Abstract
WHILE SERIOUS EFFORTS are underway to improve the information infrastructure of the developing world, an equivalent effort is needed to build the “content infrastructure” that would permit all nations to produce the content needed to fill the Global Information Infrastructure. Shortcomings in this area can be seen in the lack of television production in much of the world. With little money available to pay production costs, countries import cheap American fare, even if it conflicts with their national values. Book production follows a very similar process, with lack of skilled workers and high production costs resulting in limited book publishing even on local subjects. Computer databases, a new form of information packaging, are dominated by American companies, even more so than is the case for television or books. The World Wide Web and other international data transfer approaches seem initially to offer a solution to the problem; however, shortcomings in telecommunications means that very poor countries will have no more presence on the Web than they do in international bookstores.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Bowker Annual Library and Book Trade Almanac.(1993). New Providence, N.J.: R.R. Bowker.
Curwen, P. (1986).The World Book Industry.New York:Facts on File.
Eltahawy, M. (1994, January, 6).Bold and Beautiful in Egyptian Soapie Row.Citizen.
Huckshorn, K. (1995, September 24). TV invasion.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,p. 10A.
Internet Access Costs in Africa for a Small Organization (1996, June 11). http://www.info.usaid.gov/alnk/ispcosts/tbl1050t.htm.
Lent, J. (1993).Four conundrums of third world communications: A generational analysis. InK. Nordenstregn &H. Schiller (Eds.).Beyond National Sovereignity: International Communications in the 1990s (pp. 235–255).Norwood, NJ:Ablex Publishing.
Levin, L. (1996, June 6).Launch of the Leland Initiative.usaid_press_release@info.usaid.gov.
Meek, J. (1995, September 24). Dubbing of American soap into Ukranian enrages Crimea.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,p. 10A.
Morgan, B. (1992).Information Industry Directory.Detroit:Gale Research.
Oliveira, O. (1993).Brazilian soaps outshine Hollywood: Is cultural imperialism fading? InK. Nordenstregn &H. Schiller (Eds.).Beyond National Sovereignity: International Communications in the 1990s (pp. 116–131).Norwood, NJ:Ablex Publishing.
Pearce, J. (1995, September 1). More local content would be even more lekker.Weekly Mail and Guardian,p. B5.
Stevenson, R. W. (1994, February 7). U.S. shines in European TV.International Herald Tribune,p. 9.
Tully, S. (1994, May 16). Teens, the most global macket of all.Fortune,pp. 34–41.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1993.Statistical Abstracts of the United States.Washington, D.C.
Walden, G. (1994, January 5). All the world’s a screen—and we should aim to fill.Weekly Telegraph,p. x.
Walker, M. (1994, May 6). All on-line for a twon meeting of the planet.Weekly Mail and Guardian,p. 27.
Williams, M. (1992).The state of databases today. In.K. Maracaccio (Ed.).Computer Readable Databases (p. iv).Detroit:Gale Research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
William Wresch is Associate Vice Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He spent the 1993–94 academic year in Africa as a Fulbright Scholar teaching computer science at the the University of Namibia and doing research on international information flow. His book,Disconnected: Haves and Have Nots in the Information Age, was published in 1996 by Rutgers University Press.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wresch, W. Empty highway. J. Comput. High. Educ. 9, 71–91 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02954767
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02954767