The Internet is global and growing like a weed, but a glance at the map on page xx shows that it is not uniformly distributed. There are Internet and non-Internet nations, and even if a developing nation is on the Net, it may have only a few hosts and users in a few universities. That is the bad news.
The good news is still a hypothesis -- that a relatively small Internetworking investment can have a significant, positive impact on the economy and intellectual life of a developing nation. I hope this department of OnTheInternet can contribute to the testing of that hypothesis, by encouraging and facilitating the spread of the Net to developing nations, and by reporting on its penetration and impact.
For three years, ISOC has worked to further the spread of the Net by conducting Developing Nation Workshops under the leadership of Larry Landweber and George Sadowsky. OntheInternet will complement this effort by publishing articles which inform and inspire networkers in developing nations, covering, for example:
profiles of networks
applications and success stories
communication infrastructure, trained technicians and demanding users, appropriate, affordable hardware and software, and other necessary resources
regulatory and policy issues in developing nations
analysis of user communities and economic impact
servers and databases in developing nations
We will also have a complementary Internet server, and I would like suggestions as to what sorts of information you would like to see posted there.
There is a question of the definition of a "developing" nation. Are the Czech Republic or Chile developing nations? Are inner cities in the U. S. developed? For our purposes, let us say we are interested in focusing on nations in which Internet connectivity is relatively sparse.
Decentralized access is a core value and strength of the Internet -- everyone may be a publisher as well as a consumer of information. Ubiquitous connectivity in developing nations will enrichen our entire community, and we look to developing nations as sources of information and contacts on the Internet. As this issue illustrates, there will also be a developing nation presence in OnTheInternet. I encourage readers, wherever they are, to contribute to this department.
Goodman, S. E., Press, L. I., Ruth, S. R., and Rutkowski, A. M., "The Global Diffusion of the Internet: Patterns and Problems," Communications of the ACM, August, 1994.
Press, L., "Developing Networks in Less Industrialized Nations," IEEE Computer, June, 1995.