First thing's first, we define digital divide: An expression used by government adviser Dr. Simon Moores in a 1996 BBC television interview on digital inclusion, the digital divide is the socio-economic difference between communities in their access to computers and the Internet.

Plain, simple, and straight forward. However, I don't quite agree with this definition. It gives the aura that this difference can vanish simply by granting the disadvantaged communities the access to computers and Internet. NEGATIVO!! I remember when I first saw the computer lab in my JHS filled with Commodore 64s. Now that I think about, I had no clue as to what those things were going to be used for, but it just felt good to see them. NYC public JHS filled with Commodores back in those days was an honor. But what were the systems used for? California Games and any other game the local ghetto geeks could fit on a 5.25" floppy.

I will now do like the experts and define a term for what was mentioned above, "Unstructured Exposure". Personally, I like the term. It has scalability and literal meaning. It will not be limited to Information Technology topics. It will cross various fields such as science, sociology, politics, and others.

A perfect example of Unstructured Exposure is what we see in many of Panama City's Internet Cafes. Most non-locals are usually impressed by the amount of these scattered throughout the town, but for the most part the non-locals tend to be superficial viewers (don't get mad at them, you do the same when you travel). Infested with chat junkies, porn addicts, and gamer lamers, these cyber rest havens are the results of what happens if you expose a proposed "solution" without a well structured mechanism to control, present, and manage. In this case for economic purposes, but most of the time this is done by government "leaders". "We need computers in our schools!!!" Excellent, now what are you going to do once the computers get there? "We don't know, we just know we need computers in our schools." The results: Access to the information highway being wasted on MSN Messenger and solitaire. Que pena!

The task of narrowing the digital divide should be one with a stronger focus on quality of access as opposed to quantity. Sure it would be nice if everyone had a computer with access to Internet at home, but this doesn't solve the "access to quality information" problem. In fact, it might even create a greater gap as people might drift away as they now have access to a time consuming resource with no guidance. How many people remember exactly what they did when they first had access to Internet on their personal computer? How many knew exactly what they wanted to do? How many wasted hours simply doing "nothing"?

In conclusion, a well structured plan prior to massive deployment in an attempt to narrow the digital divide is much needed. Who is responsible for this plan? That can easily be answered once we establish the powers that will benefit from the access to quality information. Governments should be at the top of the list since their focus should be to provide a better quality of life for their citizens. The citizens will in turn recycle this betterment in quality of life by evolving into civil members of their communities. Private businesses at the end of the day are all about the profit margin, but this "green" orientated focus can be of great help. They too will benefit by having this newly evolved employee/worker. This can represent an increase in "production" for them, which can then turn into an increase in profit margin. My model is overly simplified, but the idea remains the same. The private institutions donate money and expertise to the Governments, the Government trickles this down to its citizens with a well structured plan, the citizens evolve into models that can better serve/help their Government, and help the private institutions keep their production going. It's a win win win.