The Global Digital Divide
August, 2005
By Dan Shine, 50x15 Program Director

When I think about the term “digital divide”, I visualize a deep, wide, menacing chasm. That’s just me. Some students from the University of Texas recently offered a different perspective. They see an enmeshed network of small fissures that separate people locally. Played out on a global scale, the combined effect of these small divisions ultimately limits the potential of the entire human race. So the UT students took this notion and used 50x15 to turn it on its head. In their eyes, 50x15 has the ability to exponentially increase the power of the Internet. Every time we enable one more person with access, everyone around them begins to benefit. One thing is certain. From any perspective, the concept of the “digital divide” is so recent that we are all students in this great endeavor as much as we are leaders.

I’m happy to report that progress continues as AMD and its partners work to close the global digital divide. As you’ll read in the August, 2005 edition of 50x15 Connections, there are efforts underway to put technology into the hands of people around the world. Nevertheless, we need to multiply those efforts to reach our goal. Together, we’re rewriting the rules of the game and working hard so that one day the world may discover the next Nelson Mandela, or Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs in a village in India, or China, or Africa.

Dan Shine
50x15 Program Director