The Web is not Flat

This is a map of Google Maps for Mobile users from the Google Internet Summit 2009. I think it illustrates nicely how unflat and unegalitarian net use actually is. If you are a Christian who has concern for the poor, what say you of the digitally disempowered?

Comments

[Janet]

Mmmm... well, food security, personal safety and education/literacy would have to be a higher priority than internet access.. but I guess it's one more symptom of poverty and disadvantage.

[Jarred]

I agree with Janet that the hierarchy of needs definitely applies, meaning that the fact that some people are starving to death far outweighs the fact that they don't have Internet access.

But on the flip side, the lack of Internet access may in some cases be due to factors that do relate to more pressing needs. For example, one of the biggest roadblocks to Internet access in some parts of the developing world is the lack of or insufficient power and communications infrastructures. And that state of affairs has bigger implications for those parts of the world than just the resulting lack of Internet access.

Of course, I'm also curious about the vast portions of Alaska, Canada, and Australia that are quite bare as well. Is this mainly due to sparse populations in those areas?

[Eric]

Most pixels on the map of Australia don't have anyone living on them. Places like USA & Europe have towns scattered across most of their area.

And interesting lines across the Atlantic too, and a whole lot of mislocated points in Antartica and along the Date Line.

And it's just Google Maps for Mobile. There are much better cartographical ways of illustrating inequality.

[Matt Stone]

I am taking internet access as an indicator of power, or lack thereof, in a world information economy. Thus vulnerabilty to exploitation. The reason I raise it is that many pundits, Christian bloggers included, have waxed lyrical about the democratizing effects of the internet. I say pffft.

[Janet]

Pfft indeed. There's a large chunk of the world's population who live on $2 a day or less... owning a computer isn't going to be a high priority!

Ah, mobile internet... maybe the dots on Antarctica are tourists flying over it using mobile internet, and the red strip across the Atlantic is the most heavily tracked route for business fliers?

(That still leaves me scratching my head over all the dots near the international date line... mmm...)

[Jesse]

And just recently the internet turned 40 too (although of course it's only in the past 15-20 that it has really taken off).

I generally agree with the hierarchy of needs (potable drinking water, shelter, food, clothing, etc.) idea, but the internet is such a resource I'm glad to see it's usage and adoption so wide spread. I hear in Europe there are some places making internet access a right, even.

Speaking of the net's 40th birthday, there's some rumination over on Wondercafe.ca about what the internet means for our daily lives, etc.: http://www.wondercafe.ca/discussion/social/internet-turns-40

[Matt Stone]

What does it mean for our daily lives, ha, it means I'm now 40 too! Old fart.

[Matt Stone]

I just noticed Alan Hirsch quoting William Gibson on facebook - "The future is already here — it's just not evenly distributed"

[Eric]

I saw this today: http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/11/13/infostate-of-africa/
Technology and communications in Africa.