From networks to uses patterns: the digital divide as seen from Africa

This paper gives an account of the work carried out in the AFRICA’NTI research network, which gathered together a hundred, mostly African, researchers. The results were presented at the conference on “the North–South Digital Divide” in 2003 and 2004 (see www.africanti.org). From network to uses patterns, it first questions the way in which the subject is defined. This is a controversial question; should we speak of a “ditch” rather than of “fracture”? This depends on the point of view, but also on the geopolitical situation, and is difficult to measure. The digital divide may be less important than it is usually believed. This paper presents several types of approaches dealing with the opportunities of new technologies for Africa, geographical aspects stressing the diversity of the situations considered, and the importance of a multilevel systemic analysis based on case studies. It is shown that a slow down in the dynamics of equipment has been observed in Africa for both mobile telephony and the Internet. This then raises the question of a risk of regression for the continent, based on the idea that inequalities in access and uses of ICTs matter less than whether these uses improve the living conditions of the poor people concerned.