The DOI will
continue to be developed as a multi-stakeholder project,
with the involvement of ITU, the Korea Agency for Digital
Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and a
constantly growing network of partners.
It is hoped that the
DOI Users’ Guide
will enable policy-makers and researchers to use and
apply the DOI for their own policy analysis. An
interactive spreadsheet has been prepared to
facilitate further research, which can be obtained
by
contacting us.
The
Digital Opportunity Index
could also be adapted to different analytical uses. For
example, a version tailored to low and middle income
countries could be created that incorporates communication
access indicators once sufficient data is available and
would also include the core broadcasting indicators since
radio and television are important development tools. Core
indicators that lend themselves to separation by sex can
also be utilized to generate a gender-based DOI.
Finally, although the research in this report is based on
economy level analysis, the DOI could be modified to provide
national or regional ICT indices.
As part of the further work to be carried out on developing
the DOI, it is also planned to carry out sensitivity
analysis, for instance to see the effect of using purchasing
power parities instead of US$ exchange rates, or using real
tariff values rather than tariffs as a proportion of GNI per
capita.
Measuring the gender digital
divide
Paragraph 28a of the Geneva Plan of
Action calls for performance evaluation and benchmarking,
including gender analysis. The DOI can be used to assess and
monitor differences in access to ICTs by gender (e.g. for
the
Czech Republic, see graph on the
left).
Household and tariff data cannot be
disaggregated by gender (it is assumed that all members of
the household can access the telephone, whether male or
female, and tariffs are the same for all). However, studies
in some countries have shown different levels of access for
male and female Internet users and mobile phone users. The
DOI can be compared for different groups within society to
take into account and evaluate differences in access (e.g.
for youth access to ICTs in
Bulgaria).
The DOI can be used to assess Digital
Opportunity for regions, towns and
provinces within a country, nation and
state, to assess different levels of
access within an economy (e.g. Egypt and
Brazil (see graph on the left)).
Measurements of the DOI within a country
can also be used to track the domestic
digital divide or urban/rural
disparities in access – not just in
levels of access (where it is usually
assumed that urban access will always be
greater than rural access, e.g. Egypt),
but in types of access, with mobile or
satellite technologies often used for
more remote rural areas, in preference
to fixed line infrastructure. The
fixed/mobile split within the DOI means
that the DOI can be readily used to
assess differences in the type of access
(e.g. the use of mobile services in
Africa and the development of mobile
services in Indonesia). A series of
evaluations over time can be used to
monitor the evolution of the digital
divide within a country of region, or to
compare a country to its neighbors (e.g.
India, Pakistan and Tunisia).
The
telecommunication environment is subject to multiple
cultural, economic and political factors. The modular
structure of the DOI, based on the sequential clusters of
Opportunity, Infrastructure, and Utilization, can be adapted
to analysis of particular policy needs.
The
three DOI clusters can be
complemented by social and
regulatory indicators, as well as by
technology indicators for other
sectors influencing the ICT
environment (such as government or
business).
Regulation influences the structure,
performance, and behavior of the
telecommunication sector. However,
it is difficult to measure the
regulatory environment. The European
Telecommunications Regulatory
Scorecard is an attempt to combine
various aspects of the regulatory
situation in a country into a
numerical score. The Regulatory
Scorecard evaluates the impact of a
country’s regulatory framework on
investment and employment in the ICT
sector, two variables closely
related to the deployment of ICT
infrastructure in a country. With
respect to social factors, the
UNDP’s Human Development Index
provides useful national and
sub-national statistics on poverty
and knowledge (adult literacy rate
and combined primary, secondary, and
tertiary gross enrolment ratio).
These social indicators
(disaggregated by gender and income
groups) can be combined with the DOI
to provide useful insights into the
impact of education and poverty
reduction efforts on closing
population divides.
Other
indices can also extend the DOI by
providing greater detail on the
impact of ICTs in other sectors of
the economy, such as business or
government. The e-business readiness
composite indicator, developed for
the European Commission, evaluates
the availability and use of ICTs in
the business sector. It builds on
many of the Partnership indicators
used for measuring ICTs in
enterprises such as the percentage
of business with Internet access.
The UN Division for Public
Administration and Development
Management compiles an annual
e-government index measuring the
development and sophistication of
publicly accessible government
websites around the world.
The figure compares
selected European economies, and shows how DOI
scores could be modified by the inclusion of
additional indices and indicators.
The number in parentheses
reflects the difference in the original DOI rank
and the revised rank by including the new
components.
Although the Regulatory Scorecard and the
e-business readiness indices are not as
extensive in country coverage, they are useful
templates for methodologies and indicators that
could be used by other regions.
