ABSTRACT

The development and interconnectedness of information and communications technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet, email, satellite television and mobile phones are diffusing globally at an impressive speed.1 The Internet is undoubtedly the most striking example. From only a handful of websites in the early 1990s, the Internet grew to contain several million websites at the turn of the millennium. Moreover, the costs of producing, using and communicating information have constantly decreased, making ICTs available to an increasing number of people all over the world (Choucri 2000: 248-52; Nye 2003: 215-16; 2004a, 2004b). There is still a significant ‘digital gap’, dividing the haves from the have-nots in terms of access and usage, a long-standing and welldocumented problem both within and between societies (Choucri 2000; Hammond 2001; Norris 2001). Notwithstanding persistent inequalities, the image is clear: the shrinking costs of ICTs have made them widespread and decentralized, reaching far beyond the political and economic elites of western societies.