Digital Divide in Vietnam - Areas for Private Initiatives -

1
Digital Divide in Vietnam- Areas for Private
Initiatives -
"The Internet is for Everyone" Stefan
Probst ISOC ISTF Opticom Individual round-ta
ble presentation 11.08.2001 at UNDP office Hanoi
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Digital Divide

• DOT Force, DOI
• Concentrate for now on the Internet (e.g. Only
  eCommerce, not eBusiness)
• Forms of DigDivide internal and external (today
  only some relevant points)
• Digital Divide in Vietnam
• Areas for Private Initiatives
• Discussion first steps?

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Digital Divide external

• eCommerce
• - state regulations needed,but current focus
  seems to forget main obstacles
• - main obstacles in Vietnam at present banking
  (merchant accounts for eCommerce) payment
  gateways (for payments in VND) accounting (no
  "red invoice" in eCommerce!) customs (no signed
  import/export contracts)
• - low CC usage no big problem! "B2B gtB2C"

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Digital Divide external

• Production of Digital Content for "Export" (SW,
  databases, publications, etc.)
• - needs skilled producers talent training
• - should have inhouse capabilitiesto offer
  online gt ICP....

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Digital Divide internal... some points ...

• cities urban rural
• more educated less educated
• have have not's
• young old
• special needs
• Social Opportunities or Social Threats?
• (e.g. counter the rural exodus - or create social
  instabilities)

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Time Frame

• External Divide- very urgent- mostly state
  regulations- co-operation and pressure from
  non-state
• Internal Divide- less urgent, but- foundation
  to master external divide- much can be done via
  private initiatives

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Main Obstacles for User

• Affordability- investment cost (PC gt set top
  box)- running access cost (gt international and
  national competition and less regulation)-
  ability to maintain (PC gt set top box, gt
  community access)- ability to use (equipment and
  language skills) (PC gt set top box easier to
  use in local language)

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Main Obstacles for User

• Perceived Value- not enough Vietnamese content-
  irrelevant content- cumbersome (slow) access
• Media Branding- publisher reader (one way
  communication)- insider outsider (only for
  small user group)

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Digital Divde Vietnam
Issue LDCs Vietnam purchase power
US poor very poor market size small to
big fairly big literacy mostly poor mostly
good infrastructure (Tel. Power) mostly
poor mostly good native language OS SW mostly
good poor state regulations ? much
regulated private initiatives ? very few local
content few few
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What To Do

• Make available content accessible- HW, OS,
  browser gt set top boxes- PC-SW gt localized
  Linux ?- Access Fees gt DGPT (fees,
  competition, bandwidth) gt US (international
  access) gt ASEAN (peering agreements)- Content
  in foreign languages gt ??? (online translation)

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What To Do

• Enable creation of new content / encourage
  two-way communication- allow easy hosting by
  everybody- reduce hosting prices- standardize
  text representation- provide tools to create
  Vietnamese content- train potential producers

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Tasks

• Get in contact with Government- eCommerce
  regulations- ICP regulations (provide other
  countries' experiences)- eDemocracy
  discussions- get development projects online
  translation urban broadband access-
  standardization character tables sorting

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Tasks

• Get in contact with SW producers- localize SW,
  use common standards- create fonts for all
  platforms- create input method editors
  capable of different Unicode representations
  compatible with browsers- adapt Vietnamese
  search engines, WebMail- look for solutions for
  minorities, special needed people

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Tasks

• Educate, Promote, Monitor- businesses to use
  common standards- website creators to use common
  standards- people to use and to publish on the
  Net (e.g. online training)- status of the Net
• Help- organize PC donations- selected projects
  for needy people

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Why Private Initiatives?

• The Internet has traditionally been planned by
  individuals (gt IETF)
• Individuals have other motivatione.g. for
  issues, which are not interessant for business
• Individuas have additional experience,relations..
  ..
• Individuals are more flexiblee.g. than
  governments
• eDemocracy starts with a "bottom-up Inetnet"

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Who / How To Do

• Vietnamese and Expats together
• Individuals Business Government
• e.g. WGs gt ISOC gt UNESCO
• ARE YOU INTERESTED?WILLING TO JOIN?