The Digital Divide, Smart Cities and Inclusion

User Rating: / 1
PoorBest 

In October of 2010 Fijatevos.com attended the seminar announcing the Smart Heredia Project by ESPH (Heredia Public Services Company – see this related article: About ESPH ). The presentation - Digital Inclusion Towards a Smart Heredia - was given by Dr. Yonathan Mizrachi, who is an ICT4D, e-Governance, and Digital Inclusion Specialist. This article explains the basics covered at the conference regarding what is a smart city, and also what is the digital divide and how a smart city breaches or eliminates it.

The Smart Heredia project is an extension of the company's digital fiber optic network, which is mostly in place and is targeted towards serving institutions in the Heredia area, as well as residents in the near future. (see main article: Heredia Poised to Become Costa Rica's First Smart City) One key point is that there is a difference between a smart or intelligent city and a digital city. All smart cities are digital, but not all digital cities are smart. What they have in common is the technological infrastructure, with broadband widely available in all areas. Also smart systems that utilize this infrastructure. But a smart city seeks to be inclusive, so that all area residents benefit. A smart city must have systems and projects in place that seek to bridge the digital divide. As a socially responsible enterprise, ESPH is very focused on this aspect and its Smart Heredia project seeks to allow Heredia to become a smart city, not just a digital city.

According to Dr. Mizrachi, “Digital Inclusion means to eliminate the digital divide. Project Digital Heredia is to make Heredia a smart city, connected, government processes must be digitalized and everyone must be included – not excluded.” Dr. Mizrachi started out with a PHD in anthropology, but became very interested in the information society in the 1970s. His focus is on ways to use technology to improve quality of life. Also to eliminate dark side of technology. Always on means always accessible, which can lead to working too much and information overload. Things become relative and concentration is difficult, there is no ultimate truth.

As a consultant for governments, NGOs and institutions, Dr. Mizrachi has worked worldwide in similar projects. With ESPH leading the way, he believes that making Heredia an intelligent city is relatively simple. In Burkina Faso they have implemented systems for 3 – 5 million people, who are not “connected” - no bank accounts, no credit cards, etc. ESPH has billing and accounting systems in place, can implement the technology within the public services it manages, and can use its pull with the municipality to push for government involvement that will bring the city forward into the digital age.

Digital Inclusion – A Broad View
The world is changing, today profitable professions are those that generate intellectual capital. Companies like GM make more money on insurance and interest from loans than from selling cars. Biggest revenue for the US economy is the export of music, video games, software, movies.

The world is globalized, the economy is globalized. Economic events in Japan, Europe, China can influence our bank accounts in seconds. Markets are international, in the Café Britt Coffee Tour they state that more than 50% of income is from online sales. Opens markets going both ways.

This means that time dies. Everything happens fast, everything is real time, good and bad news travels instantly. (Bad side of technology.) Costa Rica is # 1 in the happy planet index, which measures quality of life. Many countries should think about “Happiness Divide” Costa Rica must be careful to use IT and information and telecommunications technologies to enhance and preserve quality of life while enjoying benefits of technology.

Digital Exclusion, What is the Digital Divide
Within a population that participates in the digital economy, we see 4 levels of participation:

Awareness ----> Access ----> Ability ----> Application

Awareness – People know that there is an information society and the world is changing
Access – The infrastructure to available to aware people so that they may participate.
Ability & Skills – People having access must have ability and skills to use it and share wisdom and knowledge.
Application - Using Information and Communication Technology as a means of production and to generate income. The technology must be applied to the real world to actually make a difference. (buy and sell real estate, offer personal services, government paperwork or permits, payments)

The Digital Divide is the division between those that have 4 components and those that don't. The divide can be viewed on many levels, between countries, cities, even individuals. Digital inclusion is eliminating the divide.

The History of the Digital Divide
The Divide's first origin is in colonialism. Britain was a small island that controlled the whole world – India, Africa, Middle East,(even the US earlier). The British, and then other European countries, extracted resources from regions: natural and human resources, including slave trade. The Colonial way included the elimination of delicate social structures that these societies even today are trying to overcome. For example French prison for locals in Hanoi.

How could small countries control vast areas around the world? One big advantage was communication, during colonial times there was the Victorian Internet. Samuel & Cook in 1836 invented the telegraph. This was the original idea of moving information electronically instead of physically. This causes the death of space, the world IS flat and globalization occurs. And the death of time, there is a transition to real time experience. An order or idea originating in London can conceivable be carried out in Hong Kong or India, over 150 years ago!

This created a power shift to an information society, the first real telecommunications issues begin to occur. In 1896 radio was introduced to the public by Italian Guglielmo Marconi, who brought commercially viable wireless connectivity to the world. Also biggest machine on earth, the telephone system – which eventually was used for data transmission (aka the Internet).

We can view today's information economy as developing from Infancy – the 19th century, to Childhood in the 20th Century, and through its Maturity, a knowledge economy in the 21st century.

Digital Inclusion in the Smart Heredia Project
Western companies today control technology and the future. However, the big corporations have Social Responsibility Programs and Digital Inclusion programs, particularly in Heredia they will help, given their substantial presence here. They have people who are paid to help programs, you just have to show that you are organized and will put the money to good use.

2015 and the Millennium Development Goals - The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015, namely:

• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
• Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rate
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health
• Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
• Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
• Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Digital inclusion can boost the achievement of these goals dramatically. For example, the goal of maternal health can be addressed via video conferencing over a smart phone, assuming both the doctor or health professional and the mother have the capability. For the goal of reducing child mortality rate, a sick baby in a remote area could get life saving treatment from a specialist far away.

Benefits of Digital Inclusion – Smart Cities
One area where the presentation was a little light, possibly due to time constraints, is what are the tangible benefits of being a smart city. Here is a list prepared by Fijatevos.com of benefits based on information online at http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/ and http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/ among others.

City Government
The City of Dundee in Scotland is regularly recognized as one of the most developed smart cities. Its website provides information and news on the council services and facilities, it allows citizens to interact with the government on-line through payments, reporting, requests, submit and forms. In the payments section (http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/payonline/ ) you can pay fines, taxes and permits. Everything from parking permits, to fines for littering and of course property taxes. This saves the government and citizens the time and expenses that payment of these items involves.

In the reporting section, http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/reportonline/ citizens can report crimes, abandoned vehicles, graffiti, damaged street lights and more. Obviously the report must be automatically forwarded to the correct institution and be acted upon in order to achieve this benefit.

In the requests / forms / submit sections citizens can request a number of common documents and services, birth / death certificates, city permits, maintenance items and even library books. They can submit complaints or requests, and as well submit forms for many different types of licenses.

In conclusion, the city is able to perform vital functions more efficiently, through the use of a web based platform. It also develops a culture of quick response to resident complaints, which in turn foments a culture of citizen participation and a sense of community.

On the other hand, the Intelligent Community Forum sees the main benefit of being a smart city as a matter of survival. In the article The Broadband Economy , they state plainly that communities have the same goals as always: “... to be a place where people can raise their children and give those young people enough economic opportunity to allow them to stay and raise children of their own.”

However, in the broadband economy, this creates a challenge for communities, since global companies in a global economy are always seeking to locate their facilities in places where they gain the greatest advantage in terms of costs, skills and access to markets.

Geographic location and natural resources were once the key determiners of a community's economic potential. In one person's lifetime, they changed seldom if at all. But in the Broadband Economy, it is increasingly the skills of the labor force, and the ability of business and government to adapt and innovate, that power job creation. And these are assets that must be continually replenished.

The only jobs that are immune to the pressures of the Broadband Economy – local retailing and services from plumbing and heating to real estate – do not bring new money into a community; they merely move it around from pocket to pocket within the community. A sustainable community must have inputs and outputs, which means external markets for the skills, services and products it provides. Smart communities recognize this and take steps to ensure that the population of the community is prepared to compete globally.

Conclusion – Digital Inclusion in Heredia and Costa Rica
A Smart Heredia is not only a matter of brotherhood, although Costa Ricans are very community and family oriented, and including everyone in benefits is a normal way of life. In this sense the Smart Heredia Project will find open arms on many levels. However, another characteristic of Costa Rican society and beliefs is the idea that things will take care of themselves and work out over time. Clearly the competitive advantages that Heredia, and Costa Rica, enjoy must be maintained, in order for the area to remain competitive.

Heredia has seen great growth and benefits from the location of Free Zones and global companies locating here, but it also sees a number of problems, including infrastructure, but also public safety and health concerns related to poverty and uncontrolled growth. What was once a bucolic rural coffee town is now a bustling metropolis, with some enjoying a very high standard of living, and others not so much. A perfect example is the new shopping mall – Paseo de Las Flores – which has all the modern conveniences of any new mall, including high prices and sophisticated stores, several call centers employing Costa Ricans are located here. At the same time, crack addicts beg for money from drivers passing by the “most desirable corner” in Costa Rica. And behind the mall is one of the most dangerous slums in the Central Valley.

Making Heredia an intelligent city will bridge that gap, and at the same time ensure that Heredia has the resources and skills to continue to not only survive, but thrive in the new millennium.

Fijatevos.com fully supports this initiative, and will follow the project closely. If you would like more information or to participate in the project, we can help you connect with the right people, please indicate your interest in the form below.

Smart Heredia Project Inquiry

 

Fill in the information below, indicating your area of interest in the comment box. Would you like to volunteer time? Money? Do you want a fiber optic connection? Do you have a business idea? We can help you connect with the right people, just provide some information below:

 

Your Name

Your Name :: Enter your name, required field

 

Company Name If Applicable

Company Name If Applicable :: Not required

 

Position or Title

Position or Title :: If applicable, not required

 

Area of Interest

Area of Interest :: donation, information, business opportunities, broadband connection

 

Enter the image you see in the space provided   

Enter the image you see in the space provided :: Captcha Image Verifacn