Case Study - Laos

The digital divide in Laos is quite large due to the area and the large amount of natural disasters that would cost lots to repair if IT technology was set up.

The problems that have caused the divide include the mountainous region making it hard to get IT to all the places in Laos, the weather and annual monsoon seasons that would damage things that would cost lots to repair of replace, the lack of ISP (internet service providers) making it hard for IT to be set up, the high costs of IT that is also making it harder for the country to update and the poor power and telecommunications infrastructure makes it harder for IT to be powered and access the internet.

The impact of the divide on Laos has caused the area to be far behind in being up to date with technology and IT as the country has a GDP of 12.8 billion according to the CIA fact book but the information is from 2007 and that may have changed.

The solutions to the problems in Laos are Cantennaes which are devices that can be made from cans to boost wireless reception which would be useful in Laos mountainous regions, pedal powered wireless computers which have been made by the poorest country in the world called Phon Kham which is useful as they have no electricity to power electrical devices.

The economic benefits of these solutions are they are cheap to produce making it easier for the country to integrate IT into the communities, The social benefits include that almost everyone will be able to afford one making it less likely people will get into fights over what they own and it will allow people to stay in touch if they are in different regions of Laos, the educational benefits of the solutions are that it allows people to gain information for the internet to learn and the cultural benefits are that it will help to create a greater community as they will be able to talk about things they have learnt and things tha should look out for on the internet.