Information 02
Information 02
Information 02
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Approaches for Systematic Planning of Development Projects / Information and Communication Technology
society was defined as something which would accelerate and improve regional
economy, social, cultural, and technical development. It was emphasized that IT
should be fully utilized at every level of society and that all people should share
the benefits of using information networks while continuing to value diversity
and cultural heritage.
Meanwhile, people (or countries and regions), mainly those in
developing countries, do not have enough opportunities to use or acquire IT
and therefore are not able to reap the benefits offered by these technologies.
Thus the gap between these and people (or countries and regions) who have
access to use and acquire IT, what is called “digital divide,” has become an
important issue. The digital divide generates an economic divide, and, if the
divide becomes too wide by leaving it alone, it may lead to social unrest.
Among various types of information and communication technologies
progress and spread of Internet have especially significant impacts. According to
NUA 1, approximately 600 million people were using the Internet as of
September 2002, with 370 million or 62% of those in just the United States,
Canada, and Europe and with 160 million or 26% in Japan, China, Korea,
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. The remainder
comprising mainly developing countries in the rest of Asia-Pacific, Africa, the
Middle East, and Latin America is only 74 million or only 12% of the total. The
number of users in developing countries is on the rise, but the gap between those
countries and industrialized nations remains great.
Information and communication technology should be viewed as an
important means for achieving economic growth and for improving the public
and social sectors. The task at hand, therefore, is to create an environment in
which anyone anywhere can use information and communication technology
as needed at an affordable cost.
1-2 Definition
1
NUA, “NUA Internet Surveys” (http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/ )
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Chapter 1 Overview of Information and Communication Technology
The development of the World Wide Web (WWW) system that serves as a basis
for web pages has made it possible to obtain all of these types of information at
the same time as they exist on the Internet.
With respect to broadcasting and postal mail services, these are issues that
the World Bank includes in their definition of information and communication
technology and that Japan’s Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs,
Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) of Japan also mentions in its White
Paper on Information and Communications in Japan. However, at JICA,
broadcasting and postal mail services are considered to be essential
underpinnings of society and are treated as separate development issues. They
are therefore not included in this report.
In this report cooperation in the field of IT refers to projects that have
measures to promote the use of IT or measures to learn IT as a goal and
projects that include such measures as part of their output/outcome or as a
part of their activities, whether they are included as goals or not. In terms of
how to define what “part of ” actually means, this can be determined while
looking at the goals of a project when it comes time to create statistics or
examples, and the conditions for selecting a project or not should be clarified on
a case-by-case basis.
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Approaches for Systematic Planning of Development Projects / Information and Communication Technology
The MDGs raised eight goals and 18 targets for achievement by the year
2015. With respect to the field of IT, one of the goals is to “Develop a global
partnership for development” and a target under it is “In cooperation with the
private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies – especially
information and communications technologies.”
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Chapter 1 Overview of Information and Communication Technology
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Approaches for Systematic Planning of Development Projects / Information and Communication Technology
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Chapter 1 Overview of Information and Communication Technology
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