity even have computers, nevertheless internet access? Or how can the majority of the world, which is obviously the greater percentage in terms of poor, afford electricity or to use it other than for survival necessities. Many places around the world not have this minimum infrastructure so how can they be expected to even ponder the internet.

Since all countries in the world, with exception of maybe a handful, are disproportionately grouped in terms of their economic status then the majority of the world will not have internet access for at least the next 20 years. The lower class, especially in less developed countries are at a sever disadvantage. The privileged who can afford it have access to the internet, thus the gap between rich and poor becomes even greater. Also, the creation of Internet Cafes in places around the world are only placed in nice areas of their towns or cities, and only those who can pay the price to use the internet have access to it. Thus all the important information, communication, and products and services are only available to these internet users who benefit from the commodities of the internet. Countries could barely deal with the disparities of providing equal education, healthcare, jobs, among others to their people, now the internet has encompassed all these even further and left out those who are not internet users.

Patricia Wallace explained the crucial importance of the internet in society in just the arena of how it has transformed workplace into a "netcentric environment". Accordingly, Wallace discusses the more increasingly use of "virtual teams" in the business world since the internet is a global communication market. This allotment to network with different people or groups around the world with such ease can create efficient and much more profitable gains for those involved in these environments. This new workplace has created a new environment that changes families, societies, and the world globally in who has access to computers and who doesn't. Furthermore, it is cheaper and much more efficient to communicate with people through the internet by use of e-mail